Little Wish

PHOTO PROMPT © Priya Bajpai

Written for Friday_Fictioneers 

Little Wish

“Can I read just one wish?” Rita asked.

“No!”

“Just a tiny peek!”

“If you read the wish, then God won’t grant it. You should know better, mum,” Thea answered matter-of-factly.

That night, after Thea went to sleep, Rita couldn’t help herself. She had to see what her daughter wrote meticulously each night and put in the mason jar on the dining table.

She opened a yellow one.

“Please send little Theo back.” It read.

Rita opened another one. The same five words. She read all the chits and all had just one wish.

 

63 thoughts on “Little Wish

  1. Two possibilities come to mind: one, the disgruntled big sister wanting to send the baby back to wherever it came from. The second is that Little Theo has died and she misses him. The first makes me smile and the second makes my heart ache. Well done!

  2. Oh!! I totally read this as a big sister wanting to send her brother back!! Which is very funny!
    Wishing for her brother to come back is in the other hand heartbreaking xx
    The ambiguity is really good though!

    1. Thank you so much Anna. As a young child everyone wishes to send their siblings back, but guess when they actually aren’t around, you miss them. Little Thea wants Theo back..but not all wishes can be fulfilled.

  3. Anshu, this was really beautiful, poignant and so tragic. I belong to the muscular dystrophy association and I have heard some tragic stories through the years of families losingparticularly sons way too young.This group does try to support the siblings aware of the huge impact it also has on them.This story captures all of those emotions and I wonder if this will change how the mother handles her own grief and will she go to greater lengths to shelter the daughter from it. A very interesting and philosophical piece. Well done.
    Best wishes,
    Rowena

    1. Rowena, thanks for writing to me. My nephew who had muscular dystrophy passed away on 14th Dec. He was almost 27. His maternal uncle had the same thing. The mother is the carrier and the son the sufferer. It’s so difficult to see your child being wasted away day after day before your very eyes. You are doing a great job, Rowena.

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