To John and Jonathan

Tina asked her what the color of grass is. She took Tina’s hand and made her feel the lush green cushion in the pot by the window sill. There were tiny droplets of dew on the grass which glistened in the bright sunlight.
“So, what does it feel like?” asked Rebecca. Tina gave a confident smile and answered “FRESH” like …like vegetables she said in her innocent voice.
“Does that mean you think that grass is green in color?” Tina gave a quick nod and she knew she was right.
This was one of the many questions that Rebecca had to face everyday. What color is the sky? Was the tortoise really that slow? Did the stars really twinkle in the night sky?
It had been 2 years since Rebecca was teaching the blind and she knew exactly how to.
But this was not what she had started of with. She once lived a happy life with her husband John and her 2 year old son Jonathan until that dreadful day.
The winter was really cold that year and the snowfall too heavy, they had planned to spend Christmas at rebecca’s mom’s. They packed their luggage and set out for the journey…a journey that would change her entire life.
The roads were covered with snow and just as they left it started to snow heavily. The radio sung “You better not shout …you better not cry”…Rebecca and John sang along and little Jonathan was deep asleep on his mother’s lap.
It all happened so suddenly that they didn’t have the time to react or avoid, the last thing she saw was a blinding light through the thick snow… everything was deafened….she saw Jonathan fly out of her hand and John was covered in blood...She was stuck under the weight of the car.
When she opened her eyes it was dark. She heard voices near her, she recognized her mother’s voice and tried to look in her direction, she heard her mother’s sobs and she swallowed hard because in her heart she knew…
Her mom hugged her tightly and wept. Rebecca didn’t cry or even utter a word after that ….she remained silent. When she got discharged a month later she could see nothing but images of John and Jonathan, hear nothing but their laughs and feel noting but their final drive together.
Her mom stayed with her and tried to get her to socialize with people, to get her back to normal, to get her back to live but Rebecca was long gone, she had died along with Jonathan and John, now what remained was a wounded soul. She never cried but she never smiled either. She lived to die.
It was a year since the incident and Rebecca had learned to live this hollow life.
But then everyone has a purpose in their lives. It was an awakening for Rebecca when she went to a charity program arranged for blind children. Rebecca could see the eagerness in the children to know about things…to feel.
She went back home and thought about it, why not spend the rest of her life for this. She felt herself connect to those children and for the first time she felt happy.
Suddenly the school bell rang for recess and brought back Rebecca to her children. She got up and took out her cane.
The children smiled in her direction and she smiled back.
She saw John carrying Jonathan and waving at her from the back of the class. She gave them a slight wink and slowly felt her way to the door