GOODNIGHT or GOODBYE

Four

When Father finished, he admonished us to love one another with all that we are and have, love our neighbours and love God. It was something we had heard before, but that night, it seemed more real and more tangible.

Father told us all that he loved us very much and then one by one, he began to tell us goodnight. He told my mother Goodnight, then our youngest brother who sat right next to mum Goodnight, then my elder sister, my elder brother, my younger sister.

But when he got to me, he stopped, took a deep breadth, hugged me, looked me in the eyes with his eyes teary and told me GoodBye.

I wondered what made mine so different from every other person so I quickly looked up to my father and asked him why he told everyone else Goodnight and told me Goodbye. He looked at me again, and then looked at every other person in the sitting room.

At that point, everyone wanted to know why as well, so everyone sat back down on their respective cushions and looked intently at father begging with their eyes to know why there was a difference.

Father then bowed his head, raised his head up again, looked at everyone again, looked at the ceiling, like he was searching for the right words and then looked at me and said, My son, in the morning, when the sun shall rise and we all wake up, I would see each and every other person in this house. I would meet them again, but you, I don't know where you would be, I don't know if the sun would rise with you, I don't know if I would see you again, and that is why, I said Goodbye to you rather than Goodnight.