‘They keep reminding me that you are dead.’
‘Because I am son, I am dead.’
You’ll always be a baby to me
I did not realize that she stood over me. It was surreal or perhaps I was hallucinating. Either way she stood there; speaking, perhaps listening as well.
‘It does not really matter if I am dead or alive,’ she continued, ‘the truth is, for you, I never was dead or alive. I was a memory and a memory I shall remain till you breathe your last. The closure you seek, you shall never receive. Some might consider this a curse, but it is a blessing for I shall always be alive for you, watching over you, protecting you, letting you fail where you must and picking you up again.’
‘You manage a lot for a dead person,’ I dryly retorted.
‘I do not have to cook any more. Also, you are living a miserable life, I have to watch over you at each step, and you can be quite handful for a supposedly grown man.’
‘Since, you are being so insightful today, why don’t you enlighten me? You lived a miserable life as well, a huge chunk of it, if I might add, and you were always chirpy, smiling and I never heard you complain. what was your key to happiness?’
‘I complained, but I never bitched about the shortcomings in whatever form they were. Just like you, I also lost my mother way before I should have, I also lost my husband too if you remember. Life also treated me well, we prospered, we traveled, we raised three healthy kids, well two of them at least, and there were ups and there were downs and then there was downright drudgery.’
‘And yet to remained steadfast, and smiling. So, what is it? What is the path? What is the secret recipe?’
‘The years I have been alive, and the some I have been dead, I have recognized the path, and son, I would have to disappoint you when I tell you that there is no path to happiness. It is much more simpler, ‘Happiness is the path.’’
‘WAKE UP! You dozed off without taking your medication,’ my partner spoke irritatingly, before leaving the Prozac and a glass of water on the bedside table.