Leaving America

NORTH AMERICA

The whistling sound of the kettle brought him back to reality in the old yet clean looking bungalow… the only thing he ever owned. He poured himself a cup of tea… the last cup he would be having there. He sighed knowing fully well that he would be going faraway and wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon. As soon as the alarm clock rang in the room, he knew it was time for him to leave and so he placed the cup on the kitchen cabinet without even taking a sip, took his luggage which was vertically placed besides the front door before leaving.

As soon as he was out of the bungalow, he placed the key to the door under the thick, fluffy grey carpet where he usually kept it. He couldn’t help but take a final look at the house before departing. Entering into a cab, he took out an envelope from his pocket which contained his passport and a faded letter.

“I’m finally going to Finland… my homeland.” Stroking his hair, he murmured and then sighed. For someone who was travelling back to his homeland, he looked way too sad.

He caressed the letter in his palms for a long time before reading it again for the umpteenth time. He smiled bitterly as he read the letter… he was amazed at how his mother could write to him without even properly saying farewell to him. All that was in that crumbled piece of paper were two sentences.

“Don’t be late for my funeral.”

“I have a surprise for you my naive boy.”

Those were the only words a mother wrote to her son on her death bed before passing away. Those were the only words his mother could think of…

“How could she be so eccentric even on her death bed?” He chuckled, a tear trickling down his face. Other mothers would probably write a heartfelt letter to their children or would rather have them be with them till they took their last breath or say sweet words to them but his mother was quite different. She would rather say a few unrelating lines to her only child and wouldn’t even bat an eyelid when she spoke about how imperfect he was.

“Even till death… she still reprimand’s me… how on earth will I be late for her funeral.” He folded the crumpled letter along with his passport and placed it back into his overcoat pocket.

“She also called me a naïve boy… I’m a grown-up man for goodness sake… I’m thirty-seven… thirty-seven.” He scratched his knuckles not knowing what else to do.

When the cab came to a halt, he took out his luggage and then walked into the airport. He entered the section of his airline carrier to get his boarding pass printed and then went for a security check. When he was done with all the procedures, he sat on the last bench at the departure hall as a lot of people were already seated.

Sitting alone at the departure hall gave him some time to think about the good memories he had in North America. Leaving was never his plan from the beginning but as his mother would have it, he was coming home… for good this time. Speaking of good memories, the only good memories he ever had were memories of friends and an old lady who wasn’t even a family of his but then again, those memories wouldn’t matter anymore since it’ll all fade as time passed by; leaving only the bad ones behind.

The beeping noise of his phone brought an end to his line of thoughts. It was a message from a contact he saved as ‘my old lady’. He suddenly remembered that he forgot to tell her about him leaving and as soon as he was about to call her, it was time for him to board the plane.

“As soon as I get to Finland, I promise to call you my old lady.” He made a quick promise with his eyes closed before switching off his phone.