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The walls to the rescue

A Devious or a stupid plan!

By Parvathi JPublished about a year ago 6 min read
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The walls to the rescue
Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash

"If walls could talk, they would stop talking altogether, their loneliness would rise, and they would end up feeling insecure in their own space.

Sometimes, all they want is to hear them out without interruption, but now I am here with a plea as you are standing in between."

"So, please don't be so naive and obsess about him. He is not the only child. He is our fourth,"

"Stop right there. You don't know him as I know," interrupted mother, slamming the door behind her.

Leaning onto the door, dad spoke,

"Okay, but we have to find a way. We can't allow this to happen. Each time has been different and difficult. We can even publish a book on every topic,"

"See, if we force him to talk, he will never feel at home. He will start running,"

"The more we try to get closer, the more they pull away,"

dad continued with seriousness in his tone and his face,

"Anyways, I am not here to fight but with a request, a proposal. Do you have the time to listen and respond, though I know what your first reaction would be,"

Mom couldn't take the tone of delivery, and raising her voice,

she asked," What new change are we bringing this time?"

In a mellowed tone, dad expressed,

"Without a doubt, we know that our boy is going through a rough patch, a complicated phase for all of us, and it has been difficult for us to figure out a way for communication to happen with our teenage boy."

"I have a plan, and I want to try it out.

Are you in or out," asked dad.

With a heavy puff, opening the door slowly, mom responded, "Well, I know that he has been giving the silent treatment to everyone, but these days I get to see him 20/7, and I get the chance to be with him as well. Lately, he is showing changes in his care as if he had not noticed my presence all this while. Something tells me he wants to say something, but he is not,"

"don't say I did not warn you but take it easy on the gluey state. Please, don't overdo it, and I think this is our perfect time," interrupted dad,

"you too can try talking," mom cut in,

"but he doesn't even sit nowadays. He yells and walks away with millions of disagreements, and I don't want that door to be closed in my face." voiced dad

"you should have some patience. You can't expect him to behave. This phase is not going to be easy. We are the ones to provide them with opportunities. We can't expect them to be masters of their emotions and challenges", said mom

"so are you saying I don't have the patience, and I don't try," asked dad.

"All I am saying is we have to accept the vulnerability and find a way to regulate," said mom with a heavy sound,

"Can you all shut..." yelled wally, our boy,

"and can you please switch off the heater? The whole home is heated up. Even the walls feel roasted."

Surprised at his arrival, everyone came to their senses to maintain silence as our hero had come home. Not even a sound on his entry but the yelling loud and clear.

Switching on the air conditioning, everyone settled into their talk, the murmuring sounds.

"Still waiting to hear your plan," mom whispered into dad's ears,

"You may disapprove, but we will be rewarded later for our efforts. The task is to knock the wall out. I meant a few portions, not the whole, make some scratches, poke a hole, and then wait for the rainwater to show up. Eventually, to mess up his room, and that's the target. To fix it, he will come to us, and we should grab that opportunity. We don't fix it immediately but delay the process of recovery. I hope it rains heavily and falls to our benefit. Let's see how it goes. It is our need of the hour." dad shared the details enthusiastically,

"What a stupid plan. How long have you been thinking about this? Is this the only way? Are we so bad at parenting that we plan to crash our house? But I kind of like it, and I feel stupid at the same time." mom smirked,

"We have to get him out of the room, get out of the whole teenage show." said dad.

With fading conversations, continued was the talk,

"if we walls could talk, they would stop talking altogether. What they need is to hear them out without any interruption. We are their listeners, their walls of expression, and the freedom they feel is untouchable.

So please don't be so cold on your stand. Play along is the request. Not the only child we had, not the only family we have lived in, we have always learned to move past the waves of life, carried histories, and created memories and treasures to cherish.

This too is one such moment," conveyed the mirrored wall,

Weeping Wally's wall said, "How did I miss this conversation? How much time do I have."

Finally, after two and a half months of waiting, a crack appeared. Then, with the help of a passing storm in the third month, the damage opened up and started leaking.

After a few days of pouring, a few drops from the edges, there came the yelling sound, loud and clear,

"What the feast, man."

First time in six months, he walked into his parent's room.

Shocked at his entry, his mom couldn't control her tears. His dad mumbled, "I thought he forgot this way,"

Breaking the silence treatment, with an angry face, he spoke,

"This wall kind of feasted me,"

"oh yeah," dad responded in amazement,

"not funny," said Wally,

"I agree, not funny, this wall needs a whole new workout," dad replied as he walked into his room for the first time in months and was not shut at the entrance but welcomed.

with clear thought not to barge but progress slowly in his moves,

dad asked, "Do you have any plans to garnish this wall,"

"Aahh, garnish, I can do that," surprised by the offer, wally smiled and asked, "When can we start?"

With a big smile, Dad patted his shoulder and peeked outside to see Wally's mom still in tears.

To his wonder, she took her phone out to show that moment of patting captured as it has been hard to get a picture with the kid nowadays".

She continued, "If all these walls could talk, they would be our secret messengers. Our strong walls seem to have heard our cry, our pain. They seem to be the author of this story. I thank them, for they shed their wings for us."

Looking at her two boys, enjoying the view of their combined effort to revamp,

she expressed, "I didn't do any poking, my dear. I did not carry out your plan, but I saw the crack beforehand, The walls to the rescue."

Meanwhile, unscrewing again to remind you that the camera also records audio, and your son controls it.

Short Story
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About the Creator

Parvathi J

Bombarded with thoughts, I chose to put them on paper, and here I am learning to write.

Evolving over time, through experiences, and here I am trying to act mature ;)

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