“Wen, wen”, the baby cried out again. It’s 3:00 am in the morning and she had not closed her eyes for a second. She had fed him, cooed him and even sang for him but he won’t stop crying.
The dangling of the keys brought her back to reality. Now, he is in front of her, revealing a beautiful smile. He just arrived from the States where he bagged a doctorate degree and a massive international gig.
He called out to her, “Mummy, I made it!” Tears trickled down her cheeks as she drifted to the past again.
“Mummy, I just broke my ankle”, he had announced amidst tears as he walked to her, he was ten years old then. She did everything possible for she did not want him to have a broken ankle. He had carried the sprain but her pain was greater.
She felt his arm around her neck and she remembered that the sprain was twenty years ago. He smiled again and said, “I have finally made you proud”.
He has always made her proud. How could she ever forget that day when he was named the valedictorian of the year and was awarded a fully sponsored scholarship abroad. The joy and pride she felt cannot be compared to anything.
He led her to the car and whispered into her ears, “Thank you for birthing me”.
Talking about birth, the memory of the nurse’s painful slap on her thigh, the scars she nursed in her private area and her mother-in-law’s thorough hot bath and massage crept into her head and the tears flowed uncontrollably, tears of joy.
Though motherhood is a demanding journey, proud moments and achievements make it worthwhile because SHE is his mother and He is her son.
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Read – The Girl – A Flash Fiction by Adrian Fleur, South Africa
Bilqees Olowu is a budding writer and poet. While pursuing her degree in aerospace engineering, she is keen on improving her literary skills. She has written a series of articles, essays, and poems that revolve around life, love, relationships, and inspiration. She is an individual with a strong passion for growth and development. Bilqees writes expansively, but poetry seems to be her fortress, with ‘From midnight wails to morning smiles’ as her first-ever flash poetry.
When you read this flash fiction, you can’t fail to appreciate motherhood. The struggles mothers go through right from the time they’ve conceived till when you’re mature! It’s so uncomfortable to anything. The long nights they spend sleepless because of you, they swallow your pain when you receive those injections on immunisation days…motherhood is the best experience because everyone experiences it in a different way. Well done writer.👏