Note 36 : Guest Author : As life goes on...

A harmless Sunday night. Family time for them as they have followed for the last 17 years. Agnes, now 17, had grown up to a cute girl while Lily, turning19 this year, exactly looked like her mother, as beautiful, mature and elegant. It was Joe's 50th birthday in 2 days and Lil and Ag had some surprise for him.

"Good evening my lovely ladies", Joe said as he entered the dining area with spiced potatoes and some Indian  made Italian pasta.

"Good evening", Lil said as she kissed his left cheek and helped him in setting the table ready for supper.

Joe looked at Ag. She did not respond as she was lost somewhere in her own world which was quite usual for both of them to see.

Lil poked

It seemed as if someone just pulled her back from another planet altogether – she seemed soaked – full of thots. She was trying to hide something, that's what Ag could see, Joe was noticing it for 2-3 days. The devil was not as mischievious and lively as she used to be. The one who used to bring life with her presence itself was quiet.

Joe and Lil sat next to her. Lil kept her arms around her shoulders, "what's it woman?" Joe started,

"what is keepin you – tell us – you know what bother`s one – bother`s all – tell us"

After a momentary pause.

"Why did mumma leave us all?",

She questioned as tears rolling down her pink cheeks. Joe looked at her with a mix of many emotions- grief, sadness, confusion – the helplessness in his bones all these years – it seemed had formed words and was now demanding answers.

 "Ag", Lil screamed at the top of her voice, pulling herself off Ag, "that was a promise and was never meant to be broken, why did you ask that question. You know how it bothers him. How could you - You are..."

"A minute Lil", interrupted Joe

Ag ran towards her room. Rage, disappointment, or whatever that emotion was. She locked the room, Joe could hear the sound in the dining room. Now he has both his daughters to be handled, fragile and a label 'handle with care'. Lil was mature and could be spoken with at a later point while Ag was short at temper, reacted easily without thinking. She should be handled first. Lil cried inside hugging the pillow. The only problem was that her bemoaning was silent she was just too strong to let herself be heard.

Lil left a preganant pause behind her in the dining room. Joe was coming up with questions and answers in his mind and was dropping them for it did not seem to be convincing enough. Finally he started,

"Agnes, look at me. I want to tell you a story."
Ag looked at him and he wiped tears off her eyes,

"I`ve finally seen a dragon cry” J

“Ok, listen to the story now, carefully. There used to be a king long back. He was kind hearted. The people of his kingdom loved him. His wife, the queen, was a very beautiful lady. The king loved her a lot for she had stood by him in all his battles – within and with the world. The king had a lovely daughter who was 1 and a half and they were expecting the second child. Three months more and their second child will be in their world adding one more colour to their lives. Exactly then, a war broke out, the neighboring king had attacked his kingdom, he had to leave. It took around 4 months for him to return. He won the war but lost something bigger than life. The palace had never been this quiet. The silence was piercing his ears, his heart pounding, the marks across his right cheek from the war was clearly visible. He stepped into his bedroom and found his mother with two girls, one was the 2-year old, the other one was the one-month old infant.

The king smiled and stepped forward to touch her while inquiring about the queen. 

There was a letter it said,

' Dear, I am leaving forever as I do not love you anymore. It's not that I am betraying you, it's just that I do not have anything or any feelings for you. I just do not love you. Please try to understand. Good-Bye. Take care of yourself and our daughters.'

And the king sat there devastated, numb for sometime, cried for a few hours. It was already next day, he sat down next to the newborn daughter, as her tiny little fingers clutched his fingers, his pain lessened and he decided to live for his daughters, give all his love to them. He appointed one of his chief ministers the caretaker of the empire and left with his daughters to a place far from his kingdom. He tried to be a mom, dad, brother, friend everything to them and thought he was successful too. But you know what Agnes, he failed, he failed, badly, in all his responsibilities. His love was not enough, his power as a king was not enough even. You see Ag, sometimes we fail and I think its ok , even if you are the richest and most powerful man, you fail to win a woman. Her heart is as deep as a sea and a man can never reach the core. I...i...i..aa..aa..i..."

 He could not speak, tears rolled down his cheeks.

Ag said,"Papa, you know what you are the only man I expect never to hurt me, you're the best!"

Joe smiled.

"I think we had enough melo-family-drama, can we eat please...! I'm famished...ummmm?", Lil spoke and the entire family broke into laughter.

Anupama Pandey

(edits by Hdk – for the original version please contact her)