Chapter 2: once there was a boy

Chapter 2: once there was a boy

Once upon a time.

There was a boy…..

The boy stood at a bus stop. He has been waiting for close to two hours but the side of town where he lived with his sick mother, nothing ever works including the bus.

He clutched an old picture in his left hand and a little tattered backpack in his right hand because inside the bag were a few shirts he owned and the shirts were threatening to fall all over the muddy ground.

The boy had a big old grin across his face like he could barely contain the joy he was feeling and he whistled on occasion and both his feet alternated as he tapped to the beat of the music he whistled.

He couldn't be more than fifteen years of age or maybe younger. The boyish and childish face he possessed made it impossible to tell his real age.

The boy looked around hoping to share the news with someone but the only person in the bus stop was an old man, wrinkled with age and snoring like a panda.

The boy kept his news to him.

Soon, the bus came and he found a sweet spot at the back of it, where he could be happy without the interruption of passengers getting on or getting off of the bus.

By his left was an older woman, she looked kind enough to him. Maybe he could share his news with her.

"Good afternoon Miss. I am going to the city!" The boy's grin broadened as he conveyed his message. The older woman looked a little put off.

"Ok-ay?"

It sounded more like a question than an acknowledgement yet the boy continued.

"I am going to find my father. I haven't seen him since mama left the city before I was born" the boy pressed the backpack into himself and hugged it.

The older woman now seemed fairly interested in his tales.

"Is he expecting you?" She asked him.

The boy shook his head the same time he whispered "No but he can't turn me away either. Fathers aren't supposed to, right? And I had to sell most of my belongings to make this trip"

"Oh dear" The older woman murmured.

The boy opened the old backpack he was holding and he fished out some papers and handed it over to the woman.

The woman hesitated before she collected them.

"They are letters from my teachers at school testifying of my good behavior and good grades. Did you know I recently led my school mates to a mathalon and we won! I listen to mama and I don't talk back to my elders. I go to church consistently and I plan to be a medical doctor in the future. I am a good boy, Papa can't turn me away, can he?" The boy looked at the woman for answers, his eyes brimming with hope.

At last, the woman squeezed a tiny smile at him. She hated that the boy's heart might get broken.

"Of course not, he would be a fool to turn you away" the woman told him at last.

The boy smiled widely and took back his recommendation letters.

"Does your mother know you are making this trip to find your father?"

The boy shook his head "Mama is too sick to notice but that's okay. After I reconcile with Papa, he will take her to a good hospital and she will get better. You see, I followed the golden rule mama taught me"

"What golden rule?" The woman asked him.

"Mama said do good to others and good things shall come to me. It's a very good rule" the boy replied.

The bus stopped and the older woman stood up "This is where I alight, boy. Good luck"

The boy smiled at her.

The woman turned to leave but she stopped and pressed something into his hand.

"Buy yourself a fine cap, boy. You must be smartly dressed too" the woman got down from the bus.

The boy opened his palm and it was money and a complimentary card. He quickly pressed his head out of the window and yelled thank you at the woman. She smiled and waved to him as the boy continued his journey.

Soon the boy was standing in front of a large gate wearing a bogus red cap he bought from a vendor. He knocked on the gate.

"Hello sir, I am here to meet Mr. Barrington…Mr. Jim Barrington" the boy told the gateman.

"Who are you?"

"I am his son. Jim Barrington is my father"

The boy could see the surprised look on the gateman's face but he opened the gate wider.

"Come inside, kid. Sit here and don't move an inch. I will get the big boss for you"

The boy sat there on a stool holding his bag tightly. He knew his father was rich but he didn't know he was that rich. His curiosity got the better of him as he looked around the big white mansion.

The mansion stood there as if the surrounding nature had embraced it, that the flora flowed within it as much as around it. For the architect must have loved trees so much that there was a mighty oak in the center, centuries old and the great house had been built around it.

As he traveled the mansion with his eyes, the boy saw her for the first time.