Aaron was a book seller. He proudly owned a small book store, which was more of a small booth with an ample room in the back for storage. This book store was the source of income for the family.
"I'll take him to work today, he should be fine," Neal heard his father Aaron said to his mother Martha one day.
Neal felt so awful and disgusted. No more servants, no more luxury all were in total opposite of the world he knew. His father would even made him work. He needed to do house chores too which he never touched all his life in his own time. He's not used to this kind of life. He felt so cornered. He barely could eat the food served in front of him. But after a while, he got very hungry and tried some. To his surprise it was tasty. Although the appearance was far from the gourmet cook his chef always served in his own time, the taste certainly didn't fall behind.
Other than eating, Neal avoided to do anything else to help his parents.
He always said,"Let the servant do it."
He didn't want to wash dishes, didn't want to work, didn't want to help his father carrying heavy loads and more. He even complained on how ugly his clothes were. He couldn't believe he needed to wear clothes so shabby with holes.
His mother patiently said, "As soon as we have some money, we'll buy you new clothes."
He spent time reading newspaper, books, lying on his bed or took a walk outside. He came back home only to eat or to sleep.
One day, when Neal was lying lazily on his bed he heard some noise and saw a neighbor came carrying his father, Aaron. Aaron's face looked pale and so much in pain with bluish lips.
The neighbor shouted, "Marta, Martha! Aaron has a serious injury."
Neal's mother who was busy fixing a hole in her son's clothes right away jumped in panic to take her husband to his room. His father Aaron always had a back problem. Neal often saw his mother gave his father's back a massage. Apparently it got worse in time and today his back was injured really badly. The neighbor was their good friend and happened to meet Aaron in the bookstore where he came to help. The neighbor took him to see a doctor on the way home. He refused to be paid back but Martha insisted. After the neighbor left, Martha quickly attended Aaron.
Neal heard them crying from outside. After a while, he sat on his bed. He felt so scared. He never heard his own mother and father cry. He sensed something really bad was happening. He missed his own mom and was hoping so much she was there for him to run to.
Suddenly, he heard a knock at the door.
At the time where he thought the situation couldn't get any worse, he heard someone shouted rudely, "Aaron, Martha, the house rent is due today."
A big fat looking man rudely entered the house. He's the landlord asking them to pay the house monthly rent. Martha quickly appeared to meet him.
"I am so sorry, but we don't have enough money today, please give us a few more days to pay," Martha said softly, she's afraid for Aaron to hear and make him worried.
In her heart, Martha was worried about her son and sick husband. What if he asked them to leave, her husband was so hurting he couldn't even move. What if he took her son in exchange for the rent. In fear, she respectfully explained that they just used all money they had to see a doctor and to take care of Aaron. The landlord rudely refused to give them extension. He growled loudly demanding her to give the money now.
Neal's heart felt like being pierced by a knife. How come things could be this complicated? In the past, all he needed to do was to run to his mother. Life back then seemed to be so smooth and never be in lack of anything.
Neal saw his mother kept begging for the landlord to give them a few more days extension but the landlord bluntly refused. It hurt his heart to see someone being that rude to the kind Martha. At the end, the landlord wanted to go to confront Aaron. Martha didn't allow that, she's afraid of what it'd do for his health. But the landlord didn't care, he walked straight to Aaron's room. Martha finally knelt down holding the landlord's legs begging him tearfully not to meet her husband. The landlord still didn't care. Having no other option, Martha knelt on the floor and held his legs but the man kept waking pulling her with him. Then, she held his leg with one hand and stretched her other arm to grab one table leg.
Neal hid in his dark corner trembling in fear seeing such a depressing scene. For the first time in his life, he felt pity. He felt so sorry for his mother Martha who always be exceptionally gentle and kind to him. After a while he couldn't contain himself anymore. Without he realized it, he jumped from his bed and stood up to reason with the landlord.
"Enough, be a bit more gentle to my mother," said Neal in a wobbly voice. He couldn't believe he really said it.
The man got even angrier, Neal was so frightened. His body was trembling and his legs were shaking in fear.
"Be respectful to me or I throw you and your family out right now, at this moment," he shouted raucously. He made a move to punch Neal.
Neal was so scared. He cringed and trembled in fear so much frozen not knowing how to respond. He could have been punched easily but his mother ran to stand in front of him.
"Don't hit my son," she hugged Neal to shield his body from the landlord.
That landlord examined Neal for a while and said, "Let me take him to work with me."
The landlord grabbed Neal's arm. In shocked, Neal didn't even struggle. He got dragged sheepishly by the landlord. But his mother Martha ran between them and pushed her son to separate him from the landlord, she stood in front of the landlord and her dearest son.
"No, don't take him," Martha screamed hysterically. She continued more pleading, begging and more. Finally she said, "A few more days, that's all I ask. We're never late in paying our rent, please trust us. We promise you, just this time only." She tried to sound as convincing as possible.
Neal was stunt. What happened was so unexpected and just like a nightmare. Someone was about to take him as a substitute for a house rent? He never thought such a thing possible. In stunt, he just stood there mutely watching his mother Martha and the landlord made a deal. He was so paralyzed half in fear half in terror trying to absorb the events that happening in front of him.
Perhaps due to pity to Martha the landlord finally yielded, he said, "Your husband is sick, your son is an idiot. Fine, I'll be back in a few more days. Ask your useless son to work!" He shook his head and left.
Martha felt so relieved. She said thank you many many times. As soon as the landlord disappeared she hugged Neal feeling so relieved he's still there with her.
"My son... Oh, my son...," she said tearfully. She hugged him tightly clearly showing the unparalleled love she had to her precious son. She kept hugging and sobbing until she heard her husband call her, "Martha, Martha!"
Martha hurriedly released her son, wiped her tears and went to his room.
"I am sorry, Dear," Neal heard his father Aaron said to his mother Martha. "I promised you happiness on our wedding day but it seemed that I failed you." Aaron cried.
"Don't say that, Darling," his mother said. She put her head on him and cried. "Your love keeps me going. Your love never stops giving me hope and happiness. I'm satisfied to be a woman who's rich in love. "
"Love can't help you to pay rent," he said caressing her hair and tears dropped continuously on his face. " I tried, but I failed. I am so sorry to you. "
"Darling, we still have hope, we have our son," Neal heard his mother replied with a trembling broken voice.
His father closed his eyes and cried silently. Our son? He shook his head in despair. "What can he do other than to give you more burden?" he said. His heart felt so much pain like being stabbed by a dagger thinking about the never ending problem the family was facing.
While still nailed on the same spot as when the landlord left them, Neal was listening to his parents talking and trying to absorb traumatic events that happened one after another that night.
The rest of the night got worse and worse. Aaron was in so much pain. The sound of him in pain would break the hardest heart, including Neal's. Martha continued tirelessly to try all she could to ease his pain. At what seemed to be the darkest hour, Neal couldn't take it anymore and went outside to take a walk. It's dark outside, all he could was to visit their horse. He remembered Aaron always worked so hard with the horse. It made him so sad with what's happening to him. Neal stayed for a while with his closest companion and did some reflection.
His heart sunk. The situation was unthinkable. He needed to react all of them would be in trouble. But what could he do? He could just run away and ignored them. They were not his real parents anyway. But where to run? He knew no one. Above all, the poignant scene of his mother knelled on the landlord's knee kept hovering in his head. She even tried to protect him from being hit and grabbed by the landlord. That tiny woman stood bigger than a giant just now in front of him. Where did she get all the energy to push that big fat landlord? His heart melted with pity when thinking about what happened to his mother Martha who always gave him nothing but love and kindness. He didn't want that to happen again to her. But, what should he do?
Neal patted the horse one more time and went back inside hoping for a miracle to happen and his father Aaron got better. He sat listening silently on his bed holding his crossed legs in front of his chest with mind clouded by all things happening around him.
"Neal." He suddenly heard someone approaching him which cut his train of thought. It's his mother.
"Mother," whispered Neal. She looked exhausted and full of sorrow.
Neal wanted so much to help this kind woman, if only he knew how. "How's father?" he asked.
She hugged him and said tearfully, "He's sleeping finally."
That seemed to be the best news he had ever heard in his entire life.
"Neal, let me tell you a story," she sobbed. "Before we had you, I and your father wanted so much to have a child for a long time with no avail. But we never gave up hope. Finally we had a son, you, it was like a miracle. We only have you. After you, we could not have any more child either," she said with flowing tears. "I believe you are here for a purpose. I believe that you are just a young bird which not yet able to fly. When you really spread your wings later, you'll fly the highest, majestically. I truly believe you won't disappoint us." She hugged him and sobbed really hard.
His mother's words penetrated deeply into his heart. Her continued unconditional love and trust in him lifted him up. Nobody trusted him that much. Everyone around him always laughed at him, mocked at him. Everyone except her always told him how useless he was. He genuinely felt sorry to this lady. For the first time in his life, he had a goal in mind. He would take the matter into his hands and took them out of the poverty.
After a while he encouraged himself to say, "Mother, I will work hard starting tomorrow. I promise I won't disappoint you." He hugged her back.
His mother Martha slowly releasing her hug. She looked at her son. Neal's heart was broken to see her extreme sadness and flowing tears. She's about the same age as his own mother, but the suffering she endured was not even comparable. But, with all the suffering she had, her love to him stayed unwavered. For each drop of tear she shed, it boosted his motivation by a hundred.
She nodded and tried to smile between her tears. "I trust you son. I always do."
That night, Neal prepared himself to face the hard truth and to conquer his first real life challenge. For the first time in his life he knew the importance of working to earn a living. For the first time in his life he learned that being frightened was a disadvantage. One needed to fight to win just like Martha to the landlord. If that petite woman could do it, he should be able to do it too. He determined to work hard for the first time in his life. It had no room for failing. He had to succeed or the whole family would sink. He promised himself he would do his best for the sake of his mother Martha.
-0-0-0
Although Neal's intention was noble but it was easier to be said than done. The following day he went to the store to sell books. He tried to remember everything that his own father and father Aaron taught him about being a seller. It's much easier to learn in theory than to apply in practice, of course. Regardless, he tried his best to take care of each customer hoping they'd buy and for him to earn more money. He felt so motivated when he got his first buyer. Day after day, he worked diligently to cover his father. He earned money, yet not that much. He's not satisfied with the amount of income he earned. He thought how to improve himself when he got the idea to sell on the street.
That day, Neal woke up extra early to feed his horse, loaded his books in the horse carriage and went to look for the most crowded place in the town. He sat on the street paying attention on how other sellers did to attract customers. He imitated them. He shouted loudly to attract customers. Things moved well and much to his excitement, he earned more money. But nothing seemed to flow easily, one day, an officer came to bully him and forced him to leave. But since selling on the street generated good money, after the officer left Neal came back. The officer was annoyed to see his resistance. He called his friends and beat him up. They seized his bag. That bag had the money which he had worked so hard to get. The money which was very important for his mother and father. He couldn't lose that. Most of all he'd lose his dignity if he came back home empty handedly. With that in mind, he fought back. But he's only one person fighting against a few guards, how could he win?
Among all the chaos, suddenly a blonde girl appeared and shouted. "Stop beating him. How dare you to do that in front of my property."
The blonde girl had been following what happened from her mansion's window when she felt she recognized the book seller. His voice was familiar along with that signature of grin which was unmistakably his. She looked at him attentively. She was so sure she recognized him, she hurriedly ran downstairs to meet him. To her great horror, she found him being beaten up.
Seeing her, the bullies were frightened. They right away apologized and ran away
Neal stared at his rescuer for a while and got frozen. Her voice, her look, she looked so much like her! But soon he remembered about his money.
Ignoring who the girl could really be, he said, "My bag! My Bag!" To him, his bag of money was the most important thing in the world.
"Yes, don't worry, I have it here," the girl said kindly trying to comfort him.
Neal quickly grabbed the bag and held it tightly. That bag of money was his life, his parents' life, it's everything for him.
The girl instructed her men, "Take him to my room, hurry."
They lifted Neal up and brought him to her room as instructed.
She said again, "Call a doctor."
Neal said, "No need. I am fine."
She asked her men to go out and sat next to him. She offered him a glass of water.
"Are you sure you are okay?" she asked kindly.
This can't be true, she's very similar to Candy, thought Neal.
This can't be true, he's very similar to Neal, thought the girl.
They stared at one another before Neal realized he shouldn't do that to an upper class woman
"Ma'am," Neal bowed politely. "Thank you so much for your kind help. I am sorry to stare at you for too long, but you really look like one lost friend of mine."
"May I know what's your name?" asked the girl.
"Neal Leagan," Neal thought how to better explain who he really was. He cautiously added a hint to tell her who he really was. "Neal Leagan from that time," he said.
"From that time?" asked the girl. She added carefully, "Neal, I am Candy. Is it possible that...?"
"You are Candy from the year 1918!" he said excitedly.
"Yes!" said the girl. "I am Candy from the future! We were in that empty mansion that night and suddenly we came to this time."
-TO BE CONTINUED-
*Thank you so much for reading. I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.*