“Son, please take me with you for Christmas. I won’t bother you, I’ll sit quietly in the corner. I’ll feel better at home – I can’t stand it here anymore, the days are crushing me.” “Father, don’t overdo it. Here you have everything: care, food, doctors. You just keep saying ‘I want to go home, I want to go home’.”
“It’s been so many months since I was last there. Home will be different, I promise you. I want to live there again, that’s my home.” “Christmas is coming. I’ll take you home, I promise you,” the son said tenderly.
“You’re a good man, my son. I’m proud of you. Not many children would do something like that for their father. When we get home, we’ll also visit your mother’s grave. Do you remember your mother? Did you bring flowers to the cemetery recently? He loved flowers, remember, didn’t he?”
The son looked at his father, full of affection, but his gaze was filled with sadness. Silently, he said goodbye and left the room. From that moment on, the father counted the days until Christmas, in the hope of returning home. But, at home, the son sat worried, staring at the wall.
His thoughts were confused – how to tell his wife? How to convince her? Slowly, he looked at her and said, “I want to take my father home for Christmas. That’s all he wants.” His wife, furious, shouted:
“Have you forgotten that your father is sick? He might catch something dangerous! And we have so many guests at Christmas, how are we going to do that?” “The doctor said he’s no longer contagious. He’s safe, it’s the last thing I can do for him,” the son replied in frustration.
“You shouldn’t always believe what the doctors say. You should think carefully before making a decision,” his wife said, her tone intense. The conversation stopped there, and the son felt both guilty and helpless. On Christmas morning, the family went to church for mass.
The atmosphere was full of festive mood, but the son felt a vague emptiness. When they returned home, the guests were there. Joy and noise filled the room, but the son felt as if something was missing. After the celebration was over, when the guests had left and the family had gone to sleep, the son felt a heavy uneasiness.
Something was wrong, something was weighing on him. He couldn’t take it anymore. The next morning, he decided to go to the hospital. He couldn’t wait any longer. He walked heavily to the clinic. The hallway was empty, and the sound of his footsteps echoed off the walls. The nurse greeted him with a look full of sadness and said:
«Many patients spent the holidays with their families.» The son went up to the eighth floor, where his father’s room was. Each of his steps was heavy, as if he was carrying an enormous sadness. When he reached the room, his father’s bed was empty. His heart was pounding. He started running towards the doctor’s office.
The doctor greeted him with an indifferent look: «We did everything we could, but unfortunately we didn’t succeed. Your father died. The last thing he said was that he was disappointed. His dream was to spend his last Christmas at home, in that place full of memories. But fate had different plans.”
The son was speechless, the doctor’s words crushing him. Then he realized that all plans, all promises, were lost.
