AL-HUDA

     Foundation, NJ  U. S. A 

 

the Message Continues ... 10/71

 

 

 

Article 1 - Article 2 - Article 3 - Article 4 - Article 5 - Article 6 - Article 7 - Article 8 - Article 9 - Article 10 - Article 11 - Article 12

 

 

 

 

Please, Don’t send me to the Old Folks’ Home!

 

The daughter-in-law exclaimed: "When I cook food which is blend, you grumble that they are tasteless. Now that I have cooked saltier, you complain that you can't swallow this at all! What exactly do you want?"

When Adil, the son, came back, the mother immediately ate the food without a word. She stared at him. Adil took a taste on his mother's food and spitted out immediately. He ranted at his wife, "Didn't I tell you that my mother cannot take too salty food?!"

The wife shouted, "Ok! She's your mum! You cook for her in future!" She stormed into their room angrily.

Feeling helpless, Adil told his mother, "Mum, don't eat this anymore. I will cook you a bowl of noodles."

The mother said, "Son, Do you have something to tell me? Don't keep everything to yourself."

"Mum, I am going to get promoted soon and my upcoming working schedule will be very, very tight ... and as for my  wife ... ummm ... she said she  will be going out to work...."

The mother understood what he meant and said in a begging manner, "Son, please don't send me to the Old Folks' Home."

Adil remained silent and tried to think of a good reason to persuade her mother. Then he said, "There is nothing wrong with the Old Folks' Home. When my wife will have to go out to work, no one will serve you while the Home provides you meals and care. It would definitely be much better than being at home."

Adil went for a bath and then into the Study Room. He looked out from the windows and thought back and hesitated a while....

His mother had stayed with him as a widow since she was young, and brought him up painstakingly, solely.  She tried all means to earn as much as she could, in order to support him in studying overseas. Yet she expected nothing nor used her past painful experience to threaten his son to be filial. While now, his wife was threatening him with the stake of their marriage.

"Should I send Mum to the Home?" He asked himself.

"The only person who will accompany you till the end of your life would be your wife", said a friend before.

"Your mother is in old age now, and if she's lucky, she might be able to live for a few more years longer. Why not be filial to her for this period of time?” reminded some relatives.

He was stuck in a dilemma. He did not want to think anymore, in order not to affect his decision.

Later, Adil found a Home with high standards, built on a beautiful and tranquil mountain top. He told himself that she would feel much better at Old Home.

When Adil helped his mother into the lobby of the Home, the 42" TV was turned on. The programmer shown on screen was a comedy. But no one was laughing. A few old folks, dressed similarly in clothing, were sitting there, in a daze. There was one who was sitting improperly on a sofa, there was one who was bending down to pick up a piece of biscuit from the floor, there was one who was talking to himself...

Adil knew that his mother likes sunlight, so he chose a room with ample sun rays shining into the room. By viewing out from the room, was a big piece of greenery scene. Few nurses were wheeling some old folks out for some fresh air. It was so pathetic of silence in the background. The sun would still need to set down.

Soon it was dusk. Adil told his mother, "Mum, I am leaving."

The mother waved to him to say goodbye, opening her toothless mouth. He turned back to look at his mother. She was full of grey hair and wrinkled skin with deep set eyes. He found that she was really old. He remembered when he was six, due to some circumstances, his mother could not bring him along with her thus temporarily placed him at a relative's home for few days. He recalled hugging his mother's thigh and begged her not to leave him alone. In the end, his mother never left him alone and decided to stay with him.

He stopped thinking and left. When he returned home, his wife and his mother-in-law were busy discarding things from his mother's room, happily. One of the discarded items was his tall trophy which he won as First Prize when he was young. He wrote an essay on "MY MOTHER". The second item discarded was a dictionary. That was the first gift from his mother, who scrimped and saved for a month in order to buy for him.

He shouted, "Enough! Stop discarding anymore!"

His mother-in-law shouted back, "There was so much rubbish. If we don't discard, there would be no place for my stuff".

His wife continued, "Yeah! Need to dump away that old stinky bed of your mum too. We will buy a new bed for my mum later."

He saw some pictures from the stack. They were taken at a zoo and amusement park when his mother brought him there.

"These are precious belongings of my Mum! You can't discard them!"

"What sort of attitude is this? I demand you to apologies to my Mum NOW!" ranted the wife.

Adil said, "When I got married with you, I promised that I will take care of your Mum. But why can't you do the same too?"

He went back to the Home and saw his mother weeping between her frail legs. She was missing the moments when her son would apply ointment for her every night...

Adil kneeled before her and said, "Mum, here I have come. I brought the ointment too."

The mother said, "I will apply it myself, Son! You still need to work tomorrow. Go home, Son!"

Adil said, "Mum, please forgive me! Let's go home!"

 

 

 

 

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