A priceless pearl
She woke up early and made it straight away for the
mirror. With deep sorrow she started contemplating her complexion till drops of
bitter tears started to flow down her cheeks. She remembered the long years of
sacrifice, dedication and tirelessness, as she thought, in vain, for she got
nothing in return. The husband still in bed snoring and enjoying its warmth, and
the three kids, all of whom boys, by the same token share the same moment but
each one on his own. Only she had to leave the warmth of bed to prepare what
their mouths could devour and grin by their animal-like fangs. She punched the
mirror as hard as she could, unfortunately she couldn't break it, but
fortunately she didn't hurt herself.
What added insult to injury was the fact that that day
was her birthday, yet nobody dared to remember it and made her a surprise to
refresh the atmosphere, or made her believe that she still had her touch, and
she was still a priceless pearl. None of these thoughts crossed neither her
husband's mind, nor her children's. She undoubtedly believed that she was a simple
maid or machine whose main role is to serve the others. She can’t feel or
imagine. She can't express what’s inside her. All her mission is just to
perform her kind of algorithmic tasks, predefined and indisputable.
Enough is enough she believed. She got dressed, packed
her bag with clothes and food, and then left home. That was a revolutionary
act. She also switched off her phone and made it to nowhere. Two hours later,
her husband got up in the hope to find something to feed his empty stomach. To
his surprise, the table in their kitchen was different this time because
nothing was on it. He started calling the name of his wife but got no
answer. He took his phone and started to dial the number, but he was surprised
when he found out that the line was out of service.
He woke up the kids and started to enquiry about their
mom’s location, but of course they, too, had no idea. ‘What? She didn’t make us
breakfast. What are we going to eat?’ said one of her kids. Yes, unfortunately,
stomach comes first and anything else doesn’t matter.
After having serving themselves with what was
available, they started to look for their mother by contacting their members of
family and all their acquaintances, but the attempts yielded nothing. Nobody had
any clue as to her whereabouts, even the authorities failed to track her
location.
It was now three months that she had gone missing. The
house was in a complete shambles. The rooms got dirty and messy. The kids grow untidy
and shabby in appearance and their stomachs missed the years they had been lavishly
fed like kings in their palaces. The husband was in an unprecedented psychological
state. It was a mixture of anger and logging. Anger because he felt being disrespected
when his woman left the nest with no warning, and to him that was hurting his
pride. Logging means he desperately felt
the need of his other half being by his side to take care of him and his kids. He
did shed tears realising how harsh and ungrateful he was to her all these years
long.
On a freezing day and very early in the morning, somebody
started to knock on the door. The little son hurried towards it. Once the door swung
open, the boy couldn’t believe his eyes when saw his mom accompanied by an elderly
man. The boy threw himself into his mom’s arms, hugging her firmly with his
eyes going watery. They both kissed each other and apologising for everything
they thought they had done wrong. The husband joined with the other kids and
all started to cry.
‘Son,’ said the elderly man, ‘you have a precious
pearl and you had better keep it safe. I lost my wife and her mother, my
daughter, but I still want to see her. She has my blood and she is the only treasure
I still have.’
‘Uncle,’ said the husband, ‘I know what I have done
and I did grasp the message she intelligently tried to convey. I promise you and
myself that I will keep her safe and treat her the same way she has been
treating us all these years. The house without her is a complete mess and divided
nation. She has been our lifeguard and mainstay. I am sorry Najwa from the
bottom of my heart. I am saying this on behalf of our kids.’
‘Darling, I love you and I love the kids, but I had to
do this because I, too, need care and someone who can make me believe that I have
a great sentimental value for him, and to stand by my side during my ups and
downs. You all mean a lot to me and I am sure we all can change everything. We are
all going to assume our part of responsibility to make this family great again.’
said the wife.
Ismail KAMAL
