Ever since I started living alone, I have spent every single moment I get trying to figure out where my parent's ashes are kept. Adam had made his life goal never to disclose the location of the urns. I tried asking Amy and Helen too if they have any clue where they are but they have no idea. However, Florence knows the location but she wants me to figure it out myself. There have been times when she has been good to me too, but most of the time she has been grumpy with me.
She said "Amell... even though the ladies of the house are not aware of the location... Adam had confided in me the actual spot but you know me I am never gonna tell you about it..."
She however hinted to me upon insisting that "Adam says that if you insist on the location I have to tell you that it's kept somewhere you would least expect to look. You will have to be smart enough like us which of course you are not, to figure out where the urns are kept. Adam has ensured that you cannot even get close to those urns"
I had no idea what she meant, but it was evident that they think they are smarter than me to make sure I cannot find the urn. However, I won't deny that the 4 of them are indeed smarter than me, considering how they fuck my life every single day and I am helplessly allowing them to do it too.
**** Getting back to my past 17 years ago. ****
After I came out of the kitchen uncle Don called me up and asked me to sit next to him.
He was wearing a blue checkered shirt and formal black trousers. As I sat next to him he put his arms around me, looked at me, and as he was about to speak he saw Florence and Adam standing there. "Kids, why don't you go to your room... I want to talk to Amell alone."
As Adam and Florence left to their room uncle said "son... I am sorry to have hurt you the other day... I was not in the right mind when I saw Jamie and Abha's body" he paused, picked up the glass of water and took a sip, and continued "and I ended up hurting you... I know what you have been going through was tough, but do you think you can still forgive me..."
I was angry at him after what he did to me earlier but then what choice have I got, he is the closest relative I have for a family even though he is my dad's stepbrother.
I smiled at him, forward my right hand to hug him, and said "you don't have to say sorry..." and then I began to cry.
It felt like uncle tried to pat my head softly and then said "baby... let's go somewhere... I want to show you something..."
I let go of him and followed him to the car. Adam was not there with us. Uncle asked aunty Jenny to come too and she agreed to it as well. Aunty asked me to sit on the front seat with uncle while she would be sitting on the rear seat which I agreed with.
"Uncle... where are we going?" I asked.
As uncle began driving he replied, "I wanted to show you a few things..."
We drove for 40 minutes and then he parks the car by the side of the road. He pointed his finger towards the road and said "do you see the broken glasses over there..."
I took a closer look and found a lot of broken glasses...
"That was the place where your parents met with the accident... I am sorry I couldn't find the courage to bring you here that day..."
I wanted to get down from the car to see the spot up close but uncle wouldn't let me. It was a busy road and he felt that under my current condition it was better not to go out of the car.
He said "Honey there is another place I want you to see..." and the journey continued.
After another 30 minutes, we reached near a synagogue. He parked the car in the parking spot and before releasing the safety belt he said: "Honey I hope you know that your dad followed Judaism..."
I began to shake my head slowly from left to right and said "Sorry uncle... he never said anything about it... I thought we were Christians..."
"Well... son your mom was a devout Christian... however your dad was Jewish. Even though he never followed the traditions... but at the end of the day he is what he is..."
"Let's go and light a candle for their peaceful journey to the afterlife..."
As we entered the synagogue and lit the candle, uncle asked me to follow him to a place. I was holding aunty's hands while entering the premises. There were two golden urns placed there with the names of my mom and dad written on it. Uncle told me that as per the traditions my parents were cremated and the ashes were placed there. Once the graveyard is finalized they will be buried there. I wanted to touch the urn but uncle told me that we are not supposed to, at the moment, as it's a part of their tradition to not let anyone touch the holy ashes of the deceased for the first 15 days. I felt terrible, not able to touch the remains of my parents.
However, at that moment the best way to give respect to my parents was to do something in life which would make them proud. I looked at my uncle and said "Uncle... if I want to become an avid follower of my dad's religion, will you have any problem?"
He caught hold of my hands and bent down, looked at me in the eyes, and said: "Honey... this won't be easy... there are a lot of rules that need to be followed and it's not easy for a 13-year-old to follow each and every one of them."
"Don't worry uncle I will try my level best... besides I have you to guide me if I am doing anything wrong..."
Aunty suddenly interrupted "it's ok Don if he wants to try let him do it... I will guide him... besides our daughters have no interest in following our tradition, atleast we will have someone to follow our culture with devotion."
He smiled at me and then said "ok... let's start from the basics, you try some of the basic steps and slowly we will continue the remaining ones... is that ok honey..."
"ok... uncle" I replied with a smile...
I was still holding Aunty's hands when she spoke "ok son... there are a total of 613 rules or commandments we follow to become a true follower. It is also believed that if someone could follow all the 613 commandments by the letter, then any 3 of your deepest desires would come true."
"Hehe..." I smirked...
"I know this sounds preposterous but who knows... until today there were only these 3 messengers who were able to follow all the 613 commandments to the letter, maybe you can be the 4th one in history..." and then she tugged my cheek gently.
"So... what do you think... you want to give it a shot...?" Uncle asked.
"Of course uncle... why not..."
"Very well then... how about let's start the basics and if you feel that you what to continue, we will ask the rabbi to perform the Tevilah or you kids might know it as Baptism"
"So how should we begin uncle..."
"Let's go to the bookstall first to get you a Tanakh and then I will tell you some of the basic rules to follow."
We went to the bookstall and uncle got me a bible. He told me that it is known as the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible and is written in Hebrew. He said that this is the English version since I don't know how to read or write Hebrew. He then gave me a book of prayers which aunty said that I need to recite every Monday and Tuesday before 6 a.m. and then he handed me a DVD and said it's the Torah reading which I need to listen every Saturday. Finally, he picked up a small-cap and gave it to me. He told me that it is known as the kippah which we should always wear when we are performing our prayers.
After uncle made the payment we began to proceed towards our car. As we got into the car uncle said that we will go to a shopping mall and get me a Discman. As we were driving uncle began telling me a few sets of rules to begin the transition of becoming a good follower.
Here are the rules he told me about.
> We should refrain ourselves from violence or bullying others. It was a word of the lord that we will only retaliate if one of our own is in danger or else we shouldn't involve in any violent activity.
> We should never do things that would make others uncomfortable.
> We should spend time with our elders and try to listen to them.
> We should try to respect both your elders and younger people. Everyone is a child of God and respecting the youngers and the elders meant that you are respecting god.
> We should often ask for advice from the elders and try to follow them without any questions. They have a lot of experience in life and they will never fail to give you good advice.
> We should always be eating together with the family. This shows how much you respect your family.
> We shouldn't be hurting others' feelings no matter how big or how famous you are.
Finally, he said "Son...There is one last rule but that is optional for now, however, to complete the 613 commandments, you will have to start following that one day too."
I asked, "what is that rule uncle..."
"Well, son... the book of Deuteronomy 20:19 compares a man to a tree and it is suggested that as a tree grows leaves, a man grows the hair to remind him that a tree doesn't forget to protect the birds who build the nest on them, we as humans should never forget our humanity and help others. If you feel like growing your hair I have no problem, I can talk to your school too."
For once I thought that growing my hair would make me look cool in school so I agreed to it, but I never realized that my long hair would also bring upon a curse on me. My brother never ceased to make fun of me because of my long hair. I still keep my long hair. To tell you the truth I have not cut my hair for 17 years.
We kept driving and then we stopped near a store. Uncle got me the Discman as promised and then we began to drive back him.
Sometime later uncle stopped the car by the side of the road and looked at me again and said "Son... there is something else your aunty and I wanted to ask you about... actually we wanted to talk to you alone."
"sure... uncle you can ask me anything..."
"You know your brother is very young and so are you, I was wondering..." he paused and looked at aunty and said, "why don't you say it, Jenny?"
I turned back to look at aunty hoping for her to speak and then she said "actually your dad's lawyer met us the other day and she said that until the 2 of you become an adult, you will need to grow up in a foster home. However, we didn't like the idea of sending the 2 of you to one..."
Before aunty could say the next sentence, I interrupted her and asked "Will you let Adam be a part of your family...?"
"We want the 2 of you to be a part of our family..."
"Actually aunty don't get me wrong... Adam needs a family more than me. He really needs someone to love him, someone to understand that his achievements are far better than mine, someone to tell him, make him understand that as an athlete, I can have a life only till 33 or at most 34 and that too if I am a good player, however being good at studies would mean that he would be independent, he can have a much better life than me... he needs someone who can give him the confidence... You don't have to worry about me, I still have my scholarship money, you can send me to a boarding school where I can be far away from him and also get my education there."
Aunty wanted to hug me but couldn't do so as she was sitting on the back and instead touched my face with her hands and said "Wow... I never thought you were ready to sacrifice so much for your brother... we always thought you were vain and mean boy which your brother keeps complaining about."
"It's not like that... maybe a part of what he said is right too... but I won't deny the fact that I am vain and like to make friends who like to enjoy life as it comes. A lot of people were hurt because of what I did or what I said. But I wouldn't deny that he feels comfortable when you guys are around him..."
"Ok... if that's what bothers you then why don't the 2 of you become a part of our family first, and we will plan something out where you don't have to go to a boarding school and he doesn't have to live under anyone's shadow and will also gain the confidence he so desires."
I felt it was a good idea and we continued our journey. Uncle told me that our father's lawyer would come over to the house in the evening to read dad's will. He has also informed her about starting the process of adoption which according to the lawyer it will just require mine and Adam's signature, and everything will be done.
TO BE CONTINUED...