Only If He Had A Time Machine

He saw his mom cooking in the kitchen and went in to help her. His mom said, “Don’t fret, kid, I can handle it.” “Let me help you, you have been working so hard and long in the heat of the kitchen on a hot day.” " he replied. She caressed his head, smiled and let him help her. He was back home from Canada after a long time and had brought many gifts for his

mother and father. 

“Does he treat you right?” He asked her. “I am just passing what’s left of my time here, my son.” She replied. He responded irritated, saying, “Why do you want to bide your time? Why not something more? It's never too late to start anew. Break out of this hellhole. How long will you take his beatings and insults? You should have filed a complaint against him by now.” “Shut up,” his mother replied. “He is your father, and you will send him to jail?” she said, shaming him for speaking about his father like that. “I don’t want to send him to jail either, and I love him too. Well….I love him and I hate him too. I’ve grown up taking his beatings and seen him beat you, too. I was little and couldn’t do anything back then. I used to freeze up. But that won’t happen anymore. I do not wish to see him in prison, but a day or two in the lockup might fix his mind. If I see this happening next time. I am going to call the cops on him.” “And then what?” she asked. “Who is going to pay the bills? Who is going to keep me in their house?” “I played the gamble of loving and marrying your father against all my family, and I am paying for it now. What will my family say if I go back there now? I will be forever ashamed in front of them now. And the least amount of rent, if I split, is 5000 rupees at least for a small shack these days. How am I supposed to afford it, son?” 

“5000 rupees is nothing in Canadian dollars, I will pay your rent. I am not studying anymore, so I can send money back home. And your rent is not that much. I am sure I can afford your bills easily. Live away from him, pursue something you love. You wanted to be a beautician, right? Open your business and slowly grow it. I will put it in the capital. Life will be better, Mom. Live your life. You have done so much for us both. It's time I do something for you, too.” He enthusiastically explained this all to her while cutting onions.  

As a kid, he used to verbally fight with her a lot. Especially when she would start beating him up for minor mistakes. He hated her for it for a long time, but later understood that she had no outlet for her frustration and trauma since she didn’t know any better. He forgave her; in fact, he now thought there was nothing to forgive. All his reservations were gone. He understood why his father was a violent man, too. He understood his father had wounds from his childhood and was just dishing out what he received as a kid. It was not because he came home drunk. He was a badminton coach and had a healthy lifestyle. He worked hard but still could not afford a good life for his wife and his son. After such a hard childhood, you work hard throughout your adult life and still can barely make ends meet. When your wife’s brother used to send your kid’s fees for his study abroad, you were bound to feel ashamed and frustrated with yourself. “But taking it out on your wife? He beat me, and I could take it, it's okay, I was a boy, and I was tough. But beating mom? Because he was beaten as a kid, he should have strived to be better with his family.” The son thought.  

He had 15 days of stay left in India. After taking a tour of Rajasthan, he wanted to spend the rest of the time with his mom, and so he did. 

They would sit out in the street, soaking up the sun in January afternoons. One night, they were sitting watching her favourite daily soap. He was more of a cinephile, but tolerated them ever since he was a kid because they were his mother’s favourite. They were so engrossed in the show that his father returned, and they didn’t realize it.  

He entered the kitchen and saw a pile of dishes in the sink. His son was supposed to do them after watching the episode with his mom. But the father didn’t know that. He decided to teach a lesson to his irresponsible wife. He came into the living room, picked whatever he could find, which was a chair and picked it up to hit his wife with it. The son, for the first time, didn’t freeze but stood up to him. He stopped the chair and pushed his father away. “I am not a little boy anymore, I am not a coward anymore.” He screamed the words at his father. He decided to call the cops, but his mother insisted on not doing that. But then, the son decided that his mother would not live there. If his father picked up a chair in front of him to hit him, what would he be doing while he was in Canada? He called his uncle, and his mother’s brother came within hours to pick her up. “No sister of mine is living in a rented house while her brother is alive,” insisted the boy’s maternal uncle. However, the sister did not want to intrude on her brother’s own family and stayed adamant about renting a small place. So, they decided that she would stay in the same city as her brother. Talks about her divorce had started already, and her husband stood there with his tie and eyes wide open. The uncle started booking their airplane tickets while the boy wondered why they were booking airplane tickets when his uncle arrived by car from a city just two hours away, and why his body still looked like when he was in high school. 

Then the alarm hit, and he woke up. In front of his bed, on the wall, was his late mother’s picture hanging in front of him. On his phone, it was his father’s text saying, “Why don’t you call these days? I feel alone. It’s been 9 years since your mother passed away. I miss her a lot.” To which he replied, “Should have valued her while she was still alive.” No more was he going to refrain from calling his father out without any fear. No more would his mother have to live a hard life. Now he would buy her all the luxuries she dreamt of and would never let her be sad or alone for a moment. If only she would come back to life if only he could travel back in time with all the money and success he had. Then he would afford her regular checkups at the doctor and the therapist. He would heal with her. He would fulfil his promises to her now. Only if he had a time machine. No such luck, no luck at all.