Those were the days

You can find this short story and others here

There were so many of them. She had written so many journals in her early years, up to adulthood and kept all of them. Today, she thought that it would be nice to check in what condition they were. They had been in the same box for so long that she doubted any survived in proper condition.

Some did. She found one from age 9. She opened one page and started reading. She had written about how much she had jumped that day at home with her siblings. She was talking about how much fun they had had that day.

As she was reading the journal, she started hearing noises from downstairs. Kids were shouting. They were jumping and making all these random noises. She also heard them shouting to their dads to come and play with them. Those kids were always making these noises. But she could not tell them to go away. She actually liked them. If only they were a bit more silent. That was the only thing she wanted.

She moved onto another journal from her teenage years. She guessed maybe age 17. There was no age mark on this one. This time, she had written about how difficult it was to not be considered a child nor an adult. She was talking about her confusion and anger.

She stopped reading because she had noticed that the children downstairs were not making noises anymore. Were they tired already? She listened carefully. Yes, she could not hear the children at all. Maybe they were gone. But she heard something else. She heard women talking. No, actually young girls. One was talking and crying loudly. As they were talking, she heard a boy’s voice as well. ‘Don’t worry. You will grow out of this soon’, he was saying. ‘You will grow older and everyone will accept you.’, he added.

The old woman was confused. But she thought maybe her daughter-in-law had invited some people, although she could not hear her either. Leaving her confusion aside, she decided to continue reading.

She pulled out another journal from age 30, the last year she had kept a journal as far as she could remember. She blew away the dust and opened the journal. She found a random page. This time, she found a page on which she was talking about a celebration party she had organized after she got a job. She was talking about a family party. She was talking about the games they had played that night and the talks they had had.

This time, she could not finish reading the page, though. There was such big noise coming from downstairs. Loud music. Maybe those girls had decided to have an impromptu party or something. She could also hear two women shouting. A man’s noise was also audible at times. She also heard an old man and woman talking once or twice.

These people could have all the fun they wanted but she could not bear with it. So, she decided to go down and tell them to be more silent. She got up slowly and started going down the stairs.

There was no one there. Had they heard her and left already? But there were no signs of any party, or anyone having sat or jumped on the couches. No children, teenagers or adults in sight.

As she went up, she remembered her sister and her brother. The times when they used to jump on their couches. The time when she was complaining about her being perceived as a child although she thought she was an adult already. She was a grown woman. She had talked to her sister in her home and her brother had also consoled her. There was also this one day she had got a job in a university and they had had a small family party.

‘Ah, those were the days’, she said to herself as she climbed the stairs again. ‘I wish those children would come back’, she added. As she said that, she started hearing children jumping downstairs. She smiled.