Vimal brings gift for son

CHAPTER 8

Vimal brings gift for son

It was 12 at night. Vimal slowly approached the front door of his house. He was fully drunk and was not able to walk properly. There was a gift packet in his hand. He reached the door and knocked.

Rekha and Anand were sleeping in the bedroom. Rekha woke up on hearing the knock on the door. She was used to her husband coming home late at night. She looked at Anand, who was fast asleep. Putting the bed sheet, over his face, Rekha got up and went out of the room.

Rekha opened the door. Vimal was leaning against the wall as he was hardly able to stand up properly. Vimal extended the gift packet to her. Rekha took the packet from his hand and helped him come inside the room and sit on the sofa.

Vimal took back the gift packet from Rekha’s hand. “This is for my son, Anand, the champion.” He tried to get up wanting to go to the bedroom. “I will give the gift to Anand. He will be very happy.”

But Rekha put her hand on Vimal’s shoulder and pushed him down back to the sofa. “Not now. Anand is sleeping. Don’t disturb him now. You can give him the gift tomorrow after he gets up.”

Rekha took the gift from his hand and kept it on the table. Vimal lay down on the sofa and closed his eyes.

When Vimal opened his eyes next day, it was already 7:30 am. He stretched his hands and got up slowly. His eyes fell on the gift packet and he remembered all the incidents of the previous night. He took the gift packet and went to his son’s room.

Anand was getting ready to go to school. He was wearing school uniform and was combing his hair in front of the mirror.

Vimal entered the room with gift packet in his hand. He approached Anand. Anand looked towards his father. His cheek was still a bit red though the swelling had gone down. Vimal looked at it and felt bad. He remembered that he had slapped him the other night.

Vimal touched Anand’s cheek and said, “Sorry, Anand. I have never hit you before. Forgive me. I was fully drunk yesterday and totally out of my mind.”

Anand looked at his father’s face and said, “I am not the one to forgive you. Mommy and Jesus have to forgive you.”

Vimal hugged him pleading, “Please sorry. You will excuse me, won’t you? You are my darling son.”

Anand pointed a finger at him “Ok. But you will had to promise me one thing, papa.”

Vimal was happy to see Anand changing his mind. He nodded and asked, “What do you want? I am ready to do anything for you. You are my only son and everything to me.”

Looking into his father’s eyes, seriously Anand said, “Promise that you will never take drinks again.”

Vimal was shocked. He put his hand on his head in frustration.  Then he looked at his son sadly and said, “I have been trying to give up drinking for a long time. But I have never succeeded. I was brought up in difficult conditions and hence in order to forget my problems, I took to drinking. Now I am helpless. I cannot stop drinking.”

Anand looked at him sadly. Then his face brightened up happily. He took his father’s hand and said, “Do one thing. Make the promise in front of God. Then you will never drink again.”

Vimal felt desperate. He looked at his son sadly. “I don’t believe in god. I have never read the Bible.”

Vimal tried to change the topic by showing the gift packet. “See, I have brought a gift for you.”

Seeing the gift packet, Anand was very excited. He took the gift packet and opened it. There as a beautiful the tape recorder inside the packet. Anand was very happy. He forgot everything and started pressing the switches of the tape recorder.

Vimal was very happy. He asked, “Do you like it?”

Anand hugged his father happily. “Thanks papa. It is so nice.”

Vimal got ready and went to his office.

Anand was having horlicks drink in the kitchen when his friends arrived to go to school in uniform. Looking in from the front door, Avinash shouted, “Anand, were you ready?”

Hearing Avinash call his name, Anand remembered his promise. He looked at his mother worried and said, “Mommy, Avinash is here.”

Immediately, Rekha took out a box from the cupboard and gave it to Anand saying, “Anand, there is exactly Rs.2500/- in this box. Take it and pay Avinash’s fees.”

Anand put his hand in the box and took out the money. Suddenly he saw a slip from the pawn broker in the box. Shocked, he looked at his mother’s neck. The gold chain was missing. He understood everything. His heart was filled with love for his mother. He hugged his mother saying lovingly, “Mommy, you are so nice. But I am sad that you had to do it.”

Looking at Anand kindly, Rekha said, “Don’t worry about it. It is all for a good cause. When we get some money, we can always get the chain back.”