Easter Story

As a child, my parents worked
very hard to give me a good future. Determined to give me every opportunity
they never had, I was enrolled in plenty of extra classes and activities.
Whenever I showed interest in something, my parents made sure to provide me
with the chance to do it. When I grew older, I was told by many that I showed a
lot of musical potential as a child. I was immediately enrolled in piano
lessons, and my parents saved for a year to get me my own keyboard which stood
in the corner of the living room. It’s still there to this day. Every evening
after homework, I would practice. As my fingers danced on the ivory keys, my
mother would read her John Grisham novels and my father would sit right next to
her, his eyes closed and his head nodding to the melody I played.
As supportive as my parents were,
they never saw music as anything more than a hobby. With my stellar academic
performance, they expected me to do something like law or engineering. They
were a little conservative in that way. So it came as a surprise to them when I
told them that I was planning to study music in university. I remember my
mother saying that she didn’t want me to struggle the same way her and my
father did, and that getting a job in this market was hard.
But eventually they compromised-
I was the apple of their eye, after all.
They helped me move on campus
into a little crummy room on campus. The walls were painted a hideous shade of
blue and there was a suspicious brown stain on the ceiling that seemed to grow
bigger every month. But I loved it anyway- it gave me a sense of freedom to have
a space that was just mine.
As exciting as it was, school was
very competitive and I found myself sleeping for a few hours a day. I was
swamped with work and my room was perpetually filled with discarded bits of
paper and books full of scribbles and notes. I found myself unable to visit my
parents, and I could only spare them an hour a week by phone. Every week they
would tell me about some of my cousins I had never met- the way one of them had
just graduated med school, the way another just got her job as a civil
engineer. I knew they never meant to hurt me by telling me this, and they were
just keeping me updated on family matters, but I felt like I wasn’t doing
enough. It seemed that I was working so hard and it was getting me nowhere, yet
my cousins were actually starting to build futures for themselves.
Toward the end of my spring
semester, I got a call from my cousin Sandra. We had grown up close together
since I didn’t have any siblings. After some small-talk, she asked me if I was
coming home for the Easter party my parents were throwing.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to
come back. I’m still working on my final project.”
“Come on”, she said pleadingly.
“It’s just going to be one weekend and I don’t want to get stuck with the
aunties on my own. Besides, your mum told me you haven’t been visiting lately.
Please!”
“Aww, it won’t be that bad”, I teased. “After all, you’re
studying to be a doctor so I’m sure they’ll be much more excited to see you
than me.”
“Oh, I see how it is. You think
they’re ashamed of you.”
I was silent for a while.
“Well, let me just tell you that
you’re the last person on anybody’s mind.”
“Really?”, I asked.
“Yeah. Remember how my brother
refused to get a job? A few months ago he borrowed some money from the family
then he disappeared for months. Then
last week he resurfaced on social media talking about the way he bought a
Mercedes with money he got from being a trader.”
“A trader?”
“A Forex
trader!” she exclaimed. “He probably just rented it honestly. So in case you
feel like a disappointment just remind yourself that Sammy dropped out of
school to be a scammer.”
I got to my parents’ Easter party
a little late, so I bought a cake on my way home as an appeasement offering. As
I walked through the open door, I could see Sandra in the living room sitting
next to some of my aunts. As soon as she saw me, she rolled her eyes at me and
smiled. My father was grilling some meat outside, were more relatives were
standing around with hands wrapped around wet, cold bottles of beer and soda.
My mother walked out of the kitchen and pulled me into an embrace.
“I’m so glad you came”, she
whispered. “Everyone is so excited to see you. They’re all so proud.”
“Are they?”, I asked
sarcastically.
She pulled away and smiled
playfully.
“Of course”, she said. “After
all, you’re not a scammer.”