Bedtime stories for kids

A bundle of Choices

                 Chethan is a 10 year old boy who is very good at studies and sports. He is the only kid to his parents and thus is brought up very luxuriously. He is also the favourite of his teachers as his hand was sure to be up for almost all questions asked by teachers. From his childhood, he loved playing with ball and with time, this interest developed into a hobby. His parents were getting him special coaching for Basket ball. He used to finish his school and would go to the coaching class and then go to home. This was his daily routine.

              One evening, as he finished his Basket ball class and was riding his bicycle to home, he was thinking about telling his Mom about the Inter city Basket ball tournament his coach announced just then and his highest marks in Mathemetics in the class test. "Mom would be excited to hear these interesting news' of mine" he said to himself. As he approached home, he saw his aunt, Lakshmi who was his father's younger sister standing outside his house and crying profusely. Chethan went close to her and asked, "Aunt, when did you come? Why are you standing here? Is Mom not at home? Why are you crying"? Questions were flooding at Aunt Lakshmi. Aunt tried to calm down, bent down to Chethan's height and hugged him. She said, "Chethan dear, we must go to the hospital immediately. I was waiting for you here. Shall we leave"? Chethan just said, "Yes"! He didn't ask any more questions as he understood there must be some serious matter, but his eyes were still full of questions. 

             In the car, Chethan asked his aunt, "is everything fine Aunty"? At that time, Lakshmi said, "Today evening, an hour back, your father and mother met with an accident and your Dad, my brother died on the spot! Your mom has been severely injured and she has been shifted to hospital. We are going to see them", and started crying. Chethan was shocked. He didn't know how to react. Just 10 minutes back he was thinking of telling his Mom so many interesting things and now he has just heard the news of his father's death and mother battling for her life in hospital.

            Hospital came. Aunt parked the car at the nearest place available and both of them got down and ran inside. Uncle Ajay, husband of Lakshmi was waiting for them inside and he took them to the ICU. Seeing his mother through the small window of ICU, Chethan started crying, realizing this is not a dream. Ajay said, "your mom has been waiting to see you. Go inside Chethan". Chethan went inside and held his mother's hand. Mother tried to open her eyes, which she partially did and saw her son. Tears started flowing from her eyes. Chethan said "You will be alright" and wiped her tears. Doctor came in and said, "Chethan, you should let your Mom rest now". Chethan nodded and left the ICU.

          Chethan then went with Aunt Lakshmi to another room where his father was kept. Chethan cried inconsolably seeing his father. 5 minutes later, Ajay came running to Chethan and Lakshmi and gave them another unfortunate news. Chethan's mother is no more! Chethan couldn't digest this. He just kept saying to himself, "This cannot be true! Mom and Dad cannot desert me like this".

         Its been a week since the most unfortunate incident took place. All that Chethan did was crying. Aunt Lakshmi  and Chethan's maternal Grand mother were with him in his house. Chethan hadn't spoken to anybody since that day. Aunt Lakshmi brought a glass of milk as Chethan refused breakfast and spoke to him, "Chethan dear, I know it is too early to speak to you of all of this, still I'm doing it as it is important. Have you thought of your future? In the sense, where do you want to stay and start going to school"?

            Chethan just looked at her face and didn't answer anything.

             Grand mother added, "Dear Chethan, whatever had to happen, happened! No doubt it is painful. But we need to think of tomorrow. You know, your Aunt and myself have been staying here from past one week. She has to return to her house as she is away from her family. As you know, your Grand pa is bedridden and even I can't leave him with some third person to take care of for long. I need to leave for my town as soon as possible. You need to decide and tell if you want to stay with your Aunt or you would like to come to my town and stay with your grand parents." 

          Chethan just realized he has to take a decision and thought for a moment and said, "Grand ma and Aunt, thanks for staying with me in this crucial period of my life and being a support. I would like to stay in this house it self as I feel my parents are still there with me all the time. You all can return to your houses whenever you feel is necessary. It is okay if it is today itself".

         Aunt Lakshmi got angry and said, "Don't act foolish Chethan. Do you know how dangerous it is for a 10 year old boy to stay alone? It is fine if I have to be away from my family,I shall stay with you".

        "Aunty, please don't be angry. I know what happened with me was a disaster. But every one should get back to their life. You and grand ma should also carry on. For me, this is my life. I want to stay here all my life. Kindly don't force me", said Chethan firmly.

         Aunt and grand mother waited for another two days to see if Chethan would change his mind, but only in vain. Chethan promised both of them that he would call both of them everyday and speak to them and if need be he would not hesitate to take their help. He kissed both of them and they left for their places.

        It had been like 20 days since Chethan had not gone to school. One evening, his Maths teacher visited him. They both went to the terrace to talk. But they could hardly talk. After ten minutes, teacher broke the silence and said, 

"Chethan, do you see the sun setting"? Chethan nodded. The teacher continued, "Everyone knows it will be dark after sunset. It was a matter of choice for Sir Edison to either sit in the dark or invent light that can solve our problem of darkness. It doesn't mean we don't need sun anymore. We know Sun is going to rise again tomorrow morning right?  In a similar way, we all face darkness in our lives at different points of time. What really matters is are we ready to make that choice of bringing the light back. Seeing you, I can say that you have made a wrong choice. Remember, it is never late to make the right choice. I want to see you in school as usual tomorrow". The teacher left. 

        Teacher's words really got Chethan thinking. It had been like 10 days, he was just sitting at home alone thinking about every incident he could possibly remember with his parents and cry, how his mother used to ask him to take interest in the household, like cooking, shopping, handling money etc. He always used to escape saying he has got the best Mom in the world and she would do everything he needs. He thought he should make an attempt to move on. He started off with cooking. Though the food he prepared was not tasty, he felt better. He understood that his parents always wanted to see him happy. He just realized that happiness comes from acceptance of the current situation and adapting. He made the choice to be happy that day and never ever regretted.

         Chethan was in school as expected by his teacher the next day. He also returned to the Basket ball coaching center and resumed sports. Though his parents' death was a dark spot in his life, Chethan chose to move on and learnt to make the best with what he has.