The Ring of Fire

Chapter 10

An episode came at the back of his mind while he watched the last of the leaves fall.

It was a cold autumn eve. Catherine had asked Albert to rake the lawn, Castor chose to peg along with him as he lost the right to watch TV because he forgot to complete his homework a day before.

"Dad, do the trees get lonely when leaves leave them?" he giggled at the common sound of leaves.

"I guess they do feel lonely".

"Then how do they cope up with it?"

"They cope up with it because new leaves always keep coming, but it is not the leaves that are companions, it is the trees. The other trees that surround this one, the tiny shrubs and plants that never leave their side. They are the ones that will always stay with you."

"Don't the leaves feel bad that they have to leave?"

"Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but what matters most is that leaves come back in the end. You should, like the leaves, always come back. If you are struck down by a problem, then make sure you come back and hit the problem right in the face. At the same time also know that your best friends are the trees and shrubs, the one who won't go away from your life, no matter what difficult circumstance you are in."

"So you want me to be like a leaf and befriend a tree?"

Albert chuckled and then replied, "You should learn from the good in others and make sure that the bad in them stay away from you. Similarly, you should like the leaves always come back, but unlike the leaves, you should not desert the people you love. Like the trees, you should be a constant companion, but at times people need some space and it is usually best to give them that."

"That, dad, was very confusing, but I will try my best to understand what you just said."

This time, Albert laughed out loud and told his son that things would make sense when the time was right.

Castor knew that the time had arrived, and he had to live with the fact that Albert had gone. He dashed the tears which had begun forming in his eyes with his shirtsleeves and stood up.

He pulled Catherine and Alice into a group hug to which Alice lovingly replied that his shirt stinked.

Catherine was allowed to go home the very next day only when she promised that she would make regular visits to the hospital till the month. Before leaving Dr. Lia had warned Castor of any odd behaviour or any signs of weakness.

Castor was tired. He had to make sure that his scores did not drop, His mother was sick and he had to take care of her as well as his little sister. The grief of his father's death was just catching up with him. His demise started to seem real with every other second. He was tired of it all. He wanted to get some sleep that was not riddled with nightmares, he wanted to wake up the next morning hoping that it was all one huge nightmare, because he didn't want to deal with the reality. So he did what he always did when he was stressed. He read a book. The words were familiar and comforting, the characters that he was getting to know with each page he read. He lived with them, and in them he lost his world. He did not read with hopes to live in their world. He read with hopes that their stories might help him in his world. He did not read to live in a fictitious world, he read to survive reality. Books were his oldest companion, love them and they will love them back, ignore them and you won't be bothered, but he had never ignored a book. He always made sure to read them, whether they were stories of facts, words were all that mattered, for these words were his greatest solace. Those words helped him escape the cruel reality even if it was for a little while. He wanted to run away from all the pain and the sadness and all his responsibilities but he couldn't because if he did, then there would be no one to look after his mother and sister. He didn't want to be a coward.