Can you hug me?

The power of a hug

You look at me…

Yet I know deep down that you don’t see me.

We sit across each other at the dinning table daily

You mumble words to me without meeting my eyes

Your eyes are glued to your phone screen

“PAPA, I AM HERE”! My words are loud screams in my head!

“I made dinner with Mrs Frisk” I whisper politely.

You wave your hands dismissively, “it’s okay “

The pungent odor of your constant neglect fills the air a zillion times over.

I crumpled back into the dinning chair convulsed with hurt.

Deep inside me a sad stirring for my Mama sneaked in.

Why did she choose to die?

Why didn’t she stay?

What was she like??

A sob escaped from my chapped lips, prying Papa from his mobile phone.

He looked at me with exasperating disbelief “what now”?

My quiet sobs had become  bursts of vibrating shudders.

Papa nervously wiped a film of nervous perspiration slipping down his forehead.

He was thoroughly bewildered.

I didn’t ask to be born,

 I had borne his negligence with the most remarkable composure a five year old could muster…

But I was tired of being ignored by the only family I had.

“ Papa, the kids in school think I am weird, 

I don’t have any relatives except my parrot”

An unhappy silence punctuated the scene as his face became a roiling mass of embarrassment and shame.

Papa!!! Can you hug me???

Author's Note

Please dig in

Reviews

[Michael]

Papa Can You Hug Me? Is a cry for connection and closeness when nothing else will do. When the naturally empathetic one, the mother, is no longer there to sooth with a stroke of love and a lullaby, you are left to deal with the uneven end of the equation — the one who was handed a responsibility he wasn’t really equipped to manage properly. My heart breaks. Beautiful words so tenderly crafted.

[Titilayo Sarah Eguridu]

Your expression of the fragility of the male empathetic nature is a rarity. Most men can relate but can’t express how it feels….
Thank you Michael for this heartfelt response.

[Michael]

Titilayo, I thank you for writing what, for many, would be too hard to contemplate, much less put into words.

[Titilayo Sarah Eguridu]

Absolutely!

[John the Baptist]

Perhaps this was Papa's day of comeuppance. Hopefully, his neglect was finally swept away.

[Titilayo Sarah Eguridu]

His negligence had to be dealt with so she decided to deliver herself.
Thanks John!