Short Story - Impossible is Possible!

An old man lived in a small village. He lived alone because his only son was incarcerated on charges of possessing arms!

The old man had a small garden at the backyard of his house. Gardening was his favourite pastime. He and his wife used to take care of the small garden as if it were their own child. But now…the garden looked dry and deserted. Creeping weeds had grown everywhere, spoiling its beauty.

“Hmm…”, the old man let out a sigh,looking at the garden. How he enjoyed
working in the garden along with his wife! Now that she had died, he hated working alone.

But he would have to…! To fulfil his wife’s desire to have a potato garden! But how was he going to do it? The garden had to becompletely redone; the weeds had to be removed. The huge task loomed before him. The only person who could have helped the old man was his son who was in prison. It seemed unlikely that he would be released in the near future.

The old man, after much thought, decided to write a letter to his son in prison, explaining his difficult situation. The letter went like this:

“Dear Son, Blessings to you. Thought of reminding you about your mother’s wish to grow potatoes in our once beautiful garden. It’s in a very bad state now – unattended and uncared for. It needs complete rework –cleaning, shoveling, spading etc..a huge task which I think I wouldn’t be able to do all alone! My age also takes a toll on me. And with you, being away in prison, it would be real hard work for me. However, for your mother’s sake, I wish to do the best possible. Take care. Love, Dad”.

The old man posted the letter to his son. A few days later, the old man received a telegram that read: Dear Dad, your letter to hand. For Heaven’s sake, please don’t dig up the garden. That’s where I had buried the guns!”.

Next morning, as early as 4 am, the old man was woken up with a start and when he opened the door, he found himself facing local police authorities – a dozen of them. Shoving the bewildered man aside, the authorities set to accomplish the work they had come for – digging up and clearing the whole garden in search of guns that the old man’s son had mentioned in his telegram. But alas! They didn’t find any! Disappointed, the authorities left the place, without even bothering to apologize to the old man for their untimely intrusion!

Completely confused, the old man wrote another letter to his son, explaining in detail about what had happened. He had also mentioned in the letter that he was very scared and was in a fix about what to do next.

The old man received a reply from his son that said, “Dad, go ahead and sow potato plants as mother wished. This is the best I could do from here to help you out. Love you, Dad”.

The old man was in tears when he read the letter. He was thankful to his son and set to work in the garden.

- Ashwini.