Beware: '5 Minutes More' Ahead

"What can be even more joyful than a sweet, little family picnic in a beautiful garden facing a Marine Drive? 

In my opinion, nothing at all!" These were the thoughts wandering in my mind, while I was enjoying the family picnic. 

We had reached the spot by the late afternoon and had our stomachs filled with all the spicy and crispy snacks that I and my siblings could manage to bring.

We were enjoying the picnic. 

All of a sudden, there came three young girls in one of the next-to-us picnic huts.

They seemed like best buddies to me. 

Well, before their arrival the place was calm and peaceful but, as soon as the crew arrived, the place started acquiring a bit of noise by their loud talks, laughs, and cheers that they made to each other while playing various games. However, it's still unknown to me whether those girls were doing this intentionally, to trouble others. 

From their talks, I inferred that one of them was called Maria. 

All of those girls were enjoying it a lot, then, Maria's phone rang and thinking for a couple of seconds, she declined the call, for, she thought that the reason behind the call would be Maria's mum waiting for her arrival. She talked with her friends regarding her departure but, the other two compelled her to stay for 5 minutes more.

Maria thought that just 5 minutes more of joyfulness won't do any harm. However, this was a huge mistake of hers.

Then, after 5 minutes, Maria thought of departing because of the call that her mum made some time ago.

This time again, the same thing took place and Maria continued to stay for 5 minutes more.

However, these 5 minutes were pretty long, as they lasted for 45 actual minutes!

In this period, her mum made numerous phone calls to her but, Maria declined each one of them because she was afraid that her mum would rebuke her on the call and she would get insulted in front of her friends.

So, 45 actual minutes passed and, were enough for Maria to realize that her mum might be needing her help. So, not thinking about her friends, she decided to go home immediately.

As she entered the house, she was mentally prepared to bear the scoldings. But, to her surprise, there was nobody at the house.

Then, fear flooded her as some horrible thoughts related to her mum struck her mind, and she started acting hysterically. She searched for her mum in every single room of the house but couldn't even find the housemaid in any of those. Technically, the house was empty at that moment.

Then, she dialed her mum's phone number numerous times and finally, the last call of hers was picked up by the housemaid and she informed the girl "Maria, in the early evening time, your mother stumbled and fell from the stairs while cleaning some old, dusty items which were situated in the top floor of the storeroom. At that moment, I was on the veranda, which was quite far from the storeroom so, I reached the spot, a couple of minutes late.

Also, I have an important thing to tell you, the first person madam called after she was badly hurt was, her daughter, that's you. Then, after reaching the hospital, we both tried your number numerous times, to reach you but, each time, you declined it. Seeing madam in such a miserable condition was unbearable." 

Maria was feeling guilty about herself, she just wanted to see her mum's face and apologize with the bottom of her heart, so, she asked the housemaid for the hospital details and headed to the hospital.

Then, she rushed towards her mum's ward, opened the door, and saw her beloved mother, lying on the hospital bed, with an enormous, white bandage covered over her left arm, as she had got an arm injury (a minor one). 

Seeing her daughter, Maria's mother burst into tears and vice versa...

At that moment, Maria narrated the entire picnic story to her and assured her that, in the future, she would never fall into the clutches of the so-called 'peer pressure'. She also assured her mum that, she would never hesitate to say 'no'; as the girl had learned a lesson which could be named as 'the vital NO'; also she had realised the evil consequences of the wicked 5 more minutes.