By Priyanshu Misra
William walked up at a steady pace, his eyes completely focused on the layered bands of red rock in front of him. His seventy-year-old body was not as spry as it used to be and his knees complained when he tried to walk swiftly. Everyone else present around him was in awe of the naturally formed canyon, a true testament of nature's beautiful handiwork but William was not here to gawk and admire its beauty.
" Oh! Willy, I so wished that we could have visited the Grand Canyon together. It...would have been so wonderful if we didn't kept postponing taking a vacation, " Alice said in a weak voice before a horrid cough emerged from her failing lungs and escaped through her mouth with a few specks of blood spurting out.
" Alice, please don't try to talk, " William said while controlling his own despair from not overwhelming him. " Let me call the nurse, " he muttered in a panicked voice while getting up from his seat but Alice caught his hand with her own feeble ones and implored him to stop.
" Don't go, Willy. I want to spend my last moments with you in complete peace. Let's not call any nurse to disturb that, " Alice muttered brokenly while her words made William's heart and mind go into a battle– his heart urging him to respect her wish while his mind ordered him to do the right thing.
Presently, a boy's sharp cry snatched William from his memory lane and crashed him into his glum reality. He jerked up his head to the left and saw a boy of about seven or eight years old throwing a tantrum, much to the chagrin of his helpless-looking parents.
" You don't ever listen to me. I told you I didn't want to come here, " the kid complained, specifically to his mother who looked completely irked with his behavior.
" Well, guess what, sucker, life doesn't revolve around you, " an older child, probably about eleven, was standing right next to him and he said to the younger one in a mocking manner.
" Shut up, you prick. Nobody asked for your opinion, you dumb idiot, " the younger one replied back in quite a sassy fashion.
" Hey, mind your tongue or you will be grounded for being a belligerent boy, " the dad spoke for the first time and he did it quite harshly.
" But... I just..." the boy opened his mouth to reply something in his defense but this time the mother took the initiative of reprimanding him.
" If you don't stop throwing a tantrum every minute, I swear to god, you will be left alone the next time we decide to go somewhere, " her tone was stern and the boy who had been shouting and jumping like a monkey a second ago immediately went quiet.
William averted his eyes from the group now, a disgusted light shining in them. He was standing now at some distance from the edge of the cliff, the urn clutched tightly in his grip. His mind again logged off from reality and went down the well of memories where his wife was still with him.
" No, Alice, don't you bail on me now, " William said, his voice getting lost under the sea of sobs that were viciously emerging as his throat.
Alice flashed a very weak smile and lifted her frail hands to touch the cheeks of the man she had shared her life with for sixty- two years. " When it's your time William, you can do nothing about it, " she said in an extremely broken voice.
Two big, fat teardrops jumped down from the corners of William's eyes when he heard her defeated voice. She had fought hard with her disease, with her fucked up destiny but eventually it arrived.
" Don't say that. I... I won't be able to face this world without you, " William uttered in a helpless voice.
" Oh! Willy, you are stronger than you think. Yes, at first, things could sting like hell but eventually you will move on. That's the beauty of life. It goes on, " she said lovingly, trying with the last vestiges of her dying energy to make herself sound as positive and cheerful as she can manage.
" Can you do one thing for me, Willy? " she asked after a second while her husband looked at her with grief-stricken eyes.
" Yes, anything. Whatever you say, " William replied with a burst of energy in his demeanor.
" Scatter my ashes in the Grand Canyon if you can. If not in life then at least I want to encounter the place in my death, " Alice requested pleadingly.
William didn't utter anything at first, he couldn't bring himself to open his mouth or even roll his tongue to utter a single word, so numb he was to everything.
" I want your word, Willy. Will you grant me my last request? " she again implored, her voice getting hoarse with each utterance.
" Yes... of course, my love. You will have your request fulfilled. Don't you worry about it now, " he said earnestly while leaning forward and kissing her forehead.
" Today, I will not just disperse your last remains here, Alice, but will end my own life too. Do you hear it, my love? I am following you even into the afterlife, " William mumbled in a broken voice.
" Are you alright? Why are you sitting like this? " a voice faintly reached William's ears and it tore him away from his memory, much to his annoyance.
William looked to his left from where the voice had come and saw the boy from earlier, the younger one, standing beside him and looking at him with a curious expression.
" Why does it matter to you anyway? Just go away and don't disturb me, " William said grumpily and averted his eyes from the boy. He thought his rebuke would do the trick and the young devil would just leave him alone to his sorrow but things didn't pan out as he was hoping for.
" What's in that pot? " the boy again asked, ignoring the rebuke.
" Are you a little daft? Don't you know the difference between an urn and a pot? “ William retorted with a mild anger.
The boy didn't readily answer. He seated himself first next to William, much to the old man's chagrin, and then answered with a naive smile, " No, I don't know what an urn is. Will you tell me what's the difference between a pot and an urn? ". There was genuine innocence in his question and even William, who was grumpy toward the child at first, could sense that.
" Uh, well...a pot is something used for cooking purposes or sometimes for storing certain items. Urn is something which is used to contain someone's... ashes, " William's voice faltered a bit and sounded hollow when he muttered the word ' ashes '.
" Whose ashes are inside the urn? " The boy asked inquisitively.
William hesitated a little at first but then quietly mumbled, " My wife's, ". His eyes didn't meet the boy's, though and remained focussed at the canyon lying in front of him.
" So, you are here to scatter her ashes, right? " the boy inquired mildly.
" Yes, granting the last wish she made, " William answered in a pained voice.
A moment of absolute silence passed before the boy decided to break it.
" My dad passed away, too, two years ago and I cried for three days after that " he said in a serious voice, suddenly sounding far more mature than his age.
William's earlier churlishness dissipated slightly and he, for the first time since the start of this conversation, looked at the freckled boy with an interest.
" But, you were arguing with that man a few minutes ago? Was he not your dad? " William asked in a curious manner.
" Nah, he is my stepfather. I hate his guts, " the boy muttered with an intense vexation in his voice.
" And, the older boy with him? " William inquired the next moment.
" My step brother, Alex. He is a pain in the ass too just like his dad. Always antagonizing me and when I retaliate in any manner directly reports to my mom who then punishes me instead of him, " he said frustratingly while breathing a sigh.
William listened to the boy intently but didn't pass on any comment. Truth be told, he had no words to pass on regarding the boy's situation.
“ You know the incident that you say you saw earlier, “ the boy once started speaking, “ it may look like I was being troublesome but actually I wasn't. I just didn't want to set foot out of the house today because it's my father's death anniversary. I just…wanted to spend my whole day inside my room with the memories I had of him, “ his voice faltered a little by the end but he composed himself quite well.
William realized the boy and him were kindred spirits. Both of them had lost a significant person in their lives although the young boy was handling it much better than him it seems.
" Do you begrudge your mother for remarrying so soon after your father's death? " William finally asked the boy in a soft voice, his whole demeanor very different from his earlier sullen one.
The boy didn't utter anything immediately. He thought for a minute; his brows furrowed in such a fashion like he was a mathematician who was heavily invested in trying to prove a theorem of his. In the end, he replied in a plain manner, " No, I don't. I can't judge her for that. That's not my right, ".
William was by now beyond astonished and impressed by this young kid's mindset. He had learnt the art of forgiveness and letting go which William, even after spending seventy years on this planet, hasn't.
" Aren't you going to disperse the ashes? " the boy asked after a moment when he saw William didn't move a muscle and just blankly stared at the open space before him.
" To be honest with you, I didn't just plan to disperse my wife's ashes here. I wanted to relieve myself from my existence too, " William enunciated each word carefully while still staring into the void.
" What? Why would you even think that? " the boy asked in an astounded voice.
" Because I have nothing to look forward to. Nothing to live for, " the old man said in a straightforward, plain manner.
" That can't be true. Don't you have someone else? " the boy asked in a mellow voice while sliding a little closer to William.
William heaved a long sigh on hearing that question. " There is actually. My son...and his family, " the old man stated in a hollow voice before quickly adding, " Although, I haven't seen them in many years, ".
The boy, perceptive as he was, didn't push any statement of his own and patiently waited for the old man to talk further as he got the sense that the elder fellow was not done talking yet.
" My son...well, he is estranged from me. Though, his mother always went over to his place and mingled around with his family, " William stated plainly.
He took a little pause quickly adding, " He came a few days ago to his mother's funeral, to pay his respects to the woman who loved him wholeheartedly and then left without even casting a glance at me. Not that I can blame him for that though, " William remarked, especially the last bit with an ironical smile brimming at the corners of his lips.
" What did he do to deserve such a punishment? " the boy inquired with the gullible innocence of youth in his voice.
" Nothing. He just went ahead and fell in love with a girl from a different nationality and I, fool as I have always been, severed every ties I had with him, " William avowed through gritted teeth.
" But, that doesn't mean you can't call him now, " the boy responded in a subtle voice.
" And, what would I even tell him? " William muttered, more to himself than to the boy beside him.
" Just say what comes straight from your heart. Even now, I have a heart to heart talk with my dad when I feel a little lonely, " the boy said while flashing a wistful smile.
William looked at the boy with even more interest than ever. His freckled cheeks, his gray eyes, his curly reddish hair; he imagined his own grandchild to resemble this boy even though he had never laid eyes on him.
" You know, I have a grandson of just about your age. My wife used to visit my son's family all the time and she would ecstatically talk about him after each encounter, " William said in a heartfelt manner.
" Then, all the more reasons to pick up the phone, " the boy said in an insightful voice.
Suddenly, a phone did rang, making William almost jump at his place. The boy quickly pulled the device out of his pocket and put it to his ears.
" Alright, I am on my way, " he said after listening quietly for a second.
" That was my mom. Apparently, it's time to go, " the boy said to William while putting his phone carefully in his pocket.
" They already got you a cellphone, at this age? " William asked, completely surprised.
" My dad got it for me on my birthday. My last birthday with him, " the boy said, especially the last bit, quite pensively.
William put the urn on the ground for a second and put his right hand on the boy's shoulder while flashing one of the most brilliant smiles that he could muster. " You are a brave young lad. It was nice meeting such a perceptive young one like you. You have learned things in this youthful age that I haven't figured out at my ripe one. That, I am sure, will make your father extremely proud, " he stated in a compassionate manner.
The boy's eyes suddenly got moist but he instantly rubbed those tears off that were ready to roll down his cheeks and got a hold of himself. He quickly got up from the ground and carefully dusted the backside of his jeans.
" It was nice meeting you, " he said while extending his hand toward William for a shake.
" The feeling's mutual, " William shook his hand vigorously while flashing a grin. " Oh! By the way, I never caught your name, " he suddenly remembered that simple fact and put forth to the boy.
" It's Daniel, " the boy said with an openness.
" Good to meet you, Daniel. My name's William, " the old man declared earnestly.
" Alright, I should probably go now. My folks are waiting for me, " Daniel stated to which William instantly nodded.
" Of course, I understand, " he said and both of them exchanged their goodbyes.
William watched the boy move away from his vicinity for a whole minute before averting his eyes to stare at the vast canyon in front of him. He picked up the urn carefully and then got up from the ground. Very slowly, he walked over a little closer to the cliff and stood for a second, completely motionless.
" Goodbye Alice, my sweet love. Rest easy in the afterlife and I promise you, when my time comes, I will gladly join you there, " two plump teardrops rolled down his cheeks while he opened the lid of the urn and released his wife's last mortal remains to the blowing wind.
Like a statue he stood for at least ten minutes, just staring at the beauty of the Canyon. He had not been a perceptive person his whole life nor had been someone to appreciate beauty in small things but today, he could see the beauty of nature while it took his wife's remains in its embrace.
Then, as if suddenly waking up from a dream, he took out his cell phone from his pocket and excitedly searched the contact list. ' Robert ', his search stopped when he saw that name flash on the screen.
" Alright, time to mend some broken ties, then, " he mused in a contemplative voice before dialing the number and putting the phone to his ear.
By Priyanshu Misra
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