Compromises

He loosened the tie on his neck as he rang the doorbell. His shoulders ached from the long day it had been. Shifting the strap of the bag on his shoulder, he sighed.

“Why is it taking so long?” he mumbled in the empty corridor. His stomach roared with agreement.

The door finally seemed to open after what seemed like years.

“Sorry, I was in the kitchen” his wife said, taking his bag off his shoulder. “Long day?” she asked as she rushed back into the kitchen tossing his bag on the sofa.

“I guess”, he slumped down on the sofa beside the bag.

“I’m making mixed fried rice, I hope you’re hungry!” she called out from the kitchen. His stomach responded instead of him.

She laughed that merry laugh he had fallen for when they first met. “I heard that. I’ll take that as a yes.”

He reached for the remote.

“Why don’t you go change first? Get fresh. I’ll set dinner”. He could hear her stirring away.

Before he could answer her question, a shrill voice filled the air, “Daddyyyyyy! You’re home!” the little boy rushed out of his room and into his daddy’s lap.

“Hey there! How’s my big boy?”

“What took you so long?” those puppy dog eyes looked up at him for answers.

“Daddy had some errands to run”.

“I’ve been waiting for hours!” the little one squirmed excitedly on his lap. “I found something in the papers today, I’ll show you right….”

“Now hush, daddy has just come home. Let him breath at least” she emerged with a large bowl out of the kitchen.

“And are you still you here?” those arms set the large bowl down on the table and set themselves on her hips. “Go change! I’m serving dinner.”

The little boy was waving a newspaper by the time he had freshened up and set himself on the dinner table.

“Look daddy! Look what I found on the paper today”

The paper proudly displayed a bicycle: sneering at him.

“The latest! I want it!”

He glanced at the price on the bottom. The price was as good as the bike that gleamed on the paper.

He exchanged a silent look with his wife.

“I can’t wait! I’ll ride it all around town! My friends will be so jealous!” The excitement continued.

He dug into his dinner quietly.

The bike was undoubtedly expensive. It would definitely burn a hole into their pocket for a few months. They had been saving up for months now. He had been working so hard to save up on a motorbike. A motorbike that would at least get him home some time earlier and cut out on his time in the public vehicles; or walking home from the stop. His shoes were screaming at him. Walking everyday on the unraveled road had injured them; he was sure he saw a small hole beneath the sole the other day. And they were definitely beyond repair. But he didn’t want to spend money on a new pair of leather shoes right now. They had been saving up.

 “Why don’t you have a look at other bikes?” she was telling the little one.” This one doesn’t even look that good. Tell him!” she gave him an urging look.

“But daddy, you promised! You promised that if I brought good marks in school, you’d buy me a bike”. The shrill voice was now near to tearful.

“But baby……”, his wife began.

Definitely a hole in their pockets for a while, that voice in his mind repeated.

“I’ll keep my promise”, he said with a spoonful of fried rice.

She glared at him.

“This weekend?” the voice now seemed hopeful.

“This weekend,” he assured.

The little hands shot up in the air.

He smiled. 

He could do more months of those dying shoes and his walking, but not a day of his son’s tears. After all, a compromise is never a compromise when it came to his son, or his family.