THE UPDATE OF LIFE

I bent down and glanced through the cot. The child inside was fast asleep. I could not ever have envisioned having standing where I was today. Being a father could be so glorious. I clearly remember the time a year ago. The time when I thought that kids were a nuisance and a source of the disturbance. Now the world around seemed different, better than before. Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a soft noise. The baby was moving. He opened his eyes. Emeralds green and almond-sized were looking at me. Unwillingly a tear fell from my eyes landing straight on the kids, my sons, and forehead. He chuckled. I fell to my knees and picked him in my arms. “He looks like you,” said a feeble voice. I turned with the baby in my hands. My wife was looking at me with a smile. “Thought of a name, yet,” she asked again. I nodded. ‘’Neon” I said looking at his white face and pink cheeks. “Resembles his beauty,” I said, slowly caressing his cheek with my thumb. “He’s completely changed you” she quoted again. I shrugged my shoulders and said, “It beats me. I cannot understand that he could change me with my first glance at him.” I put him back in his cot.

“I suggest keeping her here for another day so we can be explicit about any problem,” said the doctor. “OK. I can get all the medicines required for my baby,” I said to the doctor.

As I drove to the nearest restaurant for lunch as I had not eaten since the last day. I stopped my car at the red signal. Just then, a small kid knocked at my car window and showed me a couple of key chains. I pulled down the car window and the kid said, “Sir these key chains are very lovely. Please take them; they are not very expensive either.” His face was engulfed with dust and sweat ran down his face. The kid seemed very innocent to me. I remembered the day a month ago when I had shouted at the kid that was begging for money at my car window but now I thought what if my son, Neon, would be at his place, selling and begging at the window of every car. “Want some, Sir?” the kid asked again. I smiled and reached for my wallet and handed him a five-dollar note. “Here Keep this.” The kid was staggered to see me give him such an amount. He slowly took the money from my hand and then burst into tears and shook my hand with great awe. “World needs people like you, sir. Thank you!” he said wiping his tears. As the headlight turned green, the child backed away from my car. I could still see him waving at me.

I returned to the hospital and saw Dr. Berlet near my wife’s bed. As I entered, she quoted, “Mr. Evans you are back. Everything is okay with your wife and your kid and you may take them home,” she said with a warm smile. “I am very contented to hear that,” I said shaking her hand. I slowly rested my wife on the bed. “I’ll get you your medicine and then you can sleep,” I said.

My wife was fast asleep when I heard the baby crying. I rushed over to the cot and took him in my hands. I slowly cuddled his cheek. I fetched his milk bottle and slowly penetrated it in his mouth. In the next ten minutes, the baby was also slumbering.

I sat on my table thinking about the sudden change that we were going to have with the presence of Neon. Children need a lot of attention and care, did that mean that I would have to work less often or cancel most of my meetings? Would I have time left for myself or would Katharine and I have time to spend time with each other? Different thoughts surrounded me. However, kids can also make life more idyllic. I thought of the moments when I would go around getting him clothes, toys, shoes, and all the other stuff. Moreover, when he would go to school for the first time with a bag on his back. I chuckled all by myself at my soliloquies. I ruminated on the change in me. I had thought that I would never be a father. I had loathed kids. I had even fought with Katharine the first day she had informed me that she was pregnant. I had even thought of declaring separation from her! Now with Neon, I found every kid a darling. Even the son of the house cleaner looked cute to me. Maybe we just need to be prepared for any time we see in the future. We may not like the changes, but we can learn to get along and think of all the positive sides.” Besides, unwillingly I accepted that I was okay with the new update of life. I decided that I was going to enjoy being a father. Moreover, if all the fathers in the world think of all the orphan kids and the kids begging on roads as their kids then maybe we will be able to end child labor. Every kid in this world has the right of spending his life in the best way. We need to open up our hearts then we can change this world in a better place and end the differences between black and white or rich and poor. Also, GIVE AN UPDATE TO THE MOTHER EARTH.” I said aloud. I realized that I had been saying all these things aloud and my wife was looking at me with a thin smile. “Your perspectives completely changed,” she said “And what’s more I like the new you” I walked over to her and kissed her forehead. She squeezed my hand and closed her eyes.

THE END

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