“I’m not!”
“Yes you are!”
“No I’m not! You’re such a wuss Jill!”
“Mom! Jake called me a wuss!”
“MOM!”
(A car screeches to a halt)
“Ruth, I’m home.”
(Turns on the TV. Turns up the volume).
(Mumbles) “Good, right on time! Kids, Go to your room. Jake, Jill, I said go to your goddamn room!
Ruth, take the kids to their room”. Tim and Drake will be coming over for the game, why don’t you
make us some sloppy joes. Ruth? Where the hell are you? Come on down and hand me a beer! We
have beer right? (Gets angry) I told you to get beer! If you tell me that we ain’t got beer…
***************************************************
It was a sunny July afternoon. Ruth was sitting at the backyard of her countryside shack in Kentucky. There was nothing much to do there really. All that there was in that backyard was a rickety swing and an old cardboard box. But all of this did not matter to Ruth, for she had Bobby.
Aah Bobby! What a lad! Bobby was the young shepherd who used to visit her every day when the sun disappeared on the western horizon. She was out early today, partly because she did not know where else to go. Mom and Dad were screaming inside. She could hear the glasses and crockery break. She never understood why grownups fought in the first place. “Is that all that is left to do when we grow up?” She thought. “I wish I never grow up”.
Lost in her thoughts she lost track of time. Soon dusk was upon her. Her heart started racing as her
eyes wandered upon the farthest horizon on the west. “You seem to be upset love.” Startled, she looked behind her. “Bobby, how did you get here?” Ruth felt a special way about Bobby. It was special because she wasn’t sure how she felt. “Love?” She wondered many a times, but dismissed it each time thinking to herself, “Life is too short to define things. Besides, who cares as long as I can be with Bobby every evening? “
“Oh well, I have my ways”, said Bobby mischievously. “But you did not answer my question. Why are you upset?”
“I’m not sure. I sometimes feel that I don’t belong here.”
“You mean in the barn?” he teased her.
“No, I mean here, in this world. Sometimes I feel that I can’t really relate to the things that people around me do.”
“You mean sing songs, go fishing in the big lake, ride horses, make merry while drinking ale on a spring noon while the sun shines to happiness? You really can’t be serious!”
That was Bobby for you. A simple starry eyed young boy who could find the silver lining in every situation. He was a boy who believed that there could be nothing wrong in this world and whose aura was so positive that he could cheer up a person on the verge of suicide.
“Bobby! Oh leave it, you wouldn’t understand.” And just like that she did not want to explain anymore. She was already smiling, and the thing about smiles is that the lips can fake them, but the eyes can’t.
“Alright”, said Bobby, pretending to be disappointed, but he could not pull it off for long; for the twinkle in her eyes teased him and beckoned him lose himself in her.
“Ruth.”
“Yes Bobby.”
“I wish I could kiss you someday.”
“Someday Bobby. Someday we shall be together.”
And they just sat there, two people just happy to be with each other.
***************************************
She reached inside the drawer. It felt cold, and heavy. She made her way to the kids’ room. She turned the knob and let herself in. Her face was impassive as she brought an end to the commotion.
“What’s going on up there? Ru..”
BANG!
BANG!
Silence.
She woke up startled and drenched in sweat. “It was a bad dream after all.”
She felt a touch, a touch she had always imagined, but never felt.
“Bobby!”
“Ruth.” Bobby smiled.
“Where are we?”
“We are together love, at last!”
She turned around and that’s when she saw it.
"Remember me as you pass by;
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now, so you will be
Thy love is true, just follow thee"
R.I.P
Ruth Smith
It was her tombstone.
Silence. Everywhere.
At last, it was peaceful.
~Rahul
