The Limbo of eternity

It was a cold winter evening and the snow had been falling for the past three days, enveloping the countryside surrounding the small settlement of Maine Hill in white as far as the eye could see. The same land that was lush with green and dotted with great oaks and willows now appeared strange and alien to James, a boy of fifteen years of age who had spent all his life here . After all this was his first snowstorm.

The New Year of 1900 was only a day away and with it would come the dawn of a new beginning, a fresh start and the chance to perhaps let go of the grief and pain endured in the previous year and carry on with life in renewed positivity.

But such joy was not meant for James. His future forebode of darkness and desolation. His only family and the only person that mattered to him, his mother was lying on her deathbed. The doctor had told him that she would die before midnight . This strange and unknown illness that took over his mother a few weeks ago would finally win over, leaving him all alone in this world

with no one to turn to , no one to share his feelings with and no one to remember his mother except him. He tried to hold back tears but it was extremely hard. At such a tender age, he had to endure what breaks even grown men, the death of a loved one.

He sat beside her, holding her pale and weak hand. Tears finally rolled from his eyes. He could not hold anymore. ”These are the last few hours that you’ll be with me” , he thought looking at her mother’s face. Her eyes were closed but she was still alive. He thought about his childhood. They had been poor, with only a small torn down cottage to live in and father had left to become a seaman to travel to some distant place when he was a year old and never returned. He could not recall how he looked but he was never troubled by it . For him , his mother was his everything. She had toiled day and night to provide the means of living for him. He had never gone to school but had learned from the stories and tales his mother would tell him at bedtime. He was still crying when he felt his hand shake feebly . He wiped his tears and looked at her.

She was awake but very weak . “ Do not cry, my son “ she said weakly in a low voice. “ I do not want to leave you but these matters are not in my hand. God wills it and nothing can change it. We all die sooner or later and my turn has come.”

“But it is not fair.” James shot back in revolt.” It is not fair that you have to go.”

“Life is not fair. I did everything I could for your benefit but it was not enough. I had nothing to give you except the tales of good men. There is a lot of wickedness in this world but there is still goodness in your heart my child. Will you grant a final wish to your mother before she goes?” she said to him painstakingly. The time was nigh and James could feel it in her voice.

“Anything you need, mother. Anything.” He said hurriedly.

“Promise me that you will grow up to become a good man. Promise me that you will never run away from your duties. Promise me .”

“I promise.” James said. Her mother looked at him and smiled. She closed her eyes with a sigh of relief and left this world for the next. James sat by her side thinking about what she had said.

The next morning, she was buried at the cemetery. He was the only one present for her internment. He did not know what to do now but was certain that he would uphold the promise that he had made. He now had a purpose.

Twenty years later, a motor vehicle stopped in front of the now dilapidated cottage in the town of Maine Hill. A well built man stepped down for the car. He was James. He had left this town twenty years to start a business that would make him rich but this was not the reason for his fame. He had gained the respect of the common masses for using his new found wealth for charity in his mother’s name. Till now, he had not forgotten what his mother had told him.

He had come back to tell her that he had been honest to her.

He walked to his mother’s grave from there with her daughter Martha. He had named her after his mother, the greatest person he ever knew.