Growing Old.

The old man trudged with much difficulty down the ashen path. He winced with every step he took, grimacing as jolts of pain shot through his body. Halting momentarily to catch his breath, he silently stared at the winding road ahead. When I get to the end of this road, he thought, I am going to get my due reward. He patted his own shoulder and slowly shuffled on with a brilliant smile on his face; down the winding path and to where, only God knows.

Meanwhile, somewhere in a village not too far away, a woman was near hysterics; her father had disappeared from right under her nose, and now he was nowhere to be found.

"Crikey, it's almost as if he vanished into thin air!" The village chief exclaimed. The entire village was clueless on the whereabouts of the old man. Where could he have gone to?

"Village! Listen up! We'll split up and search, report back here before the sun sets!" The chief ordered. Immediately the villagers set out into the wilderness to search for the old man.

The old man halted once again, this time at the end of the path, holding on to his walking stick for support. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he glanced at the scene that lay before him. Gasps of awe escaped him as he surveyed the impending sunset; it was as if it was his first time viewing that amber sphere descending from all its majesty. It would have been a lot more enjoyable if not for the rheumatism, he thought, as he seated himself on the lush green grass.

The woman got more and more flustered by the second. The sun was already setting, but she still saw no sign of her father. She tried to convince herself that nothing unfortunate had befallen him, but her imagination ran wild. No, the other villagers must have found him, she thought to herself. Holding on to the last remaining strands of hope, she hastily made her way back to the village.

No one had found her father.

That night, the woman carried an oil lamp and went out into the wilderness, searching for her father. She ravaged through the forests and looked behind every rock, but to no avail. Her father had vanished. The woman knelt down and wailed in anguish.

Just then, she heard a familiar sound in the distance.

"Clunk."

It was the sound of...

"Clunk."

She could not remember what that sound belonged to. The sound grew louder and louder...

"Clunk!"

It was the sound of...

"Clunk!"

Wood on rock! She remembered now. It was the sound of her father's walking stick!

Soon she saw the figure of an old man shuffling towards her. She rushed up and hugged the old man.

"Father! Where did you go? I was so worried about you. How could you disappear like that?"

"Where did I go? Ha! Why should I tell you? Its my little secret!"

The way her father talked reminded her of a small child. As they trudged back to the village, hand in hand, she felt as if she was guiding a child who had just learnt to walk. Her body was young, but her soul was old.

How she wanted to be like her father.