Usha Singh Saat Tala 1, Dailek
(Part 2/2) “The first time he saw our son was only after he returned 3 years later. We were both very happy to have him back. He had also applied for his license and bought a second-hand passenger vehicle. That was to be his new work. Although I had advised him to buy a new vehicle, he wanted to save money and he persuaded me. We were doing well. He would come home on time and when he was busy and had to take passengers on a long trip, he would inform me. One day, he told me he wanted to get on a bus to go to our village and collect oranges from our orchard. You see, our village in Dailekh is known for its good quality oranges. So without much thought, I said it was good to have some oranges for our son. So he left. In the afternoon, I received a call. The bus he was on had fallen off the cliff and that my husband was injured. I was told that they were bringing him to Surkhet to take him to the hospital. But when he arrived in Surkhet he was no more. When I finally saw him at the hospital he had already left his body.
My son is 4 now. And he has started asking about his father. And for some reason, I had no courage to tell him that he had already passed away. But words might have reached his ears. Recently, one of his friends asked him about his father and I had said, he is abroad. But my son came to me and said, ‘Why are you saying my father is abroad when he has already passed away. I am already grown up to know these things.’ ”
