“Come and see us in five years!” was what one woman said to her husband, who had left her. He left her with five children, the youngest was a baby.
It was in another country. This husband left her for a young girl, the same age as her eldest daughter. That was the drama of my life.
But the main thing was that he took everything out. The apartment became empty and quiet. Spacious! The boys rode their old bicycle through the empty rooms and rang the bell: ding-ding!
And my wife didn’t cry or beg. She proudly said these words after her husband, who was dragging another sack of goodies:
– Come and see us in five years! We will have everything!
You know, in five years that husband came. Poor, sick and miserable. He came and drank tea. The guests are supposed to pour tea. It’s a custom. And the bowl trembled in his relaxed hand. The hunched, sickly beggarly old man had come, the children thought. Five years was half of childhood, almost half…
Mother had received a higher medical education during those years. She was a paramedic, became a dentist. And worked two jobs, and moonlighted, and studied, and worked around the house. It’s unbelievable, but it’s true. And the apartment was cozy and beautiful. A color TV, a refrigerator, carpets, flowers on the windowsill, and a pot full of delicious pilaf and meat. Like this.
This man was also given plov. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. And the clean, neat children played quietly on the carpet. There was a new big bicycle in the corridor. All that was left of the old one was a bell; ding-ding!
That was the boys’ farewell bell as the gray-haired, hunched-over man was leaving their home.
This is not uncommon. He who hauls bags of junk is left with nothing. One who has everything taken from him makes an effort and rebuilds his life from the ruins.
One gets a new life and keeps the love. And the other is left with only the bell of an old bicycle. Ding-dong! And that’s it.
