A joke?
Is that what I've become?
I, Asher Lambert, lived my entire life with my head held high—upright, honorable. Yet now, in my twilight years, I was nothing more than a punchline to my own son.
When I didn't respond, Joshua paced the length of the hospital bed. His shoes clicked against the linoleum like an irritated metronome.
"I know you're angry." He stopped, glaring down at me. "But have you considered *my* position? Do you think it was easy getting where I am today? Do you have any idea how many people are watching me, just waiting for me to slip up?" His voice climbed. "They're *desperate* for dirt on me!"
He threw his hands up. "You're my dad. That's a fact I can't change. But why can't you think about me for once? Why couldn't you just stay peacefully in the village? Why did you have to come to the company and make a *scene*?"
Silence.
*Think about him?*
Every step I had taken in this life—every drop of sweat—had been for him.
The ward door slammed open.
Paul Lambert, my cousin, surged in, trailed by a gaggle of relatives whose names I couldn't even recall. They flooded the small room like a tide, packing it so tight the air seemed to vanish.
"Good heavens! Asher!" Paul's voice boomed as if he were afraid an audience might miss his performance. "What on earth did you do to end up like this? You nearly gave us a heart attack!"
He lunged for the bedside and grabbed my hand. Instinctively, I tried to pull away, but my body was too weak.
Trapped.
A woman—Paul's wife, I assumed—chimed in, her voice shrill. "Uncle Asher! You really scared us to death! You're an old man now—what could possibly be so important that you can't let it go? Why did you have to get into a huff with Joshua? The boy is so busy, and here you are causing trouble for him!"
She swiveled toward my son, her expression shifting to practiced sympathy. "Joshua, don't worry too much. Your uncle is just venting. Once he cools off, he'll be fine. But honestly, you should treat the elderly better in the future!"
Her words were dressed up as mediation, but the underlying message rang clear: *This is all the old man's fault for not knowing his place.*
I watched this farce unfold. A bone-deep exhaustion settled over me.
Slowly, I opened my eyes fully, my gaze drifting past their feigned concern to the gray, lifeless sky beyond the window.
When I spoke, my voice was low. Devoid of anger. Yet it carried a weight that silenced the room in an instant.
"Son, do you remember when you were ten? It was winter then, too."
I paused, letting the memory take shape.
"You had a fever. Burning up. Scorching hot to the touch. The snow was so heavy it had sealed off the mountain roads. The village doctor was too afraid of the storm to come to us."
Joshua stiffened.
"I carried you on my back," I continued, my voice steady. "Trudging through drifts that rose from my knees to my waist. Twelve miles of mountain road to get you to the clinic in town. When we finally arrived, the doctor said if we had been half a day later, the fever would have permanently damaged your brain."
A violent tremor ran through my son's body. The color drained from his face, leaving him deathly pale.
I went on, narrating the events as if they belonged to someone else. A story from a distant lifetime.
"The year you got into college... the day the admission notice arrived, your mother was so happy she wept. But the tuition?" A pause. "We didn't have it. I sold the only yellow ox our family owned. Our livelihood. But I sold it for you."
"Your mother took you to the station. When she came back, she fell ill. She told me she was just tired, but the truth was heartache. She couldn't bear to part with you."
My vision blurred slightly.
"When she passed, she held my hand and said, *'Asher, our boy has made something of himself. I can close my eyes in peace now... Don't work yourself to death...'*"
A breath rattled in my chest. "She told me to enjoy the blessings of having raised a son."
I closed my eyes again, my voice dropping to a whisper.
"But, Son... since you think I've made you lose face..."
"It's fine."
"I will grant your wish."
"Let's sever the relationship."
"Your blessings... I can't enjoy them."
"And I can't enjoy them for your mother, either."
