Someone knocked on the door. "Come
in." Tony looked up from his
writing, expecting to be interrupted. Minutes after, no one came in. Absorbed
in his work, he resumed his writing, giving full attention to the task at hand.
About fifteen minutes later, the knock came again. He paused, whoever it was
got his full attention this time.
"Who is that?" He was
greeted by silence. "Who is at the door?" Silence. He stood up and
smiled, expecting to find Bella crouched by the door waiting for him to carry
her on his shoulder.
He walked to the door, opened it and
was surprised to find his two older children from his first wife, Philip and
Carol descending the stairs in a hurry.
"Philip? Carol? Were you ones
who knocked on my office door?"
They exchanged nervous glances and
fidgeted with their hands.
"Yes Dad," Carol answered,
the younger and most outspoken of the two.
"Then why didn’t you come in? I
guess you both wanted to see me about something?"
He narrowed his eyes and watched as
they communicated wordlessly with each other.
"We changed our minds,
dad." Philip replied.
"No, that will not be fair on
me. You guys came here to talk to me about something, then you suddenly changed
your minds, for no reason. I thought we used to tell each other everything and
hold nothing back."
They exchanged looks, nodded at each
other and faced their father.
"We want to talk about
mother……" Carol started.
"Not in the corridor, let's go
back into the office where we can have a round table conference." He tried
to bring smiles out of their faces, but they refused to respond to their
father's humor, as they stared ahead with stony faces.
There was an uncomfortable silence, as each took a seat
in the office formal setting.
''Go ahead Carol, I am all
ears."
''Is mother going to die?" She
asked as a matter of factly, not mincing words.
Startled, Tony stared at his kids,
temporarily lost of words."
"Dad, is she going to die, just
like mum?" Philip cuts in while he was trying put his mumbled thoughts
together.
Oh Lord, how will I answer them?
Please help me through this. He took a deep breath and smiled "Why did you
think your mother is going to die?"
"Dad, don't treat us like babies. I know mother is sick, very sick,
just like the way mum was before she died." Philip bursts out, tears
already gathered in his eyes as he stomped his feet on the floor in frustration.
"Dad, I don't want mother to
die. Please, don't allow her to die. Who will take care of us if she dies….?
Carol sobbed.
Broken to see the trauma Sharon's
illness had caused on the children, Tony went on his knees and enclosed them in
his arms. Oh Lord, help us through this. What do I tell these innocent
children? How do I explain to them that their mother is dying, just a few years
after they lost their biological mum to the same illness? Will they survive
this? Won't this mar their faith in you? Won't they see you as the invisible
being who snuffs life out of mothers and watch them die?
Help me Lord, help us through this.
''Have I ever lied to you Philip?
Carol?"
"No dad." They chorused.
"Good. I want you to listen to
me carefully. Bad things happen to even good people and when they do, we should
trust God and believe that he knows the best. Afterwards he is God and no one
can question him…….."
"Then God must be wicked if he
finds pleasure in allowing mums to die. Can't we plead with him to let mother
stay with us. My Sunday school teacher told us the story of how Jesus rose
Lazarus from the dead. There is still hope for her, isn't it?" Carol interrupted, her eyes wide in
consternation.
''At least mother is still alive, so
Jesus has less work to do." Phillip added.
Tony growled within.
"Daddies sometimes do not have
the answers to every question, but I can assure you that no matter what
happens," he paused and swallowed his breadth. "No matter what
happens, God is still good, loving, powerful, and wonderful."
"I hope so dad, I hope that by
some stroke of luck, mother's life will be spared. I hope God will show his
goodness and love like you said by healing and restoring her health." Philip replied, arms akimbo with a stubborn
set of his chin.
"Do you believe when I tell you
that all will be well with us no matter what happens?"
"Yes dad." They chorused.
"Great. I want to assure you
both that daddy will always be there for you."
As they lurked their hands around
him, he knew that the matter was far from being closed; it has only been
postponed to another time in the future.
