Everything Bad Ends with Good

By V. M. Amudha Yazhini

Amy loved travelling, frequently with her beloved family. Every holiday was a celebration with her family going around the world. As much as Amy loved going on even simple tours around the town, there was one travel that went terribly wrong. But of course, not everything in this world goes by plan; you win some battles while you also lose some. Although this tour was unforgettably horrible, there was something that she learnt from it, as we do from all our losses.

Amy was exhilarated to go to an amusement park that she was longing to go to. It was under construction before and she had marked the inauguration date on her calendar so she could go within the week after it opened. Amy’s parents had informed her relatives about the opening so that they could all go. But more than two weeks had passed since the inauguration, but they still couldn’t go due to certain circumstances. One of her cousins had exams going on, while her grandfather met with an accidental injury while working, her parents were too busy and her aunt was busy attending funerals. Every phone call that was supposedly for the trip ended with a bad news. Although Amy wanted to give up the idea of going all together, something from her heart insisted on the trip. One very fine day, everything came together, no one had exams, her grandfather was completely healthy and thriving while her parents and aunt were on holidays with no occasion to escape to. It seemed like the perfect time where nothing could go wrong. The plans were made. All of her relatives assembled in her house, filling it with laughter, chaos and pure joy.

As the day of the trip began, everyone boarded the bus that Amy’s uncle booked. Amy’s uncle, the family’s all time trip planner who knew all the right ways to book a vehicle, get them to the place on the least time with the cheapest price. On the bus, it was pure happy chaos; you could hear her grandma humming old songs to her husband, two of her aunties gossiping with her mother, the men of the family happily chatting about their topics of interest and her cousins playing fun games with Amy. But when the bus stopped, there was some confusion. When her parents went out, they could see that it wasn’t exactly the amusement park that they had planned to go to. Apparently Amy’s uncle had misheard the name of the amusement park due to his lack of hearing aid which he refused to wear. The family’s elder, Amy’s grandfather heard about the mishap. He came out of the bus, scolding Amy’s uncle, “all because you didn’t want to wear a hearing aid, now look, the poor girl was yearning for this trip and you had to ruin it” whilst playfully beating Amy’s uncle with his wooden stick. As everyone came out of the bus, they got to know about the bad news. Even though Amy wanted to throw a tantrum and probably never talk to her uncle again, she remembered the whole point of trips was to spend time with her family. She conveyed to her parents that they could just go to the current amusement park before them that her uncle has accidentally booked which looked decent enough, until…. it was not. Unfortunately the amusement park wasn’t exactly what you would call a fun place to spend the day. It had all but few rides, little to no water in the water park with dead bees floating around the water slides and it hardly had any other visitors. The rides were covered with rust and the food was horrible. Her grandfather could see Amy’s disappointment as she slouched down which she does when she feels upset. As he adored his granddaughter, he knew he had to do something. He notified the whole family and announced that he knew a friend who owned a luxury resort that they could stay the night with a discount. The only hurdle was that they had to go by train to the resort. The family didn’t have any complaints and simply accepted the amazing offer. Amy felt delighted as her grandfather had saved the day with wonderful news. But her delight was short-lived because there was a setback at the train station. It was the season of holidays meaning the station was incredibly crowded. Sadly, Amy’s grandfather had lost his bag in the chaotic passageway which had all the information of his friend, the train tickets and a lot of other stuff for the trip. The whole family was dismayed including Amy being the most disheartened. As the men in the family went to inform about the missing bag to the railway police, she sat alone on the bench at the station feeling upset by the turn of events. A woman approached her and asked her to take care of her bag while she went out for something. Amy agreed and was keenly determined to save the bag from possible getting stolen or lost like her grandfather’s bag was. As the men returned, they informed that the railway police simply ignored their complaint and told them that they were responsible for their own belongings. They could do nothing but go home. Amy’s grandfather went to Amy informing that they needed to go home. Amy refused to move until the woman came back. As the family was getting impatient, everyone in her family kept calling her so that they could all go home. All Amy replied was, “I need to be on the lookout for this bag”, Amy’s aunt being the most impatient kept telling how she didn’t look out for her grandfather’s bag but is looking out for some stranger’s bag. Although they taunted her, Amy still didn’t move an inch. After a painstakingly long wait, the woman came back clearly surprised to see Amy still in the same place; she smiled widely uttering a big ‘thank you’ to her. The smile warmed Amy’s heart, making her bitter feeling of the awful day vanish. The woman’s simple thank you made Amy’s whole day something worth remembering.

 During the bus ride home, amidst the groans, whines and complaints, there was one face that was filled with genuine happiness. I am sure you know who it was.

                The end

By V. M. Amudha Yazhini