A Peaceful Night-A short story
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It was 9 p.m. A 24 year old handsome young man, Robert, entered a multi specialty hospital. He went to the reception and met a nurse.
He asked “Excuse me. I want to meet my father. Can you show me his room please?”
The nurse asked his details and he answered.
The nurse said “Your father is in a critical condition. His body is not responding to the medicines. He is suffering from loneliness too. Nobody came to see him these days. He requested me many times to call you. Finally, you came now. Follow me.”
The nurse took him to a room. She opened the door of that room and said: “There is your father.” Then she left.
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Robert entered the room. An old man was on the bed in a sad condition with an oxygen mask. Robert put his hand on the old man’s hand and squeezed it with affection. The old man opened his eyes and saw Robert. Both talked sometimes peacefully. Then the old man closed his eyes and slept. Sometimes he opened his eyes and looked at Robert. Then both talked a few minutes again and again.
The nurse turned to Robert and said “I’m sorry. He is no more.”
She felt pity for Robert. She tried to comfort Robert using soothing words.
Robert asked her “Who is this man?”
The nurse was startled. She said loudly “He is your father.”
Robert said “No, he is not my father. I never saw him before in my life.”
The nurse asked, “Then why didn’t you say this thing when I took you to this room last night?”
Robert said “Last night I met you and requested you to show me, my father. By mistake, you took me to this room and showed me this old man. You told me his condition was critical and he was suffering from loneliness and nobody came to see him. I understood he was in his last moments with nobody beside him. I understood he was in need of someone to give and get love. So I stayed with him until now.”
The nurse was surprised by the sky-high character of Robert.
Words You May Not Know
Critical (adjective) = serious and dangerous
Squeeze (verb) = press with fingers
Affection (noun) = love
Comfort (verb) = make a worrying person feel better by being kind and using kind words.
Soothing (adjective) = Reducing worry/pain; that makes someone feel better.
Startle (verb) = shock someone suddenly
Pity (noun) = a feeling of sympathy and sadness for someone
Sky-high (adjective) = very high; too high
