Immortal Devotion

1

[Our story begins in a distant village named Roe of Russia. It is the story of a little boy whose unforgettable love and devotion for his mother made him our hero.]

After three days continues snowfall, the sun finally said hi to the villagers. It was just a little shaft of sun that spread all over the village and nothing more. As snowfall has become an inseparable part of the village, the villagers thanked the almighty for a rare sunny day. Snow was everywhere, onto the trees, over the hills, around the fences and also in the dust-bins. In that very morning a caretaker from the only church of the village Gustav, who was a hard-working old man, started to clean soft ice from the graveyard.

“Oh… What a beautiful morning this is!” thought he.

Indeed it was. From the graveyard on a hill-top he could see the brook flowing through the northern side of Roe. Frost had made a thick layer on its water. Kids from a nearby school were fishing in those frost-cover holes. Some of them were playing with colorful skating shoes and boards. Gustav imagined them as little dolls.

The graveyard was too big for the little population of Roe. So bunch of time was being needed to clean the yard. But old Gustav didn’t feel any boredom. He had been working here for 25 years and got a rare chance to go out. But he didn’t left this life. Why? Well, Gustav didn’t tell us. But he liked to stand beside the soundless, colorless world where laid many of his men, many of their men, sleeping forever and the innocent lives who never new what fate is!

Gustav stared at the brook so didn’t saw Jojovich coming.

“Lots of snow everywhere, hah…How would it be if I help you, old man?” said Jojovich in a cheerful voice. Then he didn’t wait for an answer. Taking a snow covered spade, kept carelessly beside Gustav, he said eyeing at the northern graves,

“You know that kid? He keeps coming here every day since Mrs. Andrei died. He doesn’t talk with anyone, really weird isn’t he?”

Mrs. Andrei died almost a couple of weeks ago. By then, a boy’s continuous appearance was not so much unnoticeable. He wore a colorful woolen scarf, blue shirt with a button missing, charcoal pants and a pair of oversized, old and faded boots. The boy held a yellow Bible in his left hand.

Gustav may had lost all his excitement and probably had no interests on living things. He smiled lifelessly, that was so full of disappointment.

“Fate plays awful games with some people. Probably he’s one of them. ”, he murmured. As rough as possible.

About Gustav’s mysterious character, a little was known. His glittering eyes must have held something that made Jojovich giving up on him.

2

The boy-with a yellow Bible-really was a ‘fate’s toy’. His name-Ivan.

Ivan’s mother couldn’t read, though as a country-woman it’s not a matter of wonder. So, after returning from school it was Ivan’s daily task to read her the Bible. When his friends were playing with snowballs and ice frosts, that time Ivan often had to travel the holy pages of his old Bible. Sometimes he got bored. Sometimes his mind was not there in that small wooden house. He looked through the window to where the maple trees were filled with snow-unconscious.

And then, “Ivan… go on son”, his mother called. Ivan started reading again.

But Ivan’s thoughts knew no bound. His green eyes sparked with the dream of malachite-mines of the west. So much he desired to be a mine-worker.

But today morning when he was reading the Bible beside his mother’s grave-stone, his big bright eyes were looking colorless and small because of cold wind. Ivan didn’t have gloves, his mother had. As they were too big for little Ivan, he held the Bible barehanded. His little hands were shivering every second.

“Who cares”, thought he. So, Ivan continued reading. After his mother died of severe unknown fever, he tried to convince himself by thinking that it was good because he won’t have to read the Bible now. But after a few days he suddenly realized that reading the Bible had been become his habit. So, every morning he came to the grave-yard and read to his mother.

After a sunny day cold came again in Roe. Freezing wind started to blow over the graveyard up on the hill. Surely one woolen scarf wasn’t enough to fight against that. Ivan curled up into a ball pulling himself together. He put his chin onto his knees. But didn’t stop reading. Slowly his hands got colder. It became too hard to hold the Bible. Then his doll-like face-what was already pale-turned blue with cold. His brown hair got covered with white snow. It was impossible to go home because snow storm had already started. Ivan’s whole body was freezing. His thoughts messed up. A sudden unknown feeling was there. But still he didn’t stop. Slowly he murmured the last two lines of The Holy Bible:

He who testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. A-men. Even so, Come Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. A-men. (The Holy Bible: Revelation: 22)

Then fell down on where his mother laid forever. Ivan heard someone was calling him. A thin weak voice. He recognized it was his mother’s. He tried to call her. But his throat was too dry to say anything. And suddenly there was nothing else.

3

The snow went on till the next day morning. The people of Roe wondered to see another sunny day so early. That morning Jojovich and Gustav came into the grave-yard to clean ice. Jojovich was going to clean the ice of the northern side. He stopped-shocked. At once his face turned pale. He cried, “Gustav…Gustav look…”

They saw a little body. Curled, lifeless. No, there was no ice around it. As they were respecting the body. As they’d let the divine light to come and take Ivan’s holy soul to haven. Where there is no misery no sadness.

My Words: There is no such village named Roe in Russia. There can be some spelling and grammar mistakes. Because the main story was written in Bengali by me. I translated it in a very short time. Thank you for reading it.