Telepath These Days

2 - Unexpected Invitation

The music always hid a memory, a thought behind it. Sometimes it could be merciful and lead one to joyful memories, and sometimes it could be cruel and lead one to sad memories. Togan was on the threshold of a world of feeling where the memories hidden behind a rhythm, a word, a song. Firstly, he started travelling between the beautiful memories of the beautiful days, and then between the sad parts of these beautiful memories that he would succumb to with all his cruelty.

Travelling through memories meant finding his mother and father with him. His mother had been in a deep sleep called coma for almost three months. His father had lost his sanity since that ominous night. He could not react to anything in the world, not to his own son.

"Was there no way to erase the pain of these memories from the minds?" Togan thought.

The approaching footsteps behind the door distracted him from his thoughts for a moment. The door was knocked lightly and then opened. It was his Aunt Duygu coming.

"Isn't it a latish to listen to music?" she asked.

Aunt Duygu looked into his eyes with a caring smile. She wanted him to respond not only with his words but also with his eyes. But Togan could not do that. He was waiting for his aunt to discover why she couldn't do it either.

The reason why she couldn't look her aunt in the eyes was her mother. Her mother and aunt were very similar. Some even thought they were twins. Every time she looked at her aunt, she saw her mother. His aunt understood his pain but could not see the result. The wound in Togan's heart bled at every glance. As his aunt tried to get closer to him, it was as if the ghost of his mother was coming between them.

As the song continued to play at 'Bostancı Durağı' which means the Bostanci bus station, Togan forgot his aunt's question and was immersed in the memory of the days when he travelled to Istanbul for the first time, away from time and space. Those days were such beautiful days that smiling had appeared on his face as soon as he stepped onto the streets of Istanbul. His aunt had noticed this smile quickly. It was not like unnoticeable. In order not to spoil this smile, she decided to wait quietly until Togan made any movement. In the silence of his aunt, Togan's journey in time had begun.

On a rainy day, his mother on one side and his father on the another, they were at the Bostanci bus station. Although the sky was cloudy and gloomy that day, Togan imagined clear and sunny every time he brought the memory to his mind. It was a memory, everything beautiful was exaggerated and remembered as legendary.

His mother pointed to the sky with her ever-present smile and accompanying dimple. "Your father and I met for the first time on a rainy day in such weather." She said, slightly raising her fingers. "The rain was quite heavy. Your father was always looking at me, except when I turned my eyes on him. I didn't find it strange at first because I took shelter at the bus stop soaking wet. I even decided that he was taking pity on me, thinking I was in a funny state."

"Pity?" interrupted his father with a single breath of laughter. "Was I in my right mind to pity you after seeing you?"

Children grew up happier when their parents showed love to each other rather than to themselves. Togan felt very happy among such sweet conversations. Ignoring that he would return to reality with sadness from all these memories, he felt his happiness to the end.

"Actually, we didn't meet here, it would be more accurate to say the first time your mother noticed me." His father whispered in Togan's ear before his mother started talking again. "If you only knew how much I walked around you to get your attention..." he added with a wink.

As his mother resumed her speech from where she had left off, Togan, once again abstracted from time and space, found himself in the imagination of the memories of his mother and father's first meeting. With his chin resting on his palms, he started to imagine that day in his mind with small smiles in the stall seat.