A Boy Who Had A Dream

A story which needs to be read and think about....

(At home)

It will soon be dawn. Sun will shine again today. The sky is clear and not a single speck of cloud is visible in the whole blue sheath. The old respectable man is getting ready to go for work. The wife is busy cooking breakfast and the children are getting prepared for school. The house cat is lying calmly on sofa in the lounge. She seems to enjoy the hustle bustle that goes on each morning in the house at the time.

The eldest son of the house is wearing socks while the others have even finished their breakfast. The mother is packing his breakfast in the lunch box and father is continuously honking from outside. The other kids are already inside the car and making faces because they are again late because of big brother. Big brother comes and takes his seat at the front besides father. Father drives towards school.

(At school)

Eldest son enters the class. Everyone looks at him with awe. Why wouldn’t they? He has extremely attractive looks with sleek black hair, fair complexion and long straight nose. He walks with a stylish gait and takes a seat in the front row.

In a short while, his group of friends surrounds him and start chatting casually. All of them look forward to hear his opinion on each matter but he doesn't give them reply. He just smiles towards them as though not interested in their unimportant discussion.

In fact his mind is still pondering on the news about latest scientific discovery he had heard about last night in 9 o’clock news. Keeping his entire mind focused on those thoughts, he attends all lectures and also gets some scolding from teachers for not paying attention. Just like his habit, he listens to their scolding also with a sweet smile on his face. His innocent smile always bothered people as they felt as though he was taunting them. This was not the real reason though. He was just a sweet but reserved kind of person, a type to live mostly with his imaginations and thoughts.

(At home back from school)

Mom to Eldest Son: Darling how are your studies going these days? As far as I remember your teachers were not much happy with your result last time.

Eldest Son (smiling): Mom, its going fine. Don’t worry.

Mom: Son, I have to worry. I can’t understand why you have to lack so much behind in your class with such brains of yours.

Eldest Son: Oh Mommy, Do grades are everything that matters in this world? In my opinion, these do not reveal a person’s true IQ level.

Mom (frowning): Stop spitting nonsense dear. If your result is still bad this time, I will not let it go easily. Just remember that.

Eldest Son smiles affectionately and goes to his room.

(Inside the room)

He enters his room and locks the door properly. Once assured of his privacy, he switches on his computer and starts logging in his private chat room. It is not a common chat room. The members are not just average people. They are all highly ranked scientists, physicians and mathematicians. A feel of pride always rises in his heart whenever he logs into that group. Not everyone is given the membership of that forum. A person has to prove his intelligence to get himself registered. The way he got his entrance into the forum was also somewhat like this. He had presented new solutions to some scientific problems which had impressed the senior scientists and they had allowed him to join them because they were curious to see more of his mind.

He had now started to work on a new problem along with highly qualified scientists and they all are hopeful that this work if successfully completed will give them worldwide recognition as professional scientists. He was also trying his best to make that possibility into reality and that was the exact reason why he was not paying any attention to anything else except that scientific task. They had just one week to complete their task. He knows that his role is crucial in that work since he is the one putting his utmost time and efforts even more than others. Mathematics is his passion. It is his dream. It is his love. These days, when he is not thinking about the work, he is just imagining the happy proud faces of his mom and dad after seeing such an accomplishment of their son. He just could not wait for next week.

(Next Week)

He has successfully completed the work and he is too happy with himself. Their new scientific solution is going to be a milestone in the field of science, he knows that for sure. All his sunbaes (which was how he acknowledged senior scientists at the special forum) are congratulating him whole heartedly. They are now like a family to each other. The day has been full of pure happiness for him since he has achieved something meaningful for the first time in his life of 17 years. Now he is just waiting for the news of their scientific achievement to get global. Since he wants his parents to learn about his accomplishment from television, he has kept it all a secret. He just wants to memorize their awestruck expressions by discovering the talent of their eldest son.

(After 3 Days)

The family is getting ready for dinner. They always dine together in the lounge while watching television. He was sitting in his room waiting anxiously for Nine o’clock news. He knows it would be today. It was too difficult for him to hold his excitement so he also comes out of his room and sits together with his family in TV lounge. His family is surprised to see him so full of energy today since it is unusual for him to be like that.  He even helps his mom in setting up dinner table.

(Nine O’Clock News)

This is it. The news has started. All of them are silently having their dinner. He keeps on listening to irrelevant news with patience. Oh please now stop this rubbish and get to the point dear anchor!  And then the relevant news starts and his mouth turns into a big grin.

The anchor is telling about the new scientific discovery with much enthusiasm, he explains all the fundamentals and how that accomplishment is going to make scientific world leap a few years ahead. He knows the world must be quite amazed by this achievement. After complete description, anchor turns towards the list of people who worked day and night to make this work successful. He had worked with seven of his sunbaes in this task. Each person is getting a complete introduction and he knows that is what’s going to make them popular now. One, two, three, four, five, six… oh it’s okay if their names come ahead of mine. I am their junior, they are my sunbaes. Okay NOW it’s going to be me!

BUT

Anchor: So it was all about the latest discovery of our great scientists. Please keep on watching to see more interesting news on…..

What was that? Where am I? Why has he ended the news just like that?

He is too shocked even to think clearly. The big smile which was plastered on his face a minute ago is nowhere to be seen. He seems to have gone into a shock. Father notices his face first and starts to question but he excuses himself for the headache and quickly goes to his room. He is feeling like he has no energy left. He turns on his computer in haste and opens the browser to log into the special forum. But… his access is denied. He cannot login to the forum no matter how many times he tries. So this was going to end like this. All the efforts he had put in to make his dream come true, to make his parents proud of himself, to achieve something big in life, have just resulted into this….So this is the true color of this world. People in whom he had believed in like his own family for a year, they have deceived him like this, taking all the credit by themselves and throwing him away like a fly which is useless to them now…..This world is indeed a cruel place to live.

(10 years later)

A young man to a taxi driver: Sir, I need to go to Ivory Tower. Can you take me there?

Taxi Driver (smiling): Yes sure, please come in.

Young man enters into the car and the driver ignites the engine and drives off.

Taxi Driver: May I ask why are you going there?

Young Man (beaming): Oh actually, I have worked on a new project and I am going to meet with my senior colleagues since we are going to present it sometime soon. Oh, I am so excited!

Taxi Driver (thoughtfully): Oh… yeah... right… off course…

In his mind a whole series of events is going on from ten years ago when he had the same passion, the same enthusiasm, the same cheerfulness. Now he is just wishing from his heart that the young man sitting in his car could still continue to smile like this in his later life…..

 

Author's Note

I would appreciate sincere opinions of the readers since it's my first story.

Reviews

[R Smith]

I think its a genuinely great story, it warns of course of the dangers in trusting to others, always make sure you have your work set in your name before you share, the writing of the tale is excellent and its easy to follow, and flows smoothly from one scene to another and of course comes to a very sad end, all in all a very good story worth pursuing just be careful who you share it with when publishing :)

[Noor.92]

Thanks a lot for your appreciating remarks and sincere advice Richard.... :)

[Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere]

Unfortunately, there'll always be people who'll take advantage of other people's work, so we have to take precautions and not always be too trustful. It's really a shame we have to think in this way. You have thought this lesson well to the readers of you writing. Very well done, Noor. :) Rudi

[Noor.92]

Thanks a lot Rudi..Your encouraging words mean a lot for a rookie writer like me... :)

[Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere]

No, don't put yourself down, it's really good, keep writing. :)

[Noor.92]

Thanks again :)