A Gift for My Father
“I dedicate this story to my loving Thaththi!”
Namal was sitting next to his father on the prize-giving day, waiting for his name to be called to receive the prize for the ‘Best-Student’. He shook his feet and looked down at his shoes. The new pair of shoes he was wearing looked really grand. Then his eyes just moved towards his father’s shoes. His heart stopped when he saw how old the shoes looked. They looked tattered from the front and the skin has peeled off from some places. “How come I never noticed this?” he thought feeling very guilty. “If I didn’t ask Thaththa for a new pair of shoes, sometimes he would have bought himself a new pair. My old pair was not that bad, I could have used it longer!” Namal knew that his father had to work very hard to make ends meet and now that he bought a new pair of shoes for Namal, it was highly unlikely that he would buy himself a new pair anytime soon!
Namal didn’t feel very happy even when he received the ‘Best-Student’ award. When he got off the stage his father hugged him with a huge smile. But Namal’s eyes kept on turning down towards his father’s shoes. “I will make things right!” he promised himself,
“I will buy Thaththa a new pair of shoes myself!” Even on his way back home Namal was not thinking about the award he received, but his father’s shoes.
He knew that this was the only pair of shoes his father had.
The next day Namal noticed on the calendar that ‘Father’s Day’ was round the corner. It was not a day he usually celebrated, but he thought it would give him a good reason to gift his father a new pair of shoes. He went to his room and shook his piggy-bank which was full. Then he broke it and counted all the coins. He put the coins into a bag and cycled to the shoe shop at the junction. “How much is this pair?” he asked a shop-assistant pointing at a fine pair of gent’s shoes. The amount the shop-assistant said was much more than he could even imagine. Seeing his expression, the shop-assistant pointed at a row of shoes below and said,
“These are much cheaper.” But even those prices were three/four times more than the piggyback money. Namal cycled back home, feeling sad.
Namal thought of ways and means of earning some money. He collected all the old news papers and unwanted glass bottles lying around the house and sold them. But the sum he received was very small. Very much less than what he expected. Finally the day before ‘Father’s Day’, he counted all the money he had and realized that he’d have to accept the sad fact that he wouldn’t be able to buy a new pair of shoes for ‘Father’s Day’!
Namal went to his father’s room. His father was working in the garden because it was a Saturday. He picked up his father’s only pair of shoes.
They were tattered and the soles were coming off from the front in both shoes. He carefully took them to the shoe-mender, who sat under a big umbrella on the pavement and got new soles fixed. Then he went to the shoe shop and bought a black shoe polish and new shoelaces. He took his father’s shoes to his room and polished them as best as he could. Then he wrote a ‘Thank-You’ note for his father, appreciating all the sacrifices he makes and put them all into a paper bag.
On ‘Father’s Day’ Namal slowly walked up to his father, who was reading a paper.
He wished so much that he had a new pair of shoes to surprise his father with. He sighed and gave the paper bag to his father. Namal’s father looked at him in surprise and opened the bag. He took out his shoes and looked at them in surprise turning them around looking at the new soles. He slowly touched the new shoelaces and realized that the shoes were also polished. He then read the note Namal had written.
Namal looked down, trying to hide his tears. “Thaththa, I wanted to buy you a new pair of shoes but I couldn’t find the money!” he sniffed. “Who needs a new pair of shoes now? These look as good as new!” his father said giving him a hug. “Putha, did you know that you gave me the best gift last week at the prize-giving by winning the ‘Best-Student’ award?
I can’t think of a better gift. And you don’t have to set aside one day to make me happy. You make me happy everyday you make an achievement.” Namal gave a hug back to his father and said, “Next year I will definitely buy you a new pair of shoes. Besides there’s nothing wrong in setting aside one day to do something a little extra special to let you know how much I appreciate everything you do Thaththa!”