A Mother's True Love ( Part 3 )

Finally the child was brought to his father's house. Over there he was introduced to his grandparents. Both the grandparents were very happy to meet their grandson. As the mother was leaving the house, the child insisted on following her back. Eventhough he was given toys which he had never owned before by his grandparents he still wanted to follow his mother. " I want mother, i don't want the toys " he wailed. With an heavy heart the mother told the child " Son, please listen to mummy advise. Stay here. Father, grandfather and grandmother will play with you". " No I don't want them i only want mummy, i love mummy. Don't mummy love me too, why mummy do not want me anymore ? he asked his mother and startd crying. He continued to cry as he said to his mother " If mummy still love me, bring me with you ". Left with no other option, the mother answered " Yes, mummy do not love you anymore, you have to stay here ". After saying this, she quickly left the house.

When she reached her own house, the mother kept thinking of the son whom he had just given away to his father. She cried as she had just lost part of her life. Life would be meaningless to her without her dear son. Feeling sad and depressed, she took a knife and attempted to cut her wrist but as soon as she was about to cut, it came to her mind that she musn't die. She had to live to ensure that her son was being treated well by his father's family. Then she abandoned her suicide plan.

A year had passed, the mother had moved to another place and obtained a better job. The son had recovered from his sickness eventhough he still had to undergo routine monthly treatment. His father gave him money and everything that he wanted. He no longer lived in poverty like in the past. As usual the son remembered his mother's birthday vividly. On that particular day, after school, he did not return home but took a bus to visit his mother. The journey was not short, it took him several hours before reaching his old house. He had prepared a bouquet of flowers , a letter telling her how much he missed her, a birthday greeting card and his excellent school test report for his mother. Upon reaching the house, he ran happily towards the door but when he got to the door he realized that the house was empty. A neighbour told him that his mother had moved out from the house and no one knew where she had gone to. The son was stunned and did not know what to do. He sat in front of the house and started crying.

At the same time, his father and grandparents were very worried about him when he did not return home as usual. They went to the school but were informed that every students had already left the school. The father called the mother to inform her about their missing son. The mother got worried too but then she remembered that that day was her birthday. She had forgotten about her own birthday because she was very busy with her work. She knew her son must have returned to his old house. She , as well as the father rushed to the house but unfortunately when they reached there their son was no longer there. They could only find the birthday card, a bouquet of flowers, a letter and their son's school examination report. The mother was very touched with the words written in the letter. The sky was getting dark, both father and mother went around the village to look for their son. They just went around without any clue where their son might be. When they reached a temple, the mother knelt in front of the Goddess of Mercy statue and prayed that she would be able to find her son. Suddenly, just like being given a hint by the Goddess of Mercy, the mother remembered that she used to go to another Goddess of Mercy temple nearby with her son. While in the temple, she told her son that if at anytime he had any problem, he should come to this temple and pray to Goddess Of Mercy. The Goddess of Mercy would help him if his intention was good. She predicted her son must have gone to this temple to pray and ask the Goddess Of Mercy to reunite him with her. She quickly went to the temple and she was right, her son was at the temple but had fainted due to high fever. The father carried him and rushed to the hospital while the mother followed behind. Suddenly the mother slipped and fell, tumbling down many steps all the way down to the ground. The father did nto realise this as he was rushing to get his son to the hospital. Since then, both the father and son had never met the mother again.

Another 10 yeards had passed. The son had entered university. He always asked the father about his mother. He had gone everywhere and spent a lot of money to locate her but to no avail. One day, as he was riding in a car with his girlfriend on the way back after classes, he spotted an old lady begging by the roadside when the car stopped at a junction. She looked haggard and dirty and clad in torn clothes. Out of curiosity, he alighted from the car and approached the beggar. As he got near to the beggar he heard her mumbling " Where is my child ? Do you see my child ? " When she asked him this question, the son thought of his own mother and started to sing a song which he used to sing with his mother in the garden when he was a small boy. To his suprise, the beggar started to sing the same song too. He recognised his mother's voice very well. He knew the old lady in front of him was his mother. He hugged her excitedly and said " Mother ! you are my mother. The beggar was shocked and started to carress his face and asked him " are you ......... ( his name ) ?, " yes i am , i am your son " he answered. Since her fall, she had lost part of her memory but was still looking for him for the past 10 years disregarding the perception of the others that she was a mad woman.

Since reunited with her son, she was being well taken of by both him and the father. Though they did not live together but they were happy to be able to see each other often.





( The End )