«Please, son, take me home for Holy Easter, I will sit in the corner and be with you for a few days, I will not cause any trouble, I will be treated better in my house, I can no longer bear it».
«Daddy, you are acting like a child, you are taken care of here, provided with food and medicine, and you keep saying the same thing: «I want to go home, I want to go home.» «I haven’t been home for a year, I’ll be better off at home».
«The holidays are only a few days away, I will take you, I will definitely take you,» said the son.
«Long live my son, I am proud of you, not all children will not behave like that. When I get home we will go to your mother’s grave, did you bring flowers to her grave, she loved flowers.»
The son looked at his father for a moment and looked away. Then he said goodbye and left. From that moment on, the father counted the hours, he kept telling the other patients that he would go home soon.
Back home, the son sat on the sofa with a pensive face. He did not want to tell his wife. He looked at his wife and said.
«I will bring father home for the holidays,» he looked at his wife with a pleading look.
The wife made a nervous gesture and said sharply.
«You may have forgotten that your father has tuberculosis and could infect us. Besides, we will have many guests during this holiday.»
«But the doctor said he’s no longer a danger to people.»
«Do you believe the doctors? They don’t understand anything.»
And their conversation ended.
On Easter morning everyone went to church, then returned home, there were many guests, the guests gathered around a sumptuous table, eating, drinking their parents’ toasts, and teaching their children to become good people.
After the guests left, they cleaned the table, tidied up the flat, and went to bed tired. However, the son could not sleep, and although he was very tired, something was bothering him. In the morning he decided to visit his father. The hospital was unusually quiet, with hardly anyone in the corridors.
The nurse said that many patients had gone home to celebrate Easter with their families. The son lowered his head and started walking up the stairs to the eighth floor, where his father’s hospital room was, he went to the door, thinking how he would apologize, and suddenly saw that his father’s bed was empty. He quickly got out and went to the doctor’s office. At the door, he saw the doctor, who spoke softly.
«We did everything we could, but unfortunately we could not save him. He died. And the last thing he said was that he was very disappointed in life, in his son and himself, that he had failed to raise a decent person.»
