Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Without a doubt.

The man lay on his deathbed.

He felt as if his body had finally failed him and disintegrated, falling around him in pieces, so that his soul lay bare on the hospital-like looking hospital bed. If he could grumble about it, he would happily go on about it for hours. You know, in that way only the elderly are capable of.

He knew his time was close. He felt a growing pressure suffocate him to do what he presumed dying people were obliged to do in their last moments.

Reflect on one's life maybe. He thought that sounded silly because he considered himself a simple man. Internally, he sighed a defeated sigh, and began his train of thoughts and pondered what the big question of life was. How would he calculate how well he'd lived his life?

Maybe, what would remain of him after he was gone?
Not much, really. He had been no significant figure in his life, who'd greatly influenced this damn twisted world, he snorted in his mind. Everything he had once considered important, were no longer so. Even his beautiful Harley motorcycle he'd loved du profond de son coeur and looked after with tender loving care was meaningless. So were his extremely great efforts to woo that girl when he was nineteen, come to think of it. That was a few years ago now, he chuckled.

He searched the stiff drawers of his mind for some inspiration. The big question...

He tugged and yanked and kicked them in frustration, for they would simply not open.






After a long while, an answer in the form of a cumulus cloud floated toward his being.





The big and only question was: How much happiness have you caused people in your life?
The corners of his lips curled upward slowly into a beatific smile. That was not a tricky question at all.
He had been a postman. He had delivered the joy of opening letters to people, whether it be long, handwritten letters from a loved one, birthday cards, electricity bills, ones that warned of house repossession.

Yes. That was it. He could die with a confident answer to that big and only question.

2 comments:

  1. Once I saw 'the cumulus cloud' I was sure this must have been written by Rachel. But I guess not. Very nice.

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  2. Beautiful, my dear. And nice harley davidson reference.

    ReplyDelete