A Warm Hug and Skipping School

Originally written on 22 August 2015

"Let's get ready for school, wake up", the six-year-old boy, the eldest of the three siblings, woke up to the voice of his kind mother. They whispered to each other while getting ready so that the younger siblings, with whom he shared the room, don’t wake up. The family lived on the outskirts of a small military camp that once belonged to the Americans. As their ally, Pakistani authorities kept its existence off the maps during the Afghan war against the Russians. Americans had to leave the camp because of diplomatic pressure. The boy was excited to go to his school. Why wouldn't he be? His classroom was a movable train box that may have been an office when Americans lived in the camp. As he was having his breakfast, he heard the usual sound of the big military bus that picked up his father for the Air Headquarters every day. Only then he realized that the father wasn't in the kitchen. "Your father is not well. He is off today," his mother told him. The customary click of his father opening the front door and saying "Allah Hafiz" (goodbye) didn't echo in the house. The boy wasn't very pleased. His father, his hero, the handsome young man in military uniform, was missing in action today. Before going to work, he would comb his curly hair and then hide the tiny red comb in the socks of his shining military shoes. He would put a small white handkerchief in his uniform. The boy didn't share his sadness with his mom. The daily routine that was familiar was not performed. "Ami, can I see Abu before going to school?" The mother took him to the room, and the father opened his eyes and greeted him. The young boy started crying, the flood of tears that he was holding for a while now, started running down his cheeks. Both parents tried to calm him, but he was sad. "Are you ok, Abu?" What happened next was something that this boy would remember for his lifetime. His mother took the boy's shoes off, and the father pulled him inside the bed and gave him the best hug ever... "My son, Mujahid, stay home, and we will sleep in Abu's bed together..."

The young boy is now 35 and every time he hugs his 6-year-old son, especially when in bed, the hug is extra warm and full of love because it is not only from the small boy's father but also from his grandfather...