“Where’s my mother?” Emily remembered asking her father when she was three years old. For all her life, the only person she had ever known was her father and she did not know that to make a family complete, you had to have a mother, too. She thought the world of her father and right from the very beginning, her world revolved around him. She was contented that they had each other.
However, she began to feel curious when she saw children in the playground with their fathers and women whom they called their “mothers.” How come they have mothers and not her, she had wondered as she sat on the swing, looking at them enviously.
Her father always had answers to her endless questions and Emily did think that he must be the smartest man on earth. But, she saw him hesitating for a while before answering her. He slowly put down the newspaper he was reading and looked at her with his grey eyes.
He put her on his lap and said, “My sweet Emily, Mama is no longer with us. In fact, she is in Heaven right now looking down at us and giving us blessings so that we will always be happy.”
Her three-year-old mind digested what he said and she thought triumphantly, “So, I have a mother but she has gone away.” Emily innocently asked her father, “When will Mama come back?”
“Emily, Mama has died and gone to Heaven. She won’t be coming back but don’t you worry, my sweet, you have me,” he told her. She was silent and he shooed her off to resume reading his newspapers.
That night when he put her into bed, she stared solemnly at her father and asked, “Papa, will you go to Heaven, too like Mama?”
Her father laughed and said, “No, my sweet Emily, Papa loves you too much to do that. I will always be here with you, so don’t think about it, okay?”
She remained unconvinced. “Do you promise?” she asked, holding out her little finger.
“I promise,” he said, wrapping her little finger with his big one.
Now, as she stood in front of the hole into which her father’s coffin will be lowered, Emily thought with tears streaming down her cheeks, “Papa, you promised! You promised!”
She collapsed to the ground when they began shoveling mud to forever bury her father in the ground where she would never see his face again.
One of her neighbours, Mrs. Johnson, put her arms around her as she looked at her sadly. The whole neighbourhood was sympathizing with the eight-year-old girl for having to go through so much at her age. They were wondering what was to become of the little girl.
Mrs. Johnson told her that she would have loved to keep her but she could hardly take care of her eight children without adding the burden of another. Emily listened silently. She had no one now. Her father was the only child, so she had no aunts or uncles and her grandparents had died for years.
A kind young lady, Miss Pepper, a social worker, came to see her once at Mrs. Johnson’s and told her that they were looking for her next of kin to take her in. Emily did not tell her that she was all alone and she merely listened as Miss Pepper asked her to be good.
“You are an orphan, you are an orphan!” eight-year-old Sam Johnson chanted as he pulled her pigtails. Emily hated him for being such a bully and she tried to ignore him, hoping that he would leave her alone. “Orphan girl, orphan girl…” he continued chanting, obviously enjoying seeing her squirm.
“Shut up, Sam!” Emily yelled in annoyance. She had been sitting in the garden, thinking that if God was kind, He would let her go to Heaven as well to be with her Papa and see her Mama for the first time. She never knew how her Mama looked like because Papa did not keep any pictures of her. He rarely talked about her, too but Emily thought that it was because he would feel sad if he did.
Still, she often thought of her Mama. Her Mama must have been very pretty and kind. If Mama were around, she would probably sing for her lullabies to put her to sleep. She would also be a very good cook because that was what mothers are supposed to be. When Emily comes home from school, her Mama would be in the kitchen cooking and the sweetest aroma would fill the entire house.
But sadly, the house was always empty and Emily would have packed food that her father had left before returning to work. Her Mama would have baked cookies, made sandwiches and even baked cakes for her birthdays. If only her Mama was still here, Emily had often sighed.
“Hey, orphan girl, you are so bad that your father died and your mother didn’t even want you. And it’s such a nuisance that you have to stay in my house and share my mommy!” Sam told her.
Emily’s ears burned. “Don’t you sprout nonsense! Papa and Mama love me. I am a good girl.”
He tormented her further. “Oh, yeah? Then, why do you think your mother doesn’t want you to stay with her?”
Emily yelled back, “What are you talking about? Mama is in Heaven!”
Sam stuck out his tongue and said, “Says who? My mommy says that your mother left your father to marry another fellow and when they asked her to take you back, she refused!”
“You are lying! My Mama is dead, so leave me alone!” Emily ran off, crying and closing her ears with both her hands. Sam was just being mean, she kept telling herself. Mama did not leave Papa and her to marry another man. She was sick and God brought her to Heaven, so that she would be happy. That was what Papa told her and he would not lie to her, would he?
No, she decided, he would not. Sam was just being mean. That night, Emily got up from bed to get a glass of water to ease her thirst. She was about to walk into the kitchen when she heard adults talking.
“What are we going to do with Emily?” Mrs. Johnson asked.
Miss Pepper said, “It is a pity that her mother refuses to acknowledge her. She said that by doing that, her husband would divorce her.”
To that, Mrs. Johnson said, “Of course he will. That rich old man she married hates kids and I don’t think that she would have been much of a mother. What kind of mother leaves her daughter and husband like that?”
Mr. Johnson then said, “Whatever it is, we are sorry, Miss Pepper, we cannot keep her any longer. Emily is a good child but we simply can’t have another mouth to feed” as his wife looked at him sadly.
Miss Pepper nodded and said, “I understand, Mr. Johnson. Well, it looks like Emily will have to go to the orphanage.”
Emily slumped against the wall as her legs gave way. Sam was telling the truth. She did have a mother but her Mama left her for another man because Papa was poor. Her Mama did not want her.
Papa lied to her! Her Mama was not in Heaven and looking after her from above. She was here on earth and not even caring a bit about her. Even when she was now all alone and Papa was gone. Her Mama did not want her, her heart whispered again. And now, the Johnsons did not want her, too. They want to send her to an orphanage and she had learnt that that was the scariest place to be.
The people there would probably beat her black and blue. They would force her to scrub the floor, wash the windows, clean the toilets and be a slave. All they would give her to eat would be plain water and bits of bread. She would be tortured and they would make her suffer.
No! She yelled silently as she crept back to her room. I will not be made to go to the orphanage. I must see Papa, she thought, as she put on a coat. I must ask him to tell them not to put me there. I must also ask him why he lied to me.
Emily slowly went out through the window and made her way to the local cemetery. By now, she was crying as she realized that she was pretty much alone and unwanted. She began running in the rain and without looking, dashed across the road only to see a truck heading towards her and the driver sounding the honk in alarm.
“Papa?” Emily said aloud when she saw her father waving and smiling at her.
“Emily? It’s me, Mama. I am your mother!” an elegant lady in chic clothes held her hand as she sat by her bedside.
Emily slowly opened her eyes and croaked, “Mama? Is that you? Am I dreaming?” Her mother wept and said, “No, my darling, you are not. It’s really Mama here.”
She was right- her mother was very pretty and she had inherited her eyes and nose. Her eyes threatened to close again as she told her mother, “Mama, I missed you so much. Why did you leave us? I am so tired and it hurts so much…”
Her mother sobbed, “Baby, don’t worry. You’ll be okay and I will take care of you. You must get well, so that I can be the mother I never have been to you…”
But, Emily felt that she was slipping away as her mother’s image seemed to be fading. On the other hand, her father was beckoning towards her with his hand held out as if asking her to follow him.
Emily was so happy to see her father again and while shouting "Papa”, Emily gently took her last breath as her father caught her hand and took her in his embrace.
“Emily!!!”
Her mother cried out loud in regret as she grabbed her daughter’s lifeless body.
Afterword: I wrote this story about six years ago when S Club 7’s Never Had A Dream Come True was one of my favourite songs. I just thought that I would like to post it here as one of my collection of stories. =)
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