Wrath (3)

By Babur Albayrak

Late 19th century, in the middle of a hot summer over the historic city. The retired old man was keeping up schedule with his routine. He was walking around moving his head here and there, repeating the verses he was destined to. "Whatever people do, they do it to themselves" the old man shouted out walking up and down the street. He walked aimlessly and not knowing what to do. Everyone that lived on the street knew him because of this routine he was going through every single day.

Everything was still and moving slow under the blazing sun of the summer until the nervous woman said to herself that she had enough of this old man continuously repeating his verse, he was destined to repeat. She decided to get rid of him and prepared poisonous pies for him. She made them out of a very poisonous spice and put them into a tin box, which she covered with a white piece of cloth to be given it to the old man. It seemed very easy for her to get rid of him and this way she will be able to relax without his verse echoing in the street when she is at home. She went outside with a furious anger, she did not have any more patience to get rid of the old man and put him into silence forever. The verse echoed in her mind. The nervous woman handed the tin box covered with a cloth to the old man passing by her house.

"You must be hungry, I baked these pies for you."

"Whatever people do, they do it to themselves" repeated the old man and took the box out of her hands gently with a warm smile. He continued his journey up and down the street. The nervous woman was lighter and she was thinking that it will be so easy and the old man will die as soon as he takes the first bite. She could not wait long and was not patient enough to go into her house. She wanted to see the old man down but the journey continued with the old man carrying the box with him. He did not touch the pies yet. Therefore, she decided to go inside and wait.

The sun was about the go down as the young boy was heading home after years of military service out side of the city. The young boy walking fast as the earth he was stepping on was throwing him forward on each step he took. He was eager to go home and reach to his loved ones to tell them he was back for good. As he was getting close to his house, he noticed the old man carrying a box in his hand. The young man was still wearing his military uniform. The old man came to him and thinking he might be hungry, he passed him the tin box full of pies and said:

"You seem like you are coming a long way, you must be hungry. Please take this box of pies, it will endure your hunger."

The young boy smiled at him and took the box of pies. He opened the white cloth and saw that it was just like the pies his mother used to cook for him. He accepted them with a smile and thanked the old man. He kept on walking towards home as if the pies will make his way home. The pies were going to give him a taste of home before he got there.

The old man went on with his routine he was destined to repeat. The young boy took a wild bite from one of the pies in the box. He fell immediately on his knees and his dead body laid still in the middle of the street. People around noticed the young boy in the middle of the street and gathered around him to see if there was anything to do with him but the young boy laid still no matter what people did, they were not able to bring him back.

The nervous woman was coming back from grocery shopping and she saw the crowd gathered around. She thought to herself that finally the old man was gone and the people around were talking about how it happened. She was happy with a smile on her face. As she got closer with curiosity, she came closer to the place of the event. She was at the tip of her toes to see what the situation was, she noticed her son there in his military clothes. The tin box was one side and the pies were on the other. Her son laid still, dead like a piece of rock.

The old man unaware of everything continued his journey up the street with his destined verse echoing from the old buildings:

"Whatever people do, they do it to themselves."