My Son Died

I met the doctor and was waiting for my test reports to come. There was an old lady in her early 60s lying on a bench in the clinic. She was obviously moaning of some pain. My mom was sitting next to me in a chair. The old lady some how managed to get up and sit, with some difficulty. She looked at me and asked me the time. I told her the time and she told that she wanted to catch the bus that goes to her place, on time.

She then told why she was there to meet the doctor. She was stung by a scorpion on her right toe, and after taking some first aid, she had gone to a local doctor in her place. He had given her some tablet which was not doing its job on her. So she had come down to meet this doctor. Seeing her condition, my mom asked her why did she come alone. Her face turned sadder than before and she started to tell her story, fixing her eyes on the floor.

"I have 3 sons. They were caring for me a bit before their marriage and after their marriage, i have become worthless to them. The first two sons don't even remember or don't even want to remember that their mother is still alive. My last son is the one who was affectionate with me and my bad luck he passed away recently, leaving his wife and one year old son. I asked 200 Rupees from my sons for the treatment and for that they were fighting with each other to make the other give the money. Finally each of them were kind enough to give me some money which when put together came up to 180 Rupees. Still 20 Rupees short of what I asked for my TREATMENT.".

Telling this, she almost broke down to tears, and looked at my mother and asked, "Now you tell me which of them should I have taken with me?". I felt very sorry for the lady and I was extremely angry over her sons. She then continued, "The doctor has prescribed medicines for 4 days and I have money only to buy for 2 days. Now I have remaining 10 Rupees for the bus to go to my place." Saying this, she managed to get up and walked out of the clinic with great difficulty. After she left I told my mom that she could have given the old lady some money so that she could have had food outside. My mom told that she also felt the same but then the lady was already out of the clinic. I guessed that the lady could not have walked too far so I went outside to find her if possible, and give her some money.

Luckily she was sitting outside the clinic, so I rushed back in and told my mom that she is outside the clinic and asked my mom to give her some money. My mom went out and found her sitting on a stone outside and handed her some money. She took the money.

When my mom was about to turn and get back in to the clinic, the old lady sighed and said, "Hmmmmm...... I too was helping others like this and MY SON DIED!!" I could not stop laughing at those words but my mom's face turned angry and she immediately came into the clinic as she was very sentimental. She was telling me later that she will not be helping any one in her life hence forth. :)