Love Is A Four Letter Word

Dad slammed his fork and spoon on the dining table and said , “Could you at least tell me what happened?’’ There wasn’t any answer from me . Frankly speaking,I didn’t know what the answer should be. Dad had been meeting my school counselor for the fourth time in two weeks. I had been in trouble for skipping classes and scribbling on the walls of the school corridor. They assume it as vandalism. I say it’s art . This problem had been going on and off for almost 10 years now,getting even worse as time passes.

Mom was busy washing the plates after dinner and little sister was watching the evening news. She was always considered the smart one even at only eight years old. I was toying with my mini Rubik cube in my room alone. The floor was full with scrunched paper balls. I always drew in solitary every now and then. It gives me a sense of satisfaction. Mom was standing at the side of the bedroom door. I could hear her helpless sigh, “ What are we going to do with this boy?’’ I wasn’t sure what to do with myself either. It’s just out of my control. They just never understood my needs.

The next day in school was as dull as ever for me. Classes and lessons weren’t a bothering factor for me as a student. I was always considered obnoxious. “Chuck’s weird.” “He’s retarded and he does silly things that we normal people don’t do.” “Don’t go near him.” That was what I heard and what they said every time classmates saw me. Autism has always been a condition that has yet to be accepted publicly in majority. On top of that, my condition was much more severe. During recess,I was busy drawing on my artwork paper. It was a picture of a baby sparrow cuddling into its mother’s wings in their nest on top of a tree. All of a sudden,a sweet voice came through my ears. “ That’s a very nice picture you’ve got there.” I just stared blankly into her dark warm eyes. “ I am the new art teacher here, Miss Petunia.” “What’s your name?” She didn’t get the answer she wanted. There was a moment silence there. She broke it by saying, “Would you like me to submit your artwork for the annual Young Creative Artists competition?” I paused for a moment and continued drawing ignoring her completely.

Miss Petunia decided to send my artwork in and tell my parents about my participation in the competition. “Are you sure about this Miss Petunia?” Dad wasn’t a great admirer of my artwork. So was Mom. All they knew was how to get the latest updates about the stock market and cracking their heads in preparing proposals for the next meeting at work. “Trust me, Mr. Edmonton.Your son is really talented and he has the potential to scale greater heights.” “I think his artwork doesn’t make any sense to me.” , dad replied. As Miss Petunia was about to continue convincing him,my little sister Sarah broke out in silence and said “I like Chuck’s work.” Miss Petunia winked at her. “Why don’t we give him a try? We’ve got nothing to lose.”,said Miss Petunia. “Yeah.Just give Chucky a chance this time Eric.We have never gave him many lifetime opportunities before this.”,said Mom. “ Allright then.”,dad grumbled. Miss Petunia was delighted with their decision. So was I. She registered my name under the lower form category,which was for boys and girls of 13 to 15 years of age.

It was a week before the dateline of the competition. Miss Petunia always gave me words of encouragement every time she saw me drawing. She was patient enough to withstand my insecure and unpredictable attitude. That night,Miss Petunia managed to persuade me to stay at her house for dinner. After dinner,she suggested that I should get a shower first before I continued on producing my artwork for the competition. She decided to listen to some classical music to relax herself after a tiresome day of work. Suddenly,the phone rang. Miss Petunia picked it up.There was chills rushing through my veins. “ Let us get to the hospital now!”,she yelled. She urged me to quickly put on my clothes and we rushed to the hospital immediately. The nurse from the hospital had called to inform that my parents were involved in a car accident. Sarah had told her to inform Miss Petunia. Dad was minorly bruised but mom was hurt badly. She was in the emergency room when we reached there. “Your mom wanted to get to the stationary shop to get you some new art materials for your competition.” “We were caught in heavy traffic and she sped.” “She was so excited that she took her eyes of the road for a while and….” “Now she is in the emergency room just because of your stupid competition!”, dad releasing his anger with all his might and punching his fist towards the wall.

After almost 4 hours of anxious waiting,the surgeon came out of the emergency room. “She’s going to be in coma for a few days.” “She should be awake after a few days.” Dad was relieved to hear that. We went in and visited mom. When Miss Petunia was about to leave,she suggested that I should stay with her these few days until mom wakes up.After four days, Mom woke up and it was a joyful moment for dad and Sarah at that time. “Where is Chucky?”,she asked. “He’s with Miss Petunia. Don’t worry. I’m glad you’re fine”,dad said. “I am thankful to God because He gave me another shot at living. I haven’t heard him say it .I’ve been waiting all this while.” “ Who? What is it?”,dad answered curiously. “Chucky. I want to hear him say….I love you.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.

Miss Petunia visited mom the next day. She brought along my artwork that I had finished the night before.”It’s beautiful.”,said mom and dad. ‘And look at that .”said Sarah pointing towards the bottom part of the picture. Written there ,
I LOVE YOU.