This story is about a boy named Jonathan who thinks he lost his father in a war.
“Hey Jonathan, wake up! Good morning my little heart. See, it’s a bright sunny day and look who has come back!”
“Who’s here mom?” Jonathan asked in a harsh voice.
“Hey there, how have you been without me?”
“Dad! Oh my god, you’ve came back from the war. When did it get over, and when did you arrive here?” Hey, please answer my questions! Mom and I were told that you were killed by the Fritz*. Then how are you back here? What had happened!” Jonathan threw a volley of questions to his father. His tone showed restlessness and kept rising with desperation. “Tell me! Tell me! What happened? Tell me!”
“Jonathan! Jonathan! Hey Jonathan!” Lisa ran to her son. “What happened Jon, why are you so terrified?”
Jon spoke in a surprised manner, “Where’s Dad? Where has he gone?”
“Jon, what happened? Why are you looking for Dad? You know, he……” answered Lisa in a perturbed tone.
“Was it a dream?” John spoke to himself completely oblivious of his mother. “What dream, son?” Lisa asked almost shaking him to senses.
“Hmmm! Mom, I saw Dad was here; he came back from the war to meet and stay with us forever”.
Lisa gathered herself from deep thoughts. In a composed tone she said to Jon, “It may be a dream, my little Jon. Okay, tell me did he say anything you?” his mother asked caressing him.
“Yes, he did ask me that how have we been without him ever since?”
“Okay, and did you not just ask him to come back to us, stay here with us for the rest of our time?” Lisa said to Jon with a deep sigh.
“I just didn’t believe that I was in a dream. I asked him about his journey from the war to his home but he didn’t answer my question.”
Mother and son, both became nostalgic. There was pain in their eyes and longing in their hearts. Both tried hard to compromise with the truth.
“That dream didn’t feel like a dream to me, mom,” said Jon after a long lull as if recollecting himself.
“Why was it a dream, mom, why? Why did he not come back to us, why?” Jon broke down bitterly in his mother’s arms. In anguish, he started to blabber, “I want him to come back, I want him to come back and stay with us. Why did he leave us? Are we not important for him? Is it only his duty that he bothered for? Mom, why did he marry you when you were not his first love? Why did he destroy our lives, WHY?” Jon was frenzied and forgot all limits.
Slapppp!!! Lisa, unable to stand anymore, slapped Jon hard. For a moment both stared each other in absolute silence. With fury in his eyes and rage in his heart, Jon jumped out of his bed and strode out of his room paying a deaf ear to his mother’s callings. Lisa was left alone in the room with her sobs and pain. She could not stop the tears from flowing down her deep eyes. She tried to reason with her son’s behaviour and also agreed that he missed his father immensely, more when he saw his friends in joyous company of their fathers.
She got up, washed her face and set out to the place where she knew Jon would be. Jon would often go to sit there alone when he needed time with himself. After his father’s death the frequency of visiting this place has increased.
She reached there and found Jon sitting on his favourite corner of the rock and weeping bitterly.
“No one understands me, not even my mom. I do not want her to be angry, I do not want to upset her, but don’t I have any right to question my martyr father,” he spoke as if talking to the rock. Lisa went close to him, sat near him and hugged him. “Don’t cry, Jon, I’m sorry. It’s not your fault, maybe I get a little too emotional to tackle the situation. I just cannot handle your complaints against your father.” Jon surrenders himself in his mother’s arms and continues to sob. “Jon, you have to grow up now and stop blaming for father. You should be proud of him for being a dutiful soldier.”
The mother and son, their fingers intertwined with each other’s, began to move back home. Lisa felt an urge to share something with Jon.
“Your real father was a criminal. While I bore you, he was caught by the police for raping a girl brutally and then killing her. You never saw your real father.” Jon snapped his hands from Lisa’s and gave a bewildered look to her.
She continued, “Looking at my condition, your father’s very close friend married me and tried to give both of us a decent life. Things were going on well, when one day he received a communication to be on duty for the war; it was 7th July 1942. It was an emergency and he could not be spared………”
Jon’s mind swirled, “Am I dreaming again?”
Archbishop C Sinha