THE LAST EDEN
The house that the old couple has
resided in for almost half a century now is in the middle of a small city.
There have been regular changes happening around that house, but that house has
remained the same for as long as time can remember. The house is rather small compared
to all those changes. But their land had enough space for a beautiful garden
with lots of flowers and a small farming setup. It even had a small pond.
The house was once filled with
the sound of their two children - who are now settled in America with their
family. Now it is enjoying its moment of retirement with the silence of these
two old pairs who are in a marital stage where the other partner can guess what
she or he is going to say. They lived and talked long enough, that there wasn’t
much for them to do or say other than go by their daily life. Among other chores,
their daily routine includes, watering the plants, and feeding the birds, dogs,
and cats, that wander around their house. In the evening, after their afternoon
nap, they sit by the patio near the pond sip tea, and eat biscuits in silence. Their
day ends by waiting for their children’s call from America, with a pint of scotch
in their hand. After the call, which might continue for hours or end shortly –
depending upon their time and mood in America – they go to sleep. The couple
are living their life of retirement in such peacefulness, that they have
nothing to complain about.
Their neighbors, caught in the
relentless rhythm of city life, were too busy to notice the aging couple and
their forgotten house. They were focused on changing the city as fast as
possible. Amidst all those changes and busy people, the house seemed like it
was trapped in a time that failed to move forward. A house outside the concept
of time.
In America, both the children
were well-settled with families. The elder son is a renowned doctor, and the younger
son is an advocate. Both of them had two children. The couple have only seen
videos and photographs of their grandchildren. That was why they agreed to go
to America when the elder son asked them about it. It happened on one such
regular day when they were waiting for their call with the usual drink in one
hand.
The couple agreed to this idea
only to see their grandchildren. If not for them they would have happily
remained where they were. Even with all the high expectations they were having
to see them, they worried about too many other things. What will happen to
their house if it is left unattended for so many days? Who waters the plants?
Who will feed the birds, the dogs, and the cats? Who will take care of the fish
in the pond? Who will watch the butterflies that flutter around the garden roses?
According to them, plants and flowers deserve to be admired, dogs, cats, and
birds deserve their care, and butterflies are colorful and beautiful because they
deserve to be watched. They couldn’t
even imagine asking the neighbors to do all this. So it was with a heavy heart
that they left that day of their flight to America. Their love for the family
was the only energy they had, to do what they did. Right before they left the
house, the old couple promised themselves that they would come back as soon as
possible. Possibly in a few months.
*
Many years went by.
Promises were not kept.
Yet, the couple's life in America
with their family was blissful. They spent their days shifting from the elder
son’s house to the younger son’s home every few weeks. They had enough love
stored in their aging heart to shower it on their grandchildren. Although both of them focused not on spending
all their love on their family, they saved some of it to be shared among themselves.
Because no one else could understand the growing anguish that welled up in
their hearts, due to their failure to keep that promise. That feeling was
growing slowly and in secret in their heart. At first, it crawled in like a
small caterpillar, without their awareness, it built its small pupa and lived
there. Waiting for its time to break out of its cocoon and flutter around the
old couple’s heart. Since they knew that no one would understand they did not
bother anyone about their anguish. So, both of them knew that they needed to
love each other, to console one another in their own way.
A day in the life of the couple
is more eventful than it was back home. The kids became inseparable from their
loving grandparents. They had innumerable stories for the kids, or so the kids
thought. They had a few stories but managed to say it in different ways so the
kids wouldn't be bored. One day it will be the story of the hare and the
tortoise the other day it will be about a snake and a snail. Same story but
with different characters. The kids loved it. For them, their grandparents were
the place where they showed all their artistic naughtiness and still got away
with it, maybe even getting praised for scribbling on the walls, which their
parents would never do. They too showered their grandparents with immense love,
it came in different ways. They climb on top of their grandpa’s head; they
cover their grandma with lots and lots of kisses. They include them in their
family portrait.
What more could a couple in their
old age ask from their life? They found immense pleasure in the soft giggles of
their grandchildren. Their heart was pierced with needles with every cry from
their grandchildren. It reminded them of the time when their two sons were
young. Only this time they didn’t worry about anything else, like trying to
make ends meet every month. This time they can love as much as they want, let
the worrying be carried by their two sons and their wives. This is the reason
why they were not aware of the years passing by quickly. Although now and then
they miss their home, they have everything to get distracted easily.
But the day came when the cocoon
was broken and the butterfly started to fly around their heart.
It happened a year after they
arrived in America. One day when the children of both the family wanted to
spend their night with their grandparents, they decided to make the grandpa
stay with the elder son’s family and the grandma stay with the younger son’s
family. For the first time in all these years, they spent a night apart. They
didn’t have anyone to share their anguish about their broken promise. That
night both of them were disturbed by visions of their house in rumbles. No
birds, no animals, no butterflies, no flowers and trees. Amid the city, their
house becomes invisible to them. From that incident, they did not dare to stay
away from each other. That was the night when the cocoon broke and the
butterfly started its work.
From seeing the news about
climate change to seeing the lesser number of birds in their American
neighborhood, their anguish made them feel a delusion, that all this is
happening because of their broken promise. It happened in various ways. They
could be sitting with their family and having dinner, and suddenly, they would
go in absolute silence, taking away the joy in their eyes. News headlines
regarding the climate change discussions and protests disturbed them. They did
not say this to anyone, nor to each other, they bore the weight of the world’s
guilt in silence. They bore it for too long that their shoulders hung low. But
they could not hold their silence for too long. Their two sons became aware of
how much it was affecting their parents to stay away from their home. They
looked for arrangements to make them go home. Again, the old couple went
through the dilemma of leaving their family but also wanting to go to see their
home. It felt like a duty for them to see their house, and restore the
long-delayed promise. They strongly believed that if they went back and made
the house back to the way how it was, it would save the whole world. Even
though it was the butterfly inside their heart that made them feel like that,
it gave them a reason to leave their family and rebuild their home.
The grandchildren were
heartbroken, but there was nothing to be done. The old couple had a huge
responsibility to be carried on.
*
The flight back home had given
them an unbearable restlessness in their heart. In America, they had everything
to distract themselves from their heavy burden of guilt, but on the flight, the
image of the house in rumbles disturbed them. It was like that butterfly was fluttering
frantically inside them in absolute panic. Maybe it was because of the high
altitude.
The city was almost
unrecognizable for them. Within a few years, the city changed rapidly and
everything around them was happening so fast. They managed to get a taxi and
they were on their way to their house. On the ride home, all their thoughts
were on finding ways to amend their broken promise. The buildings have grown
taller, cars moved faster, people talked less, and if they talked, they were
only shouting. The couple felt alien to their surroundings. All of this only
heightened their anticipation of what awaited them—the condition of their house.
But it was a pleasant surprise
that was waiting for them. They had prepared themselves for ruin. Instead, they
stood frozen, unable to believe their eyes.
The house, amid the chaos of the
bustling city, was covered with groves of thick plants and trees. Countless
birds and butterflies in hundreds of colors were flying and fluttering around
their house. A big tree started growing in their garden, its large trunk pushed
its way through the crack of the window of their bedroom, and it broke out of
the roof and grew to be a big canopy that covered the whole area. The branches
of that tree grew inside their bedrooms, where many birds had built their nests.
Parrots, sparrows, nightingales, crows, and many more exotic birds like the
colorful macaw were seen inside their bedroom. Plants have sprouted from the
kitchen sink and bathroom floor, covering their closets and bathtubs with many
flowers of different aromas. Under the big canopy of the tree, there were lots
of birds and even bats and owls, who were taking their nap in the daylight,
waiting for their moment to make the night alive with their shift movements.
The small pond near their patio has grown big with many fishes in it. Cranes
can be found, standing on one leg in the pond, tugging their hear and taking
their afternoon siesta. The bookshelves were the home of the snakes, crawling
in between the pages of the old dusty books. The sofa set in the hall was for
the cats, they purred and slept all day in it. Beautiful flowers have crawled
upon the pillars and reached the roof of the house. The roof is now filled with
the colors of bougainvilleas, ipomeas, and white jasmines. Butterflies can be found everywhere
fluttering in bunches, to taste the sweet nectar of the garden roses. The dogs
were also there, some of them had taken the duty of guarding their house, some
of them were chasing the butterflies in utter joy, and some of them could be
found taking a nap on the veranda. The climate around the house was totally in
contrast with the climate in the city. It had this atmosphere of a time when
everything was alive whereas the atmosphere in the city was reeking of dead. The
house now possessed the aura of an ancient forest. In the noise of the immense
city, that place stood like it transcended not only the concept of time but
even the concept of space.
Not even any scientific
terminology nor any spiritual concept can comprehend the level of joy that the
couple felt seeing this. Their eyes glistened with the moisture. They thought
that all the birds and animals and the whole soul of the world resided in their
house, and no language in human history could translate the happiness they felt
knowing that. It was like the whole ecosystem was finding shelter from the
world in their house. They both hugged each other with love and then sat on the
patio chair near the pond and observed everything in peace.
Their children in America advised
them to hire some workers to clear the house so that they could move in. The
couple opposed that without any further objection from their family. They had
enough money saved up, to live in a rented house until the end of their life,
which they knew wouldn't be too long. On that same evening of their arrival,
they managed to rent a room just opposite their house. It even had a small
balcony that had a view of their house – now the nature’s abode. They spent the
rest of their life sipping tea, watching their house become nature’s refugee
camp and occasionally waiting for the call from America to hear their
grandchildren’s stories. The butterfly inside their heart found peace, they
gradually stopped their fluttering. Landing on the bottom of their heart, they
slept. The soft and aging heartbeat of the old couple soothed them. The colors
of the butterfly slowly matched with the veins of their heart and that
butterfly remained like that forever. It became a part of them, like they too
found refuge in the heart of the old couple.
THE END.
Beautifully written ❤️
ReplyDelete🫶
Delete