아들이 건네준 단편소설 하나...

뉴질랜드 여행을 다녀 오자마자 아이패드를 찾는 아들과 약간의 실랑이가 있었습니다.

여행 가기전에 약속한 몇가지를 여행에서 지키지 않았었기에 그것에 대한 책임을 졌어야 하는 건데...

전 아이패드사용에 약간의 제약을 거는 것으로 그 책임을 물었고...

그게 부당하다고 생각을 했었던지 잔뜩 골이 나 있던 아이...

방문까지 잠그고 방에 들어가서는 한 세시간을 틀어박혀 있더니 종이뭉치를 들고나와서는 제게

건네줍니다..

 

"읽어보세요..  그런데 많이 찔리실 꺼여요..."

 

이런... 엄마가 겨우 이런일에 찔릴 사람 같냐?  순진한 놈....

 

나중에 읽어보다가 웃음이 터졌었습니다.  아들을 불러 다시 긴 대화를 나누는 계기가 되었구요...

아들의 아이패드를 향한 간절함을 좀 더 이해할 수 있었고.. 아들은 스스로도 별일 아닌 일을 크게 만들었다고

사과도 하고.. 제 입장도 이해하고...

 

아들이 말해준 이 소설을 쓴 계기가 흥미로왔습니다.

 

"저희가 밀포드갔을때 버스가 고장이 나서 여행사에서 말도 안하고 스케줄을 바꿔서 엄마가 많이 화가 나셨을때 엄마가 그 사람들에게 불만 편지를 쓰면서 말씀하셨쟎아요..  이렇게 쓰고 엄마 속상한 마음을 잊어버리려고 하시는 거라고... 그러고 그다음 여행 계속 즐겁게 하기위해...   저도 그랬어요..  너무 화가나서 그냥 쓰고 잊어버리려구요...  그러다 그냥 쓰기는 그래서 이런 이야기로 만들어 보았어요..  "

 

역시..  이번 여행을 통해 아들은 또 많은 것을 보고 느꼈나 봅니다.. 특히 저에게서요.. 참 책임감이 무겁게 느껴지기도 했었습니다...

 

저녁에 집에 와서 소설을 읽은 남편은 제게 이런 말을 했습니다.

 

"여보, 얘 화나게 하면 이런 멋진 소설이 한편씩 나오는 거야?  앞으로 한달에 한번은 이렇게 화나게 해봐..."

 

ㅋㅋㅋ

 

아들의 글을 읽으면서도 내용보다는 스펠링 틀린거 글씨 못쓴거.. 이런것이 먼저 눈에 들어왔던 저인데..

역시 남편은 아들의 재치와 내용을 먼저 보았나 봅니다.

이래서 아빠가 필요한듯요...ㅎㅎ

 

사실 여행을 하면서 남편의 부재가 아쉬운 순간이 정말 많았었는데... 거의가 아들과의 관계에서 였습니다.

아들때문에 화가 나면 그걸 잘 다독여주던 남편이..

그리고 저와는 다른 시선에서 아들을 더 크게 보듬어주던 남편이...

 

암튼.. 그렇게 탄생한 아들의 단편소설... ㅎㅎ

 

즐기셔요~~

 

 

Happiness

 

"Tom, Have you seen my hammer? " asked uncle Jim.

"Nope! Haven't seen it! " answered Tom.

Tom is a 15 years old boy who lives in his uncle's house because his parents died when he was 10 years old.

He loves to ride his horse ,ICEPADDLE.

He named his horse Icepaddle because he found him wondering around when he was paddling across a frozen lake on his boat.

His dream is to be the fastest horseback rider on earth but his aunt has other plans for him.

She wants him to take his uncle's job when he is too old to do it anymore.

"Tom, It is time for your lesson" shouted aunt jenny.

"comming"  and he ran to his aunt.

"Tom, Today is your big test day and do your best, OK?"  said aunt.

"OK." said tom.

 

He went into his room where his teacher was waiting for him with his test.

1hour later Tom and his teacher came out.

"well, how did he do? " asked aunt.

"It wasn't the best score but it wasn't the worst." said teacher.

"I will see you tommorrow." and the teacher left.

"Good bye" said aunt.

And then she turned around and looked tom in the eyes.

Tom went past her and went to the door.

"Where do you think you are going?" said aunt.

"I'm going to ride Icepaddle, of course." Said tom.

"No, You are not!  Not with this kind of score." said aunt.

"We are having a family meeting." said aunt.

"No! " said tom.

"Yes! " said aunt.

Aunt shouted.

"Everyone come to the meeting room! " and went off to the meeting room.

 

5 minutes later everyone came. And everyone means aunt ,tom,and uncle Jim.

"I have called this meeting because Tom's grades are bad." said aunt.

"And To get jim's job later he has to do better than this."

"Tom, do you know how hard your uncle's job is? He goes out in the morning and comes back after dinner. Do you know how hard that is? " asked aunt.

Aunt Jenny took a deep breath.

"It seemes like your education is failing so I am going to send you to England for 1 month." said aunt.

"1 month in England! " shouted tom with Joy.

"Yes, but you have to do assignments there. You are going alone with your teacher and you will write down everything you learn on this note book. OK? " asked aunt.

"OK." said tom.

 

A few days later Tom packed all his stuff and got ready to go.

"Good bye aunt, Good bye uncle and Good bye Ice-paddle. I will miss you." said tom.

"See you next month! " shouted uncle jim and tom took off to England.

 

1 month later Tom came back taller and blacker( his skin was all black.)

"Aunt, Uncle." shouted tom.

They both shouted, "welcome Home! " and hugged him.

They had a good time talking about the trip and what happened over dinner.

 

Next morning, tom woke up and ran downstares. He wanted to see Ice-paddle and rode him.

But aunt was waiting in front of the door and he knew something was wrong.

"Going somewhere? " asked aunt.

"Going to ride Ice-paddle why? " asked tom.

"Nothing, just that your note book is half empty." said aunt.

"Oh sorry about that aunt. I was having so much fun and I forgot about the notebook. " Said tom.

"Forgot! Forgot! I sent you there for education not vacaition! You are not going to ride Ice-paddle forever! 

 You do nothing,You get nothing." said aunt.

"What? But... Uncle, do something." said tom.

"Let's discuss this when I'm back from work,OK? " said uncle and went to work.

 

Tom grabbed his notebook and went upstares.

He still remembered what he learned since it was only a few days before he stopped writing. Tom spend his

whole day working on this notebook.

 

When Uncle came, it was time for a family meeting.

"I finished the notebook. I spend all day long on this notebook today. So I think I should ride Ice-paddle now."said tom.

"NO. " said aunt.

"But why? I finished my notebook. Isn't this what you wanted? " asked tom.

"I admit that you did a good job on the notebook. You worked very hard but you wrote it today. so I say NO. " said aunt.

 

Tom was shocked. He wasted this whole day for nothing.

"Besides, You ride that horse way too much. It is getting in the way of your education." said aunt.

"But You ride him more than I do. You actually use him 70% " complained tom.

"Yes, but I ride him to go shopping or talk to my friends under a cacao tree or read a news paper.

You ride him for fun. and Don't treat me the same way as you. You are 15 and I'm 40. There is a huge difference," said aunt.

"You like shopping and talking, I like riding and racing. We both use him for the same reason. Entertainment.

And, besides, being 15 and 40 doesn't mean you are differnet species you know." said tom.

"Silent you know my answer and you can't change it." said aunt.

"You always win a fight. Because you are my aunt. You always say, it is my horse but you have control.

You always say it is my life but I can never do what I want to do without your permission. You always say I should never have found Ice-paddle but you use him more than I do. and enjoy him, too. You know, You are taking him away from me! Why don't you just name him jenny's horse!" shouted tom with an angry voice and stomped upstaires to his room.

 

After that, everything was silent and aunt and uncle quitly went to bed.

Tom was so angry he coudln't go to sleep.

Aunt told him that If he does nothing, then he gets nothing So he did something but He got nothing.

It doesn't make sense. She broke her own rule and Is it OK just because she is older than him?

Tom didn't know what to do so he just sat there feeling mad and sad until he fell a sleep.

 

"Breakfast! Tom, Have some breakfast." shouted aunt Jenny.

"No Thanks." tom said " I'm not hungry."

"Are you sure? " aunt Jenny asked . "I cooked your favorite. "

"I'm not hungry. " he said and went back to his room. 

'Aunt was acting nice, but why? She is supposed to be angry.' Tom thought in his mind.

'Maybe she is trying to forget about yesterday? or she is trying to make me feel guilty about yesterday?

whatever that is, I will not stop feeling angry until I got to ride Ice-Paddle again and I will not eat and I will not do anything. Because I got nothing when I did something. She brought this on herself!' he thought.

And he stayed in his room for the whole day not eating anything.

Aunt knew something was wrong. So she knocked on his door.

"What do you want? " asked tom.

"I just want to talk, Honey. " said aunt.

"Well, I don't feel like it. " said tom "Please go away."

"All right, but if you get hungry, Here are some bread in front of your door, OKay?" asked aunt.

There was no answer.

Aunt left with a huge sigh.

 

That dinner aunt Jenny told Uncle Jim that Tom hasn't eaten a single thing today and didn't come ot of his room. Uncle told aunt he would go talk to him.

"Tom, Are you in there? " asked uncle Jim.

"Yes, what do you want?" answered tom.

"I just wanted to have a little talk with you." said uncle jim.

"I'm not in the mood." said tom.

"Just a minute, tom. Just a minute. " said uncle Jim.

"fine." said tom and opened the door.

"Tom, I know you are upset but not eating isn't the answer. Maybe you can study more and she will let you ride Ice-paddle." said Uncle Jim.

"No, Uncle Jim," said tom " I did something and I got nothing. She betrayed my trust by breaking her own rule.

I will not do anything unless she gives me something."

"Why are you so upset? She didn't make you not do anything. Maybe you can find something that is more fun than horse back riding." said uncle Jim.

"Uncle Jim, Let me ask you a question. You are a busy man with a hard job. You only rest once a week. So you should have a lot of stress in you. How do you get rid of that stress? " asked tom.

"I swim, of course." said uncle jim.

"I swim before I go to work and if I can't swim I get really frustrated the whole day."

"Are you happy when you swim?" asked Tom.

"More than Happy. tom. More than happy." said uncle Jim.

"Then how would you feel if someone made you stop swimming?" asked Tom. "How would you feel if someone

took your happiness away."

and with that tom closed the door leaving his uncle speachless.

 

Uncle Jim came down the stairs and saw aunt jenny waiting for him.

"Well, how did it go?" she asked.

Uncle Jim told her everything about the conversation.

"Maybe we should just let him ride. We always did tell him that It is his life." said uncle Jim.

"Yes, Let's talk to him tommorrow morning." said aunt and they both went to bed.

 

"Tom, wake up. Time for breakfast." shouted aunt jenny.

There was no answer.

"Tom?" she called and went to his room.

She opened the door and tom wasn't there.

The window was open and there was a note on the bed.

"Jim quick! check on Ice-paddle." she shouted.

Uncle Jim ran to the stable and Ice-paddle wasn't there.

Aunt Jenny started to cry.  If only she was reasonable Tom wouldn't have left the house.

Jim clamed her down and told her to read the note.

They unfolded the note and started reading.

 

To My Parents.

 

Dear aunt Jenny and uncle Jim

Thank you for taking care of me over these years. You two were very kind to me and I enjoyed staying here but

my dream is to be the fastest horseback rider on earth. I am sorry that I gave you lot of pain and trouble for trying to teach me but my father was a cowboy and it just runs in the blood.

I hope you fine someone to take care of your business. I really do. Don't be too sad.

I will be back when I become a professional horseback rider and if I don't come back. Well, Let's hope I do.

I took some money and food so don't worry about me.

Once again. Thank you for having me all these years.

I am going now with Ice-paddle. Although I don't have shelter,coach or extra cloth. I have one thing.

That is the most important.  Happiness!

 

from Tom.

 

 

 

반지의 제왕이 좋아서 호비튼이 보고 싶어서 갔던 뉴질랜드 여행중...  호비튼... middle earth...