We were at the mall the other day , strolled for a while then decided to take a break so we headed to the food court and sat to dine.
It was a beautiful day outside , the place was crowded ..Nothing was out of the ordinary..
Until a faint voice interrupted this fanciful harmony. It was going on for a while, but grew clear enough for people around to take notice..It looked like someone was calling another, repeatedly and mechanically. A lady calling out to her stray child, apparently ..
"Oh , a lost child...she will find her in a moment."
She didn't.
The mother continued calling and patrolling around the place..Gradually her calls became louder and louder, sounding more anxious with time. Finally the calls became neurotic screams. She just stood in her place and started screaming at the top of her voice...and collapsed when her knees failed her.
A child wandering off is nothing out of the ordinary. My younger brother used to get lost most of the time and found in the weirdest places, but I never remember my mother losing control and screaming like that ; it's a given that what's lost will be found after all.
You wouldn't jump to the worst-case scenario ,i.e a kidnapping case, immediately ; not in this country at least.
But this thin and fragile mother couldn't help assuming the worst, I think......her smothered shrieks were heart-piercing....believe me; heart-piercing.
It's as if all the panic of this world was gathered and intensified ,and kept bursting in vain despair.
No one seemed to pay attention to her desperate cries that could brand a soul with agonizing sorrow ..No one seemed to care, in fact. Not a single person rose from their seat and tried to help her look for the child, or at least try to calm her down.
They, we, just continued our lives as if this poor thing, this tormented mother was a phenomenon that occurred in another dimension. Probably we thought of it as a curious incident : "hey, some lunatic lady was screaming at the mall today ! "..
Of course we wouldn't stir; after all, we, I dare say, don't understand "what's the big deal" , why would this seemly lady cause such a scene in a public place, instead of looking quietly for her lost offspring or just looking for security for help.
No one in this lounge would understand how this mother felt : losing sight of her precious child, the prospect of not being able to see her ever again ,growing restless while imagining all the possible dangers that she might be exposed to, away from her mother's caring, protective embrace..
No one would ever understand the pureness of that river of tenderness flowing from a mother's heart, the giant, deep-rooted arbor of affection cultivated along with this tiny, defenseless newly-born creature with red clutched hands, and all the condensed feelings of care, protection ,patronage and love, condensed in the word "motherhood".
We are not this child's mother in the end, and we would never fathom the agony of this mother whose child was lost.
But her screams are still ringing in my ears : "Kawthar !..."Kawthar!"..."KAWTHAAAAAR!!!".
I hope she found her.
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