Summer of 2011 : Part 1

It was a hot sunny summer afternoon. Adel was playing hide and seek with his friends since morning. In the deserted roads of the summer afternoon, their count of 1 to 50 was clearly audible from the 8th floor balcony. Every time the count started, Adel’s mother shouted for him and asked him to come home. He wouldn’t even bother and would run away to hide as if he was going to hide at a place his mom could never find. She cursed the other ladies as to why they were letting their children play in this heat and then again shouted at Adel.

After an hour of intermittent useless shouting, Adel’s mother stepped out of her house in anger. She would not let her son be a victim of the scorching sun. As she reached the play area, she frantically started searching for Adel. Smart as Adel was, he quickly hid in his secret place to escape the prying eyes of his mother. But to the utter surprise of Adel, one of his friends went to his mom and pointed his secret hide out to her. With an intense look of revenge, Adel left the ground while his mom was still shouting and scolding him. “You useless boy! Don’t you have any shame left? I have been shouting at you since last 2 hours and you didn’t even respond once. Do you know what time of the day it is? Is it the time to play? You have driven my crazy.....” his mom went on and on......

Sitting in his bed, Adel was sobbing. His mother’s harsh words were still clearly ringing in his ears. He is a big boy now. It’s his summer vacations and he had done his homework too. Then why can’t he play? What problem does his mother have when he was not even disturbing her? Why can’t adults be sensible like him and not disturb him when he is not disturbing them? “I won’t live in this house any more. I am a big boy and can live alone. Then I can play whole day and would not have to listen to my mom’s blabbering”, he thought and left the house. He did not bother to tell his mom where he was going. His mom thought he was upset and that would return home in sometime after sitting on the stairs. He had done this before when he had been upset. But this time he didn’t return. An hour went by, another hour, and another, the clock struck 6 but still Adel did not come home.

.....continued in part 2