Short Story with Moral Lesson – The Worth of a Smile
Short Story with Moral Lesson – The Worth of a Smile
We used to live in a quite neighborhood in the suburbs. I had an average job, It paid the bills and the house rent. I worked 12 hours a day and cooked my food at night and slept, and repeated. I had aspired to become a professional writer someday but with an early divorce with someone whom I thought to be my true mate and a lot of misfortune I landed a job as a store manager and the dreams that I had once thought of becoming a renowned writer were buried deep, Perhaps to never to come up again.
To be honest I didn’t much know anything about my neighbors, Nor did I care. My life was busy and I thought I was happy. And then one weekend, My life turned.
It was a weekend. I had planned on spending the day resting, I believed I deserved a little break from work, and certainly it had been a tiring weekend. I made myself a mug of coffee at 8 and went to watch the some television. Passing by the window next to the front door I saw Mr. Benet crouching over his lawn, He was weeding the grass, though Lord knows why he was using a scissor rather than hiring a gardener, they didn’t ask much pay, did they ?
Now, Mr. Benet was 70, his white hair were slicked back, his body was lean and he walked with a hunch, yet his eyes flicked to and fro with uneasy quickness. He had, had an average life, a teacher till his late fifties when he left when he could not work the same as he could when he started teaching at 22. His wife had passed a year ago and he had no children. Some said he had wasted his life, though no one had had the courage to say that to him of-course.
Everyday neighbors passed in front of his home, Some curtsied, some tipped hats. And sometimes a half hearted “Hello, Sir.” followed. I’m sad to say I did neither. I pitied the old man at that moment. So I walked out doors with my coffee and said
“Hello sir.”
He’d already noticed me coming but he continued to work. His eyes flicked for a fleeting second over me and turned to work again.
“Hello, young man”
I paused for a moment to see if he would ask the customary questions. Seeing that he was not interested I proceeded to ask If he needed any help with what he was doing? He stopped working, and gave my a long stare and laughed under his breath and said
“Young man, I may not be as quick as I was but I think I can manage” giving me a toothy grin.
“Why don’t you go finish up with your breakfast and join me in a while? I’d be done by then”
Oh damn here goes my weekend, I thought. And reluctantly agreed. He acknowledged my approval with a nod and thus went back to work. I returned in an hour to see the grass was finally weeded. And Benet had placed two lawn chairs on the porch. And was seated in one with his eyes closed staring at the sky. As soon as I sat next to him his eyes flicked open and he grinned. “So young man, What do you do?”
“I manage a big store downtown sir”
“Ah, and what are your duties in this job of yours? ”
“Keep a check on all the employees, keep customers happy, keep my boss happy, keep a check on all products, expiry date, delivery date etc”
He seemed a bit taken back. “So you enjoy this?”
I stayed silent for a while as I pondered over this question.
“It pays the bills, Buys the food, Keeps me going strong in life.”
He continued staring” My question remains unanswered, Do you enjoy it?”
“Yes sir I do”
He relaxed. “I’m glad son.”
Thus the conversation went on. Having not met for years with someone who was interested in hearing I found myself pouring my story to someone whom I’d just met.
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
“I could have weeded this for you”
He chuckled. “And what good would that have done? ”
“I dont understand sir?”
“Son, If you can’t put your heart into a job what good is it to do it? Sure some fancy machine could have done this for me, but it wouldn’t be the same would it ? The same applies to everything in life son, Put your heart into whatever you do and” He chuckled “you can do it even if you’re 70” and grinned.
I smiled as I understood what he meant and questions tumbled into my head like a waterfall. I fell silent for some time and pondered over everything that I’d done in my life, Did I put my heart into my dream? Did I put my heart into our relationship? Did I ? Did I ? And my heart sank as realization fell. I suppose the old man must have known what I was thinking so he laid a hand over my shoulders and said to me smiling calmly,
“You know son, every man makes mistakes, and it’s never too late, If you’ve got some unfinished business then go, Get it done”
I looked at him for a fleeting second and I knew what he meant, I thanked him and rushed home.
The hours were spent reconciliating with old friends whom I’d forgotten, my brothers whom I had cut from my life, and my ex wife. I don’t know if any of them wanted to ever call again at that moment but I knew that this was the best I could do for my past mistakes. Over the next few years I spent hours daily with Barnet, He talked about his life as a teacher, the pleasure it gave him to see children grow into men and to learn to stand on their own and learn from their mistakes, the parting with his wife and how painful it was to learn how to overcome this.
As time progressed Barnet began urging me to once again pursue my dreams, be the writer that I always wanted to be, I always said I can’t leave this job ! this is the first stable job I’ve had! and he’d always say
“Son, If not now then when? Take today by the reins! ”
I used to consider this each time he mentioned but each time the voice of reality outspoke the voice of my dreams. I progressed in my job, With my income raised I bought a small shop of my own, and then two and then more and more, one by one I reached milestones, my income was now well over what I needed or what I could have dreamed of once. I was in touch with my ex wife, my brothers visited each weekend with their families and I’d introduced them to Barnet, they got along nicely.
Barnet was now a part of my newly found family. But he was getting old, time was taking it’s toll and soon over my pleas of me taking him to the hospital, to which he refused since he called it uneasy idleness to lie on the bed and be waited on, he was diagnosed with severe cancer. I paid readily for him to be taken in. I visited him everyday in the hospital now and each day he seemed to grow weaker and weaker, yet those eyes never lost their spark, a lot of times I found him talking from his bed to a woman on the other bed, but as soon as I came he stopped talking.
One day I asked him who was that and what did he talk to her about ? He told me to lean closer and told me that she was suffering from the same disease as him and each day he talked to her about her life and helped her overcome those little mistakes of her past so that when the day came when she had to go she was free. I stared at him for a long time. I was perplexed,
“But why?”
I asked, He seemed surprised,
“So that she can die with a smile son” he said.
“Is that important to you?”
“Son, If you can’t live to make others live, what do you live for anyways?”
A week later I was called into the hospital in the middle of my working ours. They said that the conditions weren’t looking so well and I he continually asked for me, I was beside him in 15 minutes and he looked at me and managed a mere shadow of his once toothy grin . As I rushed next to him, He beckoned me to his right and I saw her, She was dead, and yes she’d died with a smile. Coming to accept everything. As tears swelled into my eyes, He said to me
“Son, you’ve grown into a man. I’m proud.”
And an hour later they turned off the machines. There lied the shadow of the man that had meant everything to me, taught me how to live, He was the father that I never had. I knew at the moment what had to be done, I knew where I was to pursue in life now. Jack Benet taught me how to live, How to come to terms with my past mistakes, The importance of today, The need for a heart in life, but more importantly, and I carry his legacy today, years later, having become a reporter in one of the biggest magazines of the world I tend to show the good side of people, show the world their good side, and make them happy. He may be not as famous as anyone else but he lives on in the memories I’ve shared with him and the most important message he gave me to pass on; The worth of a smile.
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