Short Story – Irony
Photo credit: takekha from morguefile.com
He went to sleep that night. And didn’t wake up the next morning.
His wife was mad with grief. Having spent 15 years of her life with him, getting used to the fact that he would no longer be there by her side was heart breaking. She would have gladly given up her life and gone to sleep with him forever, had it not been for her kids. The girl was 10, and everyone said she was going to be really pretty when she grew up. The boy was 3, and just starting school. They did not deserve their father to be taken away from them. Not now, when they were just beginning to understand the ways of the world. Life was unfair. She stared at their wedding pictures and wailed.
The little girl was getting tired of her brother’s continuous questions about why they were not going to school today. Was it because Daddy had gone away? She herself did not know where her father had gone, but from the way Mommy was crying, and the number of relatives who had turned up to console her, she could imagine that this was one of the moments they showed in the movies. One of those moments where someone went away forever, and never came back.
She realised she would miss Daddy, although he never had time to look through her homework like Mommy did, but he always had a smile for her when he returned from work. Daddy never took them out on trips, but he went on these big trips himself and brought them wonderful gifts when he returned. She would miss Daddy, she knew. She made it a point to ask Mommy if she could do anything that would make him come back, but she had to wait until all the relatives had left.
In all the chaos, no one noticed the maid. She had been up all night crying, and now finally her tears had tried. With him dead, she would not have to fear the nights that stretched in front of her – long black hours of pain and tears. The world was crying around her, but she could not suppress a smile. Her prayers had been answered.
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