Upon the relentless nagging of his wife, he finally consents to giving up his mother.
At midnight, when the world is asleep, he walks into her room. She had been locked away, hidden from visitors and the outside world. She sits on her broken cot, devoid of a mattress, clutching photos of the three of them together - the father, the son, and herself.
He gently takes her frail hands and helps her into his car. Overwhelmed with joy, she thinks to herself, "Finally, my son is taking me to the temple. Now I can close my eyes happily." She doesn't ask where they are going or why, her heart too full of joy to question.
Struggling to open her cloudy, tear-filled eyes, she tries to look at her beloved son's face. No matter how hard he tries to make her sit straight, she keeps leaning sideways, unable to sit properly. Her hands, trembling and shivering from the ravages of age and medication, she keeps close to her chest for warmth.
He starts driving, aimlessly at first, then decides to abandon her in the village streets. The streets are deserted, not even a beggar stirs. He spots a statue of a renowned ancient leader in the village center and decides to leave her there. Little does he know, a stray dog who had just given birth is resting under the statue's shade. As he steps out to check if the coast is clear, the mother dog growls protectively.
"If this dog starts barking, it will wake everyone up," he thinks.
He drives away with his mother still in the backseat, leaving the empty street in its eerie calm.
YOU ARE READING
Mother's Cradle
Short StoryA short story inspired by the poem "Ammathottil" by Rafeeq Ahammed Discover the heart-wrenching tale of a devoted mother who triumphed over countless obstacles to raise her son, only to be left alone by the very person she held dear. Inspired by the...
