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1 year ago
A line in between
It was a hot and humid afternoon. The sun blazing upon the streets. Heatwaves rose from the ground, and for a moment, you would thought that rain will never come again for the next decade.
In the subway, people were using newspapers to fan themselves, trying to get even a tiniest bit of breeze to cool off. Frustration arose. Everyone was sweating. Then, as the train stopped at the next station, a man walked in with two children. As soon as the children entered, they ran around the cabin, making noises and wreaking havoc all around. The man seem to have not known the children, even though before entering the train, the man held his arms around them. He simply found a seat and slept.
The passengers were getting agitated by the sudden new level of irritation. Commuters looked at the children with frowns, and some others tried to ignore the shrieks and screams of the kids. The children didn’t seem to worry if anyone would scold or shout at them. The man, presumably their father, just lazed there, eyes closed, slouched to a side, head lowered and arms crossed.
Finally, a man in the cabin couldn’t stand the noise anymore, and walked over to the neglectful father. “Excuse me, sir,” the man confronted, “but your children are making a scene. It’s disturbing all the passengers, and for goodness sake, why aren’t you doing anything about it?”
The father awoke to a shock, and looked up at the angry commuter with weary eyes. He slowly lowered his head again and softly explained, “I’m sorry, sir. But their mother died this morning. I’ve been up the whole night at the hospital, and the children just thought that their mom was just sleeping.”
“So I,” he exhaled, “I don’t know how to tell them. I don’t know how to explain to them. I don’t know what I can do. I’m sorry for the children’s misbehaviors. I’m just at a loss of what to do.”
The man was taken aback by what he said, and immediately answered, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Is there something I can help with?”
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