MORTIFIED

Happy is the man who finds a true friend, and far happier is he who finds that true friend in his wife.

–Franz Schurbert

 

“I’m old enough to get married,” Bobby said.

“Not really,” Bobby’s mother said.

“Thank you” Bobby said, mortified.

Bobby looked like a boy with great hope, which has been quenched brutally by his mother Christie.

Christie Brinkley is a nice woman with a fleet of businesses in San Francisco. She is very clever women and she is the managing director for all these businesses.

Bobby loves a girl by name Britney. She is very beautiful. She is the daughter of Joseph Conrad who is professor in the university and Britney is his only daughter.

“Daddy, I love Bobby. I want to marry him.” Britney said.

Professor Joseph looked at his daughter.

“You are very beautiful. You look just like your mother. But” Joseph stopped for a while.

Britney looked at father’s sullen face.

“You are not old enough to get married.” Joseph finished his conversation and getting ready to go to university.

Britney is mortified.

It is her father’s mood which works well at times. But she tried her last effort to convince her father. He is not only her father, he is her mother also.

“Daddy, look at me. I am perfectly aged to be married.” She ascertained her mind in her firm voice.

“No Dolly, I know what is the age of your mumwhen I married her, you need another four to five years to reach that age.” Joseph explained what he thinks and went out and sat in the car as his driver is in a hurry to start the car.

*****

“I love her so much, mummy. I want to marry her. Britney is my heart, my soul and she is just my life,” Bobby said with emotion.

Christie Brinkley is a nice woman with a fleet of social activities in San Francisco. She made a hundred and more marriages to orphans and she is treated like a goddess in so many families as she helped them stop breaking their families.

Christie was angry and she looked Bobby with bearish and sullen face.

“I don’t like you to marry a girl from a very poor family. Our business turnover is in billions and I naturally like a girl from a family equal in name and fame to our family. Stop going mad after a penniless girl like this.” Christie said.

Her voice says that she is not ready to accept Britney for Bobby.

“If you don’t accept for this, the result will be anything. I may take her to a church and our wedding will be done with the help of some friends. It will make you mortified.”

Bobby’s words pierced Christie’s heart as daggers. But she wants to be as usual and looked at Bobby with great silence, which means, ‘do anything that you like, I am not worried.”

Bobby rushed out and started his bike.

*****

“I love him so much, daddy. I want to marry him. Bobby is my heart, my soul and he is just my life,” Britney said with emotion.

Joseph Conrad is a nice man with a fleet of social activities in San Francisco. He started a Wise Men Society for young folks and he gives lectures to enlighten people. He had thousands of young followers who treat him like a god in so many families as he helped them stop their bad habits and make them good examples in the society.

Joseph was angry and he looked Britney with bearish and sullen face.

“I don’t like you to marry a boy from a very rich family. We are from a simple and a respected family. I naturally like a boy from a family equal to our family. Stop going mad after a false entity like this.” Joseph Conrad said.

His voice says that he is not ready to accept Britney’s dream for Bobby.

“If you don’t accept for this, the result will be anything. I may go with him to a church and our wedding will be done with the help of some friends. It will make you mortified.”

Britney’s words pierced Joseph’s heart as daggers. But he wants to be as usual and looked at Britney with great silence, which means, ‘do anything that you like, I am not worried.”

Britney rushed in to her bed room and locked from inside.

*****

It was a meeting between Christie Brinkley and Joseph Conrad which helped them understand each other.

“So be it.” Christie Brinkley said.

“So be it.” Joseph Conrad said.

Nobody knows what this “So be it.” means.

Bobby and Britney knew that their mother and father met and had a talk about their marriage.

They did not care to say to them what happened.

When they did not care, why Bobby and Britney care to know. They are after all the offspring of them and they are also quiet.

They met at a lonely place one day and expressed the anger on their elders.

“I don’t like my mum. She is a devil. She is the mother of her wealth and fame, I am none to her.” Bobby said in a sad voice.

“I don’t like my dad. He is very fanatic. He is the father of his false prestige and pride, I am also none to him.” Britney said in a sad voice.

“Let us spoil their image. We marry and show them to society as they are mortified.
Bobby and Britney thought for a while.

“May be they won’t be mortified by our marriage. Let us do something else so that they really are mortified.”

“What is that something?” Both of them are serious and seriously thinking.

After great thinking, they got an answer for their little brains as big thing, which can make their father and mother severely mortified.

*****

Christie Brinkley called Joseph Conrad. Both had a brief talk.

“So be it.” Christie Brinkley said at the end.

“So be it.” Joseph Conrad said putting the phone on the cradle.

They are thinking seriously about their children and their thoughts.

They see the thoughts of younger generation.

Christie Brinkley called personal detective Robert and explained him everything.

Joseph Conrad called his close friend Stephen and explained him everything.

Two cars are following Bobby’s bike, it is from a distance.

They wanted to do some help if they are in need.

But the two persons sitting in the cars did not see any need the young folk needs from them.

Bobby went in to a pharmacy and a department store. He had a purchase of some medicine and a diet coke. Then Bobby and Britney went to beach and sat there.

They had a long and live talk for some time. Then they mixed the medicine with diet coke. They enjoyed the medicine with great taste and slowly they lost consciousness.

They are eagerly waiting for death.

Is death so easy that whoever may call at any time, it may come and say hi? It is a question to be answered by the luck of everyone, which is not the same in every one’s context.

*****

When theywoke up, they are in a room.

“Is it a Hell or Heaven?” Bobby asked.

“Anything is same.” Britney said.

“It is a room of consensus.”  They heard Christie’s voice.

“It is room of concord.” They heard Joseph’s voice.

A video is running in the TV on the wall.

The talk between Christie and Joseph, The following of the two cars of Robert and Stephen, Stephen turning in the place of pharmacist, then the conversation between Bobby and Britney are replayed on the TV.

 

On the other day, in church, Bobby is in beautiful blue suit. Britney is in lovely white wedding gown.

“Do you, Britney, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold by the laws of God and of this society?” Britney’s father voice is heard.

There was a silence. Then Britney said, “Oh! Yes. I do.”

“Do you promise to love him and keep him, in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Britney said in ecstatic voice.

Bobby’s heart thudded twice in quick succession. He was shot through with desire, so much for being free to have Britney lawfully his wife.

“Do you, Bobby, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold by the laws of God and of this society?” Bobby’s mother’s voice is heard.

“I do.” Bobby said in ecstatic voice.

“Do you promise to love her and keep her, in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, as long as you both shall live?”

Bobby’s voice caught. “I do.”

Then the wedding rings are exchanged and two souls met closely, as closely as if one body with one soul.

Finally, none is mortified.

_END_