A Trip to My Father

“Do you see the tree over there, honey?”
“Yes mom I see it, what is it about it?”

That how mom started to tell me about my dad 5 years ago. I was 10 by then. She told me how they first met under that one big tree in the park. Then, she told me how their relationship improved and how was their marriage. Then when I asked her about where is he now she stopped and her eyes filled with tears. I didn’t know why that happened at least by that time I didn’t.

A year passed and I almost forgot all about that day, just one single event made me more curios about what happened to dad. It was a school project about family and how each person of the family has a very affective role in the relation of the other members. I finished all my research but there was one last thing I didn’t put in my report. My opinion. Well, I didn’t know what to put I never know my father and I remembered what happened to mom when I asked her about where is he.

Days past and the deadline for the report had come very close so I decided to rather than asking her to her face I’ll write a litter with the question in it. And so I wrote:

“Dear mom,

I know this topic is so sensitive to you but I have to ask you.
Where is dad? Why I never saw him?
I need your answer quickly for my school report.

Your son,
Fred.”

And I put it in her room. The next day I saw mom waiting for me by the dinning table which was unusual. But I noticed that she had been crying.
“Mom!! Are you okay?” I said. She node then hugged me tight. The she looked at me “I am sorry honey” she started “I never told you what happened to your father it’s hard for me to say but I think I can’t hide it forever”. I waited for her to continue but she didn’t “If you can’t say it’s okay I’ll just skip that part” I told her. “No dear, don’t I’ll tell you what happened. As I told before your dad was a sailor. The year you were born and exactly when you were three months old he had a mission in some far islands. After two years with no news about the ship he went on ‘Freedom’. I’ve been called to your dad’s employer company. When I went there they told me “A storm hit the Freedom ship. We’ve got a news that it crashed on an island’s shore but there was no trace for any of the sailors or the ship captain. We give you our apologizes, we think your husband and the rest of Freedom’s crew have drown in that storm before the ship crashes in to the shore” and I never heard of him since. I believe he has died because it’s already thirteen years.” and she left me with that she wanted to hide so I want see her crying but I already did.

When I went to school I’ve gave my report and I skipped the point about my opinion. After I finished it was the teachers turn to give his comments “It was a very excellent report Fred. But may I know why you didn’t give your opinion and I am positive that you know that it’s a big part of your report mark?” I stood silent for what seemed along time but it was about a minute only “I am sorry Mr. Brain, but an opinion needed for me to experience living with a whole family while I only had my mom who is usually busy working for a living.”

The rest of the day went as every other school day in my life as if the fact that I learned that my father died years ago when I was just beginning my life isn’t true. Actually, I believed deep inside me that dad is a live and he is somewhere in this world waiting for someone or let’s say me to look for him.

Now, I am 30. I’ve finished my studies and I work as an explorer. When I was in my first years of exploring I heard about some mysterious islands that nobody can get to but only see from the far away in the horizon like clouds that never go away, so I decided that it’s the time for me to do something that no one had succeed in. I went to those islands. And for my surprise I found a whole civilization over there that was unknown to the world. But the real surprise that I found my dad there as well. He told me about all his adventures “Fred you’ve just started but you have a long way toward your goal don’t give up!” he said to me in our last night on the islands. The next day we -my father, some of Freedom’s crew and me- sailed back home where mom was waiting for me to come back to here just as every time I went in an exploration trip.

--The End--