Sean and The Box of Chocolates

Tears rolled on Sean's soft cheeks as he hangs up on a friend over the telephone. Pretty soon, the tears were not simply rolling anymore, they were flowing. And Sean wasn't simply crying this time, he was wailing, wailing like a little child. But after all, he was a little child, a boy probably no older than you. Oh, how he cried! He cried and he cried. He cried until he could no longer breathe. He has never cried like this before. By this time, he was already groaning, tears flowing seemingly endlessly from his eyes. Yes he was in sorrow. Indeed, he was. But it was not the kind of sorrow that weakens you. It was the sorrow of a kind that gives you strength, the sorrow that inspires you and causes you to want to become a better person. In my own words, I could describe it as the sorrow that doesn't make someone sad -because that's what it is -a joyful kind of sorrow. 


"What kind of people are they?" he shouted almost incomprehensively to himself. By now, everyone was already asleep inside their small apartment save for Sean. It was dark inside his room, for unlike other children, Sean doesn't like sleeping with the light on. The cold Christmas air filled his room and the sound of rustling tree leaves could be heard from where he was sitting. It wasn't a silent night at all. The sound of snoring could be heard from the bedroom next to his. Apparently, his father had a busy day. "What kind of people are they?" -he repeated his own question to himself as if really expecting someone inside his room to give him an answer. "How could they care so much? Where does all that care come from? How in the world could they care so much?" By this time, you could no longer understand any word he was saying, for he was crying and groaning louder than before. It was a miracle that he didn't wake his father on the next room.


Sean has known the Beverlys for a long time already, and he knows enough about them to conclude that they are different -"one peculiar family", he would always say. They have very different practices compared to Sean's family, and if you would ask him, he was just too glad he wasn't one of Mr. and Mrs. Beverly's "weird" children. "All those singing, and dancing, and hugging, and chanting, and bouncing ---it makes me sick!" --he once said. It would therefore be reasonable and logical to conclude that what Sean expected at the least was the desire for something from the Beverlys, or anything that has to do with them for that matter. But as unexpected as it may seem, that is exactly what is happening to him now. He was desiring something that the Beverlys possess. Of course, when I say that he was desiring it, I also mean that he doesn't have it. For it would be impossible to desire something you already have. Now, it may have come to your mind that what Sean was desiring was a whole box of chocolates, as majority of 12-year old boys would have desired -and with watering mouths too. A box of chocolates with all sorts of chocolates that you could think of: dark chocolate; milk chocolate; milk chocolate with almonds; milk chocolate with coconut and almonds; chocolate filled chocolates; round chocolates; square chocolates; house-shaped chocolates; chocolates shaped like pyramids; and yes, even a chocolate ginger-bread man! It would have been easier if this was what Sean desired. All he had to do was wait for the Beverlys to go on their long vacations (as they often do) and sneak inside their "creepy" house through the front door which the Beverlys always leave open, as Sean found out one day, "quite by pure accident, of course" -as he has claimed. Then, he would simply have to reach out for their refrigerator and grab that dreamy box of chocolates! But as what you would find out, what Sean wanted wasn't anything like that. Indeed, it wasn't anything like that at all. For what Sean desired cannot be seen by human eyes. It was invisible, as you may call it, and on second thought, I guess it could after all be likened to a box of different sorts of chocolates. Different from each other, yet all are the same in a sense that they are all sweet and mouth-watering! These things, as Sean has found out are: Love; Care; Attention; Peace; Gladness; Joy; Happiness; Care; Contentment; and Respect. And to tell you the truth, one doesn't simply sneak into a "creepy" house to take those things away.


to be continued


Copyright, January 2011
by Karl Zion M. Remojo