Thursday, August 7, 2014

Mother at the Counter

She was a single parent on at the ticket counter. One child tugged at her hand, while the small one hugged her shoulder as her hand wrapped around him for support. Her youngest child sucked his thumb while staring out at the strange world around him. The elder son who stood on his two feet was tired of waiting here and continuously tugged and pulled his mother’s arm, but his attempts only seemed to annoy the mother. She sharply looked at him, try to communicate a message across, a message to stop tugging and one of patience. He glance at her and stopped his tugging for a moment. 

The line moved forward and the family moved with it. The mother dragged the large trolley bag which was taller than her eldest son. Passengers and the general public starred glancing at her. All of them probably asking themselves the same questions – Where was the husband? Why wasn’t the husband here? 

However, if the mother hassled by such looks, she did not show it, she just hugged onto her child. The mother’s eldest son threatened to run off and she wanted to let him, but her fingers grabbed him arm. Without another pair of eyes she would rather not risk him running around a station full of strangers. 

Now, he was the one glaring at her with his small eyes. He tried to jerk his hand free of his mother’s grip, but she did not let go and neither did she offer her son any explanation for her action.  

The line moved forward and from the purse that hung around her shoulder, the mother extracted some notes. She paid the ticket counter and got the tickets. 


She began tugging the big trolley bag as the crowd parted in front of her, making way. The eldest child was swiftly stepping ahead and then stopping, waiting for his mother to keep up. Then for the mother, came the dreaded stairs which she had to struggle down with the humongous bag. 

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