Caucus and his journey

‘Caucus!’ No answer ‘Dear caucus!’ No answer ‘I am worried about you dear, please come to your aunt’, The young lady with tears in her eyes checked every floor of 7 storey hospital. But her nephew was nowhere to be seen. Every bed in the hospital was occupied with some dead and some near to dead patients. An epidemic outbreak occurred a month ago which spread throughout eastern Nepal. The same epidemic took the life of Maria who was the only family of Caucus. His father left him and his mom when he was just 1 month old. He was too young to accept his mother death. Maria was the whole world to him. ‘Here you are’, exclaimed Ellijah. Caucus was lying next to his mother’s corpse. Hugging her cold and stiff hand. ‘shush!’ he sighed ‘she has been sleeping for hours, don’t wake her up otherwise she will cry in pain again’. Elijah was wearing gloves, masks, and was wrapped with a plastic case to avoid infection but there Caucus was lying with his dead mom without any precaution. No-one in the hospital was paying attention to them because all doctors and nurses were busy taking care of those who had still a chance to survive. She pulled Caucus in her arm with her gloved hands and caress him gently ‘honey, your mother has gone into a long sleep, and she has gone into another land where she will never feel pain again. But she loves you so much that she couldn’t let you go, she will come here every day to see if you are taking care of yourself or not.’ ‘ How can she leave me without saying goodbye,’ Caucus began to cry. ‘No dear, she didn’t bid you goodbye because she knew you wouldn’t have let her go.’ ‘But now who will take care of me, sing me to sleep, who will go to parents-teacher meeting in school and who will play with me, I already miss her Elli.’ ‘Before going to another world, your momma came for me she asked me to take care of you, she also said that you are very obedient and sweet boy, you will take care of yourself and study hard and fulfill your aim, she loves you very much dear and it's okay to miss her some time but when you miss her remember about all the good moments you two spent together then you will feel good.’ ‘Really, you know Ellii I will study hard and become a good doctor and make momma feel good’ ‘I love you momma’ he looked at the dead body. Just 6-year-old gullible Caucus believed his aunt and was happy for his momma. As caucus was exposed to infection, Ellijah took caucus to the testing room. But despite spending 8 days with his infectious mother every test resulted negative. Doctors were amazed and thought maybe his immunity was quite good. Ellijah gathered 4 men who helped her take the corpse to her car and the evening they held a small funeral at the bank of Babai river. The worst thing was none of her friends and relatives could come to her funeral because of pandemic. Next day Caucus had to leave his hometown to move in with his aunt to Namchebazar, Which is situated in the northern part of Nepal and it is also home of the highest peak of world ‘Mount Everest’. For Caucus leaving his hometown on which he had spent his whole childhood was difficult but thinking his mother would be happy if he moves in with his aunt made that easier for him. The next day when he and his aunt Ellijah were leaving for the airport some of his friends bid him goodbye from their window as bidding goodbye physically was dangerous that time. Namche Bazar was totally a new place for Caucus. He was adapted to live in plain land with an altitude of less than 500m above sea level with a very hot climate. Whereas Namchebazar was situated at an altitude of 3,440m and was surrounded by hills. It was always winter there. But Caucus had to go as his aunt and her husband used to live there with their son Migma. It was almost noon when they reached Namchebazar airport. To reach their house they had climb 2 hours on the steep hill. Ellijah was expecting her husband Pasang in the airport but he didn’t come to pick them up. So she had to hire a porter to carry Caucus’s belongings. Caucus was not habitual to walking on steep hills so she had to carry him sometimes in the middle where the road was too steep. On the way, in the middle of the coniferous forest there was a hole something like cave carved in a huge stone. It was pitch black it seemed every ray of light was absorbed in it. Caucus eyes fell into that cave ‘what is that hole there Elli.’ Ellijah looked in that direction and was confused, ‘I had never seen that before’. ‘ It's better to ignore that’, said the potter. ‘Maybe there is a lion inside it’, exclaimed Caucus. ‘Maybe, so better be away from it little champ’ said potter. After 1 hour of walk Caucus fell asleep while Ellijah carried him. ‘How come I never seen that cave before.’ ‘It is a very mysterious cave, it eats people. It is better to restrict children to go in that area.’ ‘I had never heard about it before, how can a cave eat people.’ ‘It does young lady, I also didn’t used to believe that but I have to after it ate my eldest son, then that inspector who went there to search for him.’ ‘I am sorry for your loss, but are you sure it didn't do of any wild animals.’ ‘No, it’s my duty to warn you because I know what does it feels like when you lose your family.’ Ellijah was quite skeptical about that but she didn’t utter a word. After 2 hours of long walk they reached their home. Caucus was still sleeping while Ellijah puts him on a couch.