A Tinn’s tale

espite their good care, Franks father Mart got worse again, after a while. Karline woke up at night from his coughing, and in the worst nights it even woke Frank in the other room.

The physician had come for his annual visit at the village. He had paid a visit at Mart as well, and he had sadly shaken his head when he returned from the bedroom.

Mart had gotten a terrible cold, whether or not it was an infection the physician did not know. But he did know that without an effective treatment, Mart would die. The physician already suggested that he could provide for the treatment, hoping to receive more money. But the trouble was, the simple family couldn’t afford such a treatment..

Mart, being a brave man, tried to ease the pain of his wife and kids and implied that it was not more than normal for people of his age to move on, that he was immensely ill and could probably not be cured anymore. They tried to make the best of those days, since no-one really knew how long he still had to live.

But still it was very hard to comprehend. Mart might have been a bit old, he was still strong and enjoyed life. Just why did he have to be sick?

This, however, was the right time for apologizing. Frank sat with his father often, and he had known for days what he was going to say, he had only waited for the right moment.

‘Father, you know I’m gonna marry Robyn, I- she-’

‘You made a good choice, Frank,’ he whispered. ‘She’s a good girl. She nursed me, even..’

‘I know father, I- I love her, I really do.’

‘Then make her happy and she’ll love you in return. And I will have grandchildren, even if I do not know..’ He looked sad for a moment, already too weak to sit up. And he looked at his son in a wise, pensive way, that made the boy think he was old and close to death.

‘I will, father, I will. And I am really sorry for having shouted at you,’ he hesitated, ‘even if it was kinda you own fault.’

His father laughed softly. ‘I guess it was.’

Father and son embraced, at last. ‘Bless you,’ said Mart, with a certain fondness in his eyes that Frank had never really seen before. It was sad, really, that now after finally having found eachother, they’d have to part so soon. But it was right in some way, too, because Frank could not have bore the thought that they would never have made up.

Thus, Mart could die peacefully and have a proper burial in the Church. Karline was broken-hearted, Frederick dazzled and Francene’s little heart had a gap, too. Frank promised to himself, and the memory of his father, that he would be a good father to Mart’s grandchildren.