THE COMMITMENT

Henry looked pale and frail with a completely bald pate. His face was marked with wrinkles and his eyes were shrunken, rounded with dark circles. They appeared large and almost poking out of their sockets. His arms comprised only of bones and skin, with hardly any muscle on them. His legs could hardly carry his weight and he had to use a walking stick. His eyes culminated the outpourings of a deeply aggrieved soul that tried to close down as the scorching sun slowly rose up across the sky. As he stepped out of the cab Roy held his arm to steady him upon the ground. Rubel extricated himself from the clutches of Melinda standing in front of the door and darted off towards the cab. The old man knelt down to meet Rubel, hugging him in an affectionate embrace.

“Grandpa! You have grown so old now!” said Rubel.

“What? Myself and old! No way!” Henry raised his suitcase with both hands to prove his strength.

“That’s but so light,” quipped Rubel.

“Is that so? Come on then, young man! Let me see you carry it!” He handed it to Rubel, who dropped it down immediately.

“So, you see my boy, how heavy it is!” he said holding it in his hands again.

“Don’t call me a boy, Grandpa. Young man seems better.”

“O.K. Young man! Your desires are my orders.” 

Melinda held Henry’s hands as he stepped onto the stairs approaching the house unsteadily with his walking stick.

“How are you?” she asked.

“As you see me, my child,” he replied.

Roy and Melinda escorted him to an upholstered armchair inside the first room. Henry slumped into it and started panning across the walls slowly, then looking up at the ceiling painted in light red. Satisfied with the shades of color used, he looked up at Roy.

“The room’s been remarkably decorated,” he remarked.

“It’s all to your taste,” said Melinda coming up to him.

He looked blankly at her, his eyes betraying no emotion whatsoever.

“Do you want to rest?” Roy asked him.

“Oh no! I am O.K. Wasn’t too long a journey after all,” he replied, locking both his hands backwards and stretching them to ease his aching muscles.

Rubel had vanished from his sight for sometime. He rushed back and perched upon his lap. Henry held him in his arms as the boy rose up standing upon his thighs and tried to caress his bald pate.

Roy and Melinda took leave of the old Henry and went to their own room inside. Sitting in one of the chairs, Roy pulled out a bunch of papers from his wallet.

“What are those?” asked Melinda.

“Prescriptions,” replied Roy, “The doctor at the home gave me these. He takes these medicines regularly. I have to buy them.”

“But, it may cost us a fortune. They are so many!” said Melinda, visibly shocked at the thickness of the bunch.

“Can’t help!” said Roy, “He needs them all.”

Melinda’s eyebrows raised as the meaning of his words soaked in. “Should have left him to rot there instead of bearing all these expenses, bringing him here,” she said, “Not even sure whether the property we inherit will compensate for these expenses. Should’ve thought of all these earlier.”

“That was your plan all the way,” retorted Roy in self defense.

“And how much did you save when I packed him off?” quipped Melinda, not giving up on her argument.

“Why then did we bring him back?” said Roy.

Just then Ruble came in and their conversation stopped mid-way.

“Ruble! My boy!” said Roy pulling at his tender arms, “Let Grandpa take some rest. Don’t disturb him now. Right?” Rubel stayed in his grip for sometime and fled as suddenly as he had appeared.

“Where are you going?” Roy tried calling him back.

“To Grandpa’s room,” the little one replied back. Melinda tried calling him, but the boy was already out of reach, shouting and screaming with excitement.

Roy turned his gaze at Melinda as she continued the conversation, “If he got disillusioned with us on sending him away and happened to prepare a will to disinherit us from his property, we could be in deep trouble. We haven’t been able to build any separate house for ourselves anywhere. We would be rendered homeless, then.”

Roy looked at her with a worried expression on his face. His nostrils flared the pupils of his eyes enlarged and the opening of his mouth widened.

“Do you think he has already made a will to disinherit us?” he was almost begging of her to answer a “no”.

Melinda nodded her head. “Who knows?” she said pursing her lips.

Rubel was playing with Henry, when he suddenly spoke out loudly, “Dad and mom don’t like me. Except on Sundays I never get to see them. They go out in the morning before I am up and return home when I am fast asleep.” Henry opened his mouth wide as Rubel continued with his complaint, “I have to stay with Miss Anne all the evening. Just don’t like her. She is so boring!” The boy shook his head quite violently as he spoke, the folds between his eye brows becoming prominent with every word he spoke.

After lunch the old man decided to get a short afternoon nap. Rubel wanted to stay with him but his mother, somehow, convinced him saying, “Grandpa needs some rest, darling. You sleep in your own room.” After a few more tugs Rubel eventually relented. In the evening, Melinda rose from her bed and saw Roy sleeping like a log. He was certainly enjoying his Sunday afternoon siesta. She frowned at him and entered the wash room. When she came out Roy was up. He looked up at her. She just raised her hand and nodded her head. Then she went up to Henry’s room. The door to the room was open. So, she entered without knocking. There was an open leather satchel beside him on the bed and he was reading some papers holding them close to his bespectacled eyes. He hadn’t heard Melinda coming in. So, he looked up when she cleared her throat in a bid to make her presence felt.

“Ah yes!” he said, “Sit here.”

Melinda sat on the bed beside him, leaning towards him as she tried to sneak a look into those papers, but Henry had kept them close to his eyes and her efforts proved absolutely futile. Just then Rubel entered the room and started running around Henry’s bed with his walking stick. Seeing Rubel coming in, Henry shoved the papers into the satchel, but forgot to remove his glasses. Rubel jumped up onto the bed and ran off with his spectacles.

Henry said, “Come on, young man! I need them now.”

Melinda also tried to persuade her son into returning them back, but the child just put them on his nose and ran about everywhere. Suddenly, there was a loud crash that prompted both of them came out. Broken pieces of a large vase of China lay scattered on the floor and Rubel stood there looking scared with the spectacles dangling below his chin. Melinda hastened towards Rubel. She caught hold of the spectacles and heaved a sigh of relief.

In the evening, an old gentleman with a thin suitcase in hand came to meet Henry. Roy himself ushered him in to his father’s room. Henry greeted him with a serious face and asked him to sit on the chair in front of him. After taking seat, the gentleman opened the suitcase, picked out some papers and handed it to Henry.

“This has been prepared as you desired,” said the gentleman, “You may check it and put your signature at the bottom of the page.”

Henry took the papers, nodded his head and said, “That’s O.K. But, you have to come once again tomorrow.”

“That’s no problem. I can come as many times as you need,” he said before leaving the room.

Roy had gone out of the room unnoticed and came in with Melinda. Both of them looked on as the gentleman left the room. Melinda asked Henry, “Who’s this gentleman?”

Henry looked up at her and said, “Oh! This gentleman is my attorney. I had asked him to prepare some court papers for me. He just brought them in for me.”

Melinda strode up to him and said, “So, you are going to disinherit us from your property.”

Henry looked up at her and said in a matter-of-fact way, “Once you packed me off from this house. Now, I can do the same to you. It will be tit-for-tat. Isn’t it?”

Roy and Melinda let their eyelids drop. They couldn’t bear to stand there anymore. They couldn’t leave the room either. They needed to make sure that Henry didn’t do exactly as he said. But, the ball was no more in their court. They had let it off long ago and had no ethical right to complain about it. Both of them turned to leave. When they were at the door step, Henry called out, “I have already made my decision. You will come to know of it only after I have left for my eternal abode. I know it won’t be so easy for me. However, certain things have to be settled before something happens to me.” Both of them left the room.

Henry rose from his bed, moved towards the door with unsteady steps and closed it shut. Then he crept back on to his bed, picked up the satchel from below the pillow and took out the papers from inside. He also picked up the papers he received from the attorney a few minutes back. Then he started looking for something. At first, he put his hands inside the leather satchel, then under the pillow and then everywhere in the room. At this time there was a knock at his door. Unsteadily, he rose from the bed and walked up to the door, opening it. Rubel was standing there with Anne holding his spectacles. Henry took the spectacles and tucked it over his ears. Rubel was yanked away by Anne.

Henry took both the papers and examined their contents vividly. Both contained the essence of his will to be executed after his death. The recent one nominated Rubel as the sole beneficiary to his property, while the earlier one entrusted the rights to his entire property with the board of the old age home he had been residing in all these years. Now, the decision depended upon him. What would he do? Which one would he endorse? Should he disinherit Roy from the rights to his ancestral property by handing over his entire property to the old age home? He knew very well why Roy had brought him home when his last days were quite near. So, he wanted to teach him a lesson for the agony that he had to bear. But, at the same time, the face of the small child appeared before his eyes. The innocent child would have to bear the brunt of the mistakes committed by his parents if he punished them. How would he recall his grandpa on growing up? As the man who threw his parents out of their ancestral home! He would never know the truth, but would blame him all his life. The horns of dilemma were closing in on him. He had to take a decision before his eyes closed.

Just as he was stashing away the papers in his satchel, there was a loud knock at the door. Henry went up to the door and opened it. He had guessed right. It was Rubel. Henry knelt down before the boy and kissed his cheeks.

“Good night Grandpa!”

“Good night young man!”

At once, his decision was made. He had no more confusion, no more dilemmas. Everything was O.K.