Where is my son?
It was a sunny afternoon in November. The old man went out to the garden of the big house that his son bought him three years ago with a wheelchair. The flowers he planted with his son were swinging in the cool wind. For a long time, he stared at the colorful flowers and the beautiful mountain that was not far away.
“Hi sir, how are you?” A boy asked as him stood beside the fence. Then he walked into the garden. He was a nice boy with shiny eyes and a strong body. The blue polo T-shirt made the young boy look more like a man.
“I am fine.”
“What should I call you? I am John.”
“Mr. Eidam is fine.”
“Can I sit here? I just passed here and want to rest for some minutes.”
“Anywhere.”
They both sat there in silence for a moment, then the boy talked: “I have some whisky with me. Do you want to drink some?”
“Whatever you want.”
“I am obsessed with whisky. I drink nothing but whisky. It tastes spicy but that is what I like.” He stopped for a moment, waiting for the old man to respond, but the old man did not say anything and he continued, “Do you live by yourself in this house?”
“Yes.”
“It is so nice to have a house here, with the beautiful mountain surrounding the house and listening to the birds’ singing in the woods. I always hoped I could live in a house like that. You chose a wonderful place for retirement.”
“I didn’t choose here, my son did. He bought me this house three years ago.”
“Then you must have a wonderful son! You must be very glad about that! My father complained about me all the time because I didn’t visit him very often.”
“Then you should.”
“Of course I should. I want to visit him but I’m too busy.”
“What do you do?” The old man leaned to the front a little bit and watched the boy carefully.
“I am a composer. I wrote music for a theatrical troupe. I just got this job after I graduated two years ago.”
“Oh, my son works in a theatrical troupe, too. He is the actor. I love to go to see him perform. I went to the musical every time he played. He once was the Romeo in the musical Romeo and Juliet. I even cried for the Romeo he played. He is such a talented actor. People all stood and clapped for him after the show. It was such a great success.”
“Wow! That’s great! Maybe I have met him before. What is his name?”
“Sam.”
“Emm… I don’t think I know him. But since he is an actor of a theatrical troupe, I think I will meet him very soon.”
“Hope you will. I haven’t seen him for three years.” The old man sighed.
“I am so sorry.” The boy said in a surprised expression and picked up the whisky, sipped a bit. However, this time he choked and coughed strongly. The old man patted at his back and looked at him with a loving flash in his eyes.
“That’s why my son didn’t drink whiskey. He would choke. It is something enjoyable during the process, but painful afterwards.” He continued, “We used to sit like this and chat for a whole day, watched the sunset, drank wines. Sometimes I forced him to drink whiskey, but you see, he would choke.”
“This is my first time being choked by whisky. This never happened before.”
“You are like my son. Deny everything I said.”
“Did he?”
“Yes, he did. When he was young, we always talked about the politics. He never agreed with my opinion. We had a lot of fights for that. Later, he grew up and joined the Republican Party while I was a member of Democratic Party. Isn’t it funny?”
The boy did not answer.
Silent again.
For half an hour, they sipped the whisky and watched the beautiful sight outside of the garden. A little impatiently, the boy stood up slowly, stretched his body and yawned: “There is a musical tonight that is performed by some high school students. People said it is amazing. Do you want to go to the musical with me?”
“That will be great.”
The old man stood and went with the boy. They walked on the path that was covered by the small stones and lead them to the city. They passed a red house, passed a giant tree, passed a fountain and passed a cemetery. The cemetery is beside a brook and it shined under the sun, more beautiful at this afternoon. The boy glanced at the cemetery and suddenly he found something:
IN MEMORY OF SAMUEL R. EIDAM
“Where is your son now?” He asked.
“I don’t know where he is.” The old man answered, “People told me he is in heaven.”