Day 18: Sweeter with time

"Which one of us will be the first one to die? ", she asked her husband while trying to take a deep breath. He was still glued to his morning newspaper and comfortably ignored her uncomfortable question. Ever since their son died, she has been quite edgy about death. They have faced the death of their parents, siblings and friends together. But the death of their son - it was something they never prepared for.

"They say breathing is the most natural process. I wish those people knew how we asthmatic people survive in this world", she muttered.

She was checking out the calendar and suddenly her face lit up.

"Edo, tomorrow is Deepavali. Can we get the usual sweetbox from Balaji sweets? With all this medicine, I have forgotten how good food taste like". Their elder son and daughter in law have already warned him against pampering their mother with food. But he never could say no to her. Theirs was a conventional arranged marriage. He is 80 now and she has crossed 70. There was not even one Vishu, Onam, wedding anniversary or her birthday where he didn't indulge her with the things she love. Now at this stage, when both of them are so close to death, how could he say no to her.

He still rides his activa. It is not easy as before. But he had to reach the Balaji Sweets as early as possible. He only thought of how happy she is going to be when she sees the sweets. He will hide it from their son and grandkids. Otherwise they will scold him. They even accused him that he wants her to die before him. In a way, that's true. He thought to himself. Once he is gone, nobody will take care of her like him even though they have more than enough money.

He came straight to home after getting the sweets. She was eagerly waiting for him. She immediately opened the box and ate one laddu.

"It is not as good as the first time I tasted them. But it is the best ones here. They are the reason why I got chronic diabetes in my early 40s and been on insulin therapy when it was bit even heard of. But no complaints! What goodness would have left in life if I never got to taste these sweets? "

He smiled at her usual ramblings. He never liked sweets. So watching her eating sweets was one of his past time.

"You just have only one piece. The rest we can give to the grandkids. Doctor will scold me if he came to know that I am giving you sweets".

" Oh leave that doctor please! Anyway we are going to die. Let's die with the satisfaction of eating good food! "

He didn't say anything. He just hoped everything will be fine, after all it is just good food.

The trouble started next day morning. She was not able to move her hands and legs.After decades of consuming colorful medicines, her kidney has started to fail. The doctor has already warned them before that if things go wrong again they will have to go for dialysis. He got admitted her to the ICU sooner and was not able to look straight into the eyes of their son without feeling guilty.

"It was just one laddu", he said apologetically. They left him in the ICU corridor and went to see the doctor. He sat down and counted the times she came back to him after brief ICU visits. He has seen the half empty sweet box on the dining table. " It still has sweets left. She is not someone who will leave such sweets for others. She will definitely come back", he consoled himself. He only wished if there was some way to end things without causing both of them much pain.

"If only there was a flight we take at the end of the life so that they can be together just like the first time they went to Delhi together." He smiled thinking how incredibly happy she was on that day.