The Child of Events!

by Teymur Roshdi

  The investigation lasted for almost one week , and this was pursuing and done with the very wish , efforts and serious endeavours of the 'Solen' family . The 'charitable woman' , once informed about this 'good new' , I noticed such a relief in her eyes and attitude that I realized how much I was a charge and burden for her , and she welcomed this occasion . During all those years she accepted me living at her home because of all the recommendations of that influential and spiritual charitable man , and obviously , apart just those first few months I spent life carelessly at her home , the rest was a torture for me and a burden for her , as if she was thinking about the moment she would get rid of this responsibility and charge . Maybe part of her depressive mood was caused by her psychological incapacity to respond to such an engagement and responsibility . So the agreement has been concluded and the 'charitable woman' has been relieved from her burden and they decided that I spent some times at the home of 'Solen' family and remaining there for testing all the aspects of the life I could have with them .

 

  26

  My introduction and familiarity with the 'solen' family occured at night in spring time , under an arcade built in front of the house in the garden by the branches of ascending tiny trees and the multicolour flowers whose perfum was enthralling for my soul . The calm and peaceful faces of the family members were shining under the light of the beautiful lamps inserted here and there in the garden by an exact observation of the rules of aesthetics. They all welcomed and greeted me with the most honest and genuine words I ever heard in all my miserable life . Mr.Solen , my dear teacher lived with his mother , his big brother and his wife , and also his uncle and his wife . The father of 'mr.solen' was passed away long ago and I learned that he was a merchant and a very good man . His mother was about fifthy , a devoted mother who loved very much her son . The big brother of 'mr.solen' was a very funny and sociable young man with lot of sense of humour , he was married just few months ago and for the moment he lived with his wife at his mother house . The uncle of 'mr.solen' who was called 'sweet-uncle' at home , was about forty and was one of the most pious and the most honest men of the world . He was very good looking and very calm and with lot of dignity , and these qualities in him were expressed by all his harmonious manners , talk and behaviour . Althoug he was married for a long time , he and his wife never had a child and that was obvious that in that house the only thing which could complete their happiness and fill somehow a sort of emptiness in their family life was the presence of a child they always wished . This same eagerness for the presence of a child at their home caused their great joy for having me with them and welcoming and greeting me with such an unconditional and unlimited kindness and warmth . Indeed they were a happy family and they had everything necessary for a peaceful and good life . Their humanity and charity was the reason they accepted me as their own child with lot of attention and care . The mother of 'mr.solen' , noticing the kindness and compassion of her son toward me , payed much more attention to me , and recieved me eagerly , it was the same with the other family members who expressed all sort of kindness and care because of their goodness and humanity , and I could feel that in their manners and see it in their eyes . It seemed that each one of them was amused by my gestures and talk and each one was trying to attract my attention and love . One brought me some fruity beverage , another proposed me some cookies , the third one invited me to eat some fruit , the forth one offered to me a valuable pen and kissed me and took me in the arms . That night seemed to me like a dream , sweet and unbelievable among all those care and attention and all the blessings there . At night I slept peacefully in a clean bed with some silk curtains around and a very beautiful mattress and blanket , this was the first time in my life that I enjoyed such a fairy bedroom . Everything was so beautiful and intact that it didn't seem real , or they were too beautiful for being real , so I imagined myself in a sort of fairy dream .

  Few days later I left definitively the house of the 'charitable woman' and settled in the house of the family of my teacher 'mr.solen' .

  In this house everything , all the scenery of life had a new and beautiful colour in my eyes . I found myself in another surrounding where everything was simple , clear and without the least hypocrisy or dishonesty . From everything there and in everyone I could feel and notice the perfum of goodness , spirituality and piety . Some days later , my whole way of life changed completely , also my appearance , new clothes , new shoes and boots , new briefcase for school and all the necessary things for writing , painting and drawing . The first night the 'sweet-uncle' offered to me a very beautiful new costume at my size , the next day 'mr.solen' my teacher offered to me a high quality uniform for my school and a pair of boots for the snowy days . Briefly , everyone according to their taste offered to me some gift . In a week , they dedicated one of the small room of the house to me by decorating it amazingly beautiful and useful for me , in order I could revise my lessons and also amusing myself with some plays . The mother of my teacher expressed an extraordinary love toward me and each time she encouraged me for my amusement to invite some of my friends in the house . In such occasions , she personally took the responsibility of the reception and brought cookies , beverages and fruits in my room and insisted that my fellow students of the school taste all of them , the same woman who already had a servant for all the duties of the house , she enjoyed serving personally my friends and paying attention to them . She was so careful and attentive to provide all my needs for enjoying my life that she ordered her servant to bring me to the parks and leisure places for children . On those days , because of my young ages of childhood I couldn't realize that all these care and attention toward a stranger child was extraordinary , because I supposed that it was natural that the adult and mature people care about the little ones and express kindness and love about all the children and I thought that this was the rule , otherwise it would be unusual . But many years later I realized my mistake and my misunderstanding . Because later I have seen so much meanness , heard so much insults , felt so much humiliation and mistreating that I could realize the greatness of the soul of that woman and the generosity of all her family members , and understood what a charitable heart they all had .

  Sometimes the mother of my teacher 'mr.solen' , in providing all my needs and bearing all my childhood extravagances showed such a patience that some of her acquaintances or neighbours blamed her for her behaviour and said :" madam , what a patience you have to stand all the troubles a stranger kid may produce and what a care and attention you pay to all his moods and fancy !", then she replied quietly that she enjoyed all she did for me because this provided for her the peace of mind and a stillness for her conscience . Then she continued talking about all my talents , my intelligence, my education and my obedience . This spirit of humanity and kindness was obvious in each one of the family members . Among them , respecting each other , solidarity and friendship was the rule and they fulfilled this as a duty and a responsibility , and all of this state of mind was reflected on their angelic faces .

 

  27

  Sweet-uncle had the status of the 'patriarch' of the family , and in fact he fulfilled this responsibility perfectly . This man was so honest , so magnanimous , so pious and so generous that he incited everyone to charity , compassion and solidarity with all the ones who were needy . From his face shined such an awesome quietness and satisfaction that was the reflect of all his good deeds toward all the others . Beside his was a godly man and he always dedicated some hours of the day to prayers and to praise god . He never supported that the family members talk about the weackness or the 'bad-side' of all the others , and he always stressed on the positive and good aspects of everything and everyone , for example someday the young wife of his nephew was complaining about the coarseness of a neighbour who had insulted he
r for some reason . The 'sweet-uncle' replied quietly :"this sort of point of view on people is not just , because all depend on our common sense , no one in the world is absolutely bad because since the moment that we are humans , necessarily there is something good in all of us but not yet cultivated or maybe just neglected , so if because we don't know exactly those people or we have some extraordinary expectations from them , that's not a reason for their 'badness' or rudeness , if some people have been deprived of having a good physical aspect and so they look 'ugly' to us , or if some others are useless for our personal interests , they are certainly useful and good for themselves and for their families , then why should we expect that all resemble or look like us or to be useful for us? only the harmful and dangerous people should be avoided , but if the harsh look or manner of your neighbour don't please you or they don't look agreeable , that's not a reason for criticism and severe judgment".

  Sweet-Uncle was in fact a holy man , and his holiness had such an extent that I think that he considered that god is always watching his deeds and observing his thoughts.This permanent self-control caused that he had always an harmonious and calm attitude in front of everything and everyone, his gestures , manners , look and talk were always coherent ,agreeable and measured . He spent most of his free times in prayers and the praise of god . At this time that I was only eight he thaught me all the ritual and the rules of praising god , usually he dedicated half an hour after the dinner to this spiritual teaching, and because of my learning skills , I could learn all the rules and ritual of the prayers in few seances and I recitated all the prayers with the same tone and order that he thaught me , and he was rejoicing having such a talented 'student'. Sometimes that he was sitting in a corner, he watched kindly and cheerfully to me praising god and praying , at this time he looked like and angel and the light of plenitude was shining in his eyes .

  Despite of all his responsibility as the manager of a commercial business and as the owner of a store , he never neglected the least detail in the daily life of his family members , he was very careful about the health and the well-being of all of us . For example he was extremely and particularily attentive to my health and my hygiene .As I recounted the accident during which my head's skin had been wounded because of the bullet shoot by the tester of the gun , the wound was not yet healed although almost one year passed by that time , and this fact increased the worry and anxiety of the 'sweet-uncle' because he was affraid of some fatal disease I could get just because of that wound . On the other hand lot of strange red buttons were appeared on the skin of my head , which were apparently the symptoms of an endemic disease which would cause a definitive baldness . Sweet-uncle , brought me automatically to the doctor and got the cure for this disease and also for my bullet wound . The doctor prescribed different sort of ointments and some medecines for my condition and the 'sweet-uncle' following the advices of the doctor , he personally took the responsibility of caring about my disease . So , each night , he cut the hair around the red buttons and applied the specific oils and ointments with his own hands on my little red buttons created by that endemic disease and also applied some other liquid and powder for my bullet injury . He fulfilled this disagreeable task with an extreme eagerness and goodwill , although he had the possibility of asking the maid to do that but he prefered caring himself and personaly about everything related to my health .

  His nephew 'mr.solen' my teacher was as exceptional person as his uncle , he had the same generosity and the same magnanimity beside being very sentimental , he had a great vocation for writing poems . He always helped me with my homeworks and encouraged me in all my studies . I got very good scores at school and in my class and then out of proud he offered to me such amazing gifts that I even didn't dare dreaming about that . So my happiness in this family was at its summit . Mr.Solen was a godly man just like his uncle and like the other members of the family and he used to live a very pure and holy life .

  But this spiritual aspect of the family was too far from all sort of superstitious beliefs , so beside this aspect they never neglected the least occasion to have fun , laughing and spending good time . They usually organized joyful parties by inviting lot of guests and they were enthralling me . Mostly at nights after the dinner I recitated the songs and poems I learned in the class , I stood up on a chair and sang some songs or recitated some poems which amused them very much and they all cheered me up . Sometimes during the dinner , some pleasantries were made and some humoristic tales were told . As I said before , the big brother of my teacher who was married for some few months , was a very funny man , very sociable and he used to take all opportunity for joking and having fun , for example when everyone was eating dinner , suddenly he addressed to me by saying :" ohh look how the cat is dancing amazingly behind your head " , and when I was looking what was happening behind me and to see the dance of the cat , and finding nothing , I returned my head to the table to continue eating my meal , suddenly I noticed that my dish of meal was missing . All the others by seeing my surprised look begun laughing out of loud and then each one showed me some place where my dish was put and while I was looking or going left and right to find my dish , suddenly I saw that my dish was at its place on the table and this time a portion of jam was added to my meal . By all of this very simple things the whole family spent a good time , had fun and laughing so innocently that this joy and all of the cheeful faces made me happy and careless . Some other times when a delicious dish was prepared like a roast chicken its smell was so fairy , once on the table , I was looking at this roast chicken with such an appetit and hunger , suddenly the big brother of my teacher addressed to all the family members with a very serious tone of voice :"what are you all waiting for to come at table and how much time this child should await you to join the dinner table , he's starving and can't wait longer!" , then at this same moment he cut a big part of the roast chicken and with a fast move he proposed to me , and me out of joy and ignoring his joking I tended my hand to take that part of chicken , he begun turning that part around my head with very funny gestures and then put it in his own mouth and ate it . At this moment , my surprised and astonished expression seemed so funny to them that they all were laughing out of loud for some moments .

  In this way , without being any relation to this family , I was spending life among them in an absolute liberty and enjoying an absolute love , respect , attention , care and abundance of everything . I should mention that my popularity among them and all the love they showed toward me was not because I was a nice and obedient child with lot of positive and good qualities , not at all , but just because they were so exceptionally good people that they accepted me and loved me as I was , with all my weakness ,shortcoming , wrong-doing or my childhood extravagances . The goodness in their nature had such an extent that they ignored all my mistakes and the troubles I caused sometimes , a sort of extavagance which would be certainly punished severely in even very caring and ordinary families with their own biological children . In these case , all the family members instead of punishing me , just tried very kindly to suggest me to avoid some bad deeds and gave me advices for a good behaviour and attitude.

  I used to go to the business office of the 'sweet-uncle' after my school , and there after resting for a while I returned back to the home . Sometimes the 'sweet-uncle' asked me to watching the store while he was going out for few moments for some affair . One of those days , alone in the store , suddenly out of curiosity I have been incited to open one of the drawers where the 'sweet-uncle' kept the money there . Previously I had noticed that he always opened this drawer for taking or putting the money. I saw all the bills were orderly put in a corner of the drawer , but what attracted me most of all was the shining of lot of silver coins of all sizes which had very beautiful shape and carving on them , so I just took one of those silver coins . At that time I hadn't any need for money , because everything I wished or wanted they provided for me autom
atically , so I really couldn't understand what sort of childhood caprice incited me to take that tiny coin . Anyway I put it in my pocket and closed the drawer . I was still sat on the chair in front of that work-table when the 'sweet-uncle' appeared with the company of another fellow businessman and threw at me a very surprised and meaningful glance , then he began talking to his colleague and meanwhile I said goodbye to them and left the store . On the way I had a vague feeling that I did something wrong but by touching such a brilliant and shining coin I was so excited that I stopped many times on the way and took the coin and observed it with a great fascination and great joy mixed with a sort of unknown fear, then after watching it many times I put it in my pocket . At night I noticed from the look of the 'sweet-uncle' that he certainely watched me from the window of the store when I was taking the coin , anyway he said nothing , not any blame and not any reproch . The next day , in the afternoon after leaving the school , when I went to the store of the'sweet-uncle' , he recieved me with great joy and attention and he ordered to the apprentice to bring me tea and cookies . Then the 'sweet-uncle' addressed to me and asked very kindly if I bring some junk-food with myself to eat at the school , I replied positively by telling that 'grand-ma' always put some cookies or toasted bread in my briefcase to eat them in the school. Then he asked if the other students bring something to eat at school or not , I replied that some bring and some other just buy something there. Then he asked "do the children bring some money with themselves?" . I couldn't answer his question approprietely , so I just expressed my ignorance by some mimic of face and some gesture of my shoulder and hands , I felt very confused , but the 'sweet-uncle' explained :"you know my child , usually the little ones can't buy good cookies and sometimes by eating junk-foods they become sick, be careful to never buy something of this sort and never take some coin or money from the others , everything you wish to have just tell us and we will buy for you , beside never keep some coins in your pockets , I will give you myself all these coins to keep them in your moneybox and save them for yourself ". He said that and he offered to me a very beautiful metalic moneybox which had just a small overture of the size of all sort of coins , beside he gave me some coins to put and keep in my moneybox and to bring it with myself at home . I knew that 'sweet-uncle' was perfectly aware of what I did and watched me when I was stolen the tiny coin , but his magnanimity and his generosity touched me in a way that I l never forgot his wise and educative reaction in front of the wrong doing of a child . After this I got rid forever of this sort of evil temptations .