Disappeared
Stories on Love Marriage
The alarm clock kept beeping on a late Monday morning. Mrs. Caesar dreaded her daughter’s getting late for office. She hurried up to Sophia’s room. Knock! Knock! No voice. Sophia would be asleep. Caesar pushed open the door.
The bed was empty. The blanket was meticulously folded and placed on one side. Has Sophia taken off today? Caeser called out for her but no reply came from the Washroom. Her laptop was connected to the charger on her study table. A comb lay on her dressing with broken strands of entangled hair. The damp towel hanging on the chair radiated a fragrance of Soap. Has she already left for office? Caesar dialed her number. But the ring came from near the table. Now fraught with worry, Caeser ran towards the phone and found a letter written in her daughter’s meticulous handwriting:
Mom,
I love Joe and we are marrying today. I am sorry but there was no other way.
Caesar slumped in the sofa. The letter which dropped from her hand swayed in the air for some time before landing on the floor. Her heart ached. Her breaths raced. The room seemed to be revolving around her. The walls were burning in fiery red rage and the white curtains swayed like eerie shrouds. The floor appeared to be wobbling so as the ceiling as she looked up. In a fit of anger, Caesar flung the bed sheet in the corner whose wrinkles bespoke of Sophia’s overnight calls with Joe. Her heart was racing with the ticks of the clock she wanted to stop before her daughter marries the butcher’s son. Being a Roman Catholic, how could she Christian ever wonder of marrying off her daughter in a family whose income came from selling pork.
The crow sitting in the balcony sounded as if trilling a shrill mockery. Caesar shooed away the bird. But when she turned towards the room, she encountered a rope hanging from the balustrade. It must be the channel of her daughter’s mysterious escape. Her heart silently wept.
In sometime, the entire house was in commotion when Sophia’s dad and brother learned about her escape. The question which kept hitting their mind was why it had to happen? Why the values they imparted to their daughter could not stop her from taking such brazen decision for a stray boy? Was the love and care they had been giving to the daughter worth the disgrace they would have to face now?
Caeser has talked to her daughter many times on this. Sophia told her mom that she did not have a strong feeling for the boy and hence would not go against the family’s verdict. But now, the mother was holding the evidence of her daughter’s sudden move along the proscribed path. She had let her down.
***
The police visited their place, took all the information about the missing girl and gave hopes to the family to find her soon. Caeser had slept on the floor. When she looked around with limpid eyes, another morning had arrived. In the spur of the moment, she recalled all that had happened the last day, her daughter missing from the house, the letter, the rope hanging from the balcony, the butcher’s boy, the police, the marriage.
Have they got married? She got up the floor in shock. Her husband and son were still asleep. It was seven’ o clock when the doorbell rang. It must be the police. Maybe they found Sophia. She staggered towards the hallway and opened the door with a nervous anxiety. Caeser could not believe her eyes. It was her daughter standing right in front of her. She had no way to express her instant gratification to see Sophia return. But next to her stood Joe which turned Caeser’s happiness into fear. “Have they got married?” Caeser did not want an answer which would make her all the more weak. She did not have the strength to even raise her voice. Her eyes turned moist with tears of helplessness.
In the meantime, Caesaer’s husband and son had woken up and come over.
“Relax. Mrs. Caeser”. Joe said. “We did not marry.”
“What?” Mrs. Caeser sighed in relief. She held her daughter in a tight hug, weeping.
“How could we without your blessings? Mrs. Caeser! My parents have taught me that which begets curse from a grieving heart never reciprocate. I love your daughter to an extent I can’t express but it does not mean I would marry her without involving you. I can never do that. Please take care of her.”
Mrs. Caeser stood blank faced. She was too touched by what she had heard.
“Mom, I can’t live without Joe. When I went to his house last morning, he was surprised to see me and was equally disappointed when I told him about my escapade. He kept explaining to me all through the day that what I did was wrong, that I should come back to you. His family is equally considerate. I will never do this again. Please forgive me, mom. Please!”
Mrs. Caeser hugged both Sophia and Joe and burst out in tears. She said to Joe, “today, you made me realize that a person’s worth should not be judged by his family background or financial status. I feel respect for your parents who imparted such noble values in you. Would you marry my Sophia?”
There was smile on everyone’s face to hear the good news.
“In love, nothing is impossible.”
