ESL Blogs

The old man was having lunch after his work at his farm when a car stopped in front of the front door of his farmhouse. He wondered because no one from the village would use the small street because they knew it as an one ways street. Its end is only few metres far from the house. "Maybe a stranger who got lost", thought the old man. He did not pay any further attention. He took a second portion soup from the sauce pan and wanted to continue eating.

A laughter of a child as bright as a bell made the old man to have a look through the window. There was standing a sweet little girl with a young lady while two young men got out of the car. They looked to the house and the old man recognized one of the men. It was the young man who had left the village to study medicine. After his departure he never had seen him again. The woman and the other man he didn't know. Only the little girl reminded him of someone. He did not know so exactly of whom but he felt strange feelings in his heart. It was a mix between pain and happyness and he was unable to understand and arrange this different feelings.

"Who tries bothering my lunch time", he said angrily to himself when he noticed they came to the front door. The door bell stopped his thoughts. He opened and looked at the persons in fron of him. The young man from the village smiled and said, "Oh, I am sorry, I know I should have informed you about our comming. Please, excuse me but it should be a surprise for you.

" The old man looked at him and said, " A surprise? Well, that's really a surprise to see you again. But if you want to give me back my books, I do not need them anymore. I told you already you can keep them. And it's really not a reason to disturb my lunch time", said the old man when he noticed the books in the young man's hands.

"Oh no, no, no", said the young man and smiled. "May I introduce you to these people here? This lady is Professor Doctor Brown, her husband Frank and her little daughter Mary". The little girl smiled at the old man and his face became more friendly. He gave them a hand to greet them. He rememberd his good manners and let them in, told them to take a seat and offered them a cool glass of lemonade.

Mary, the little girl looked around, gazed with big eyes at the big book shelf and said, "Ohhhh, how many books you have! Are you a writer? Do you have also children books? May I see one of them? Do you see Mommy? Ohhhh ...really ... I never have seen such a huge book shelf"......

Mary didn't stop babbling. Her mother smiled embarrassed and blushing. "Calm down, calm down, Mary", said Caroline, "Don't babble too much and don't annoy Mister Forsite". "Madam, please, don't say so", said the old man. Then he told Mary to look for children books on the first shelf at the bottom.

Mary ran towards the book shelf, saw the books for children and took the first best. The adults sat around the table and smiled. Mary came back and showed her mother the book. "Darling, that is not a book", said Caroline, "that is a photo album". Caroline looked at the old man and saw how his face became pale and his mouth trembled. He took the album, laid it on the table, opened it with shivering fingers and starred at the photos.

The little girl looked at the old man and then at the photos and asked, " Why, do you have photos on which I am? It's just, I don't know the dresses which I am wearing on the photos. How can it be?". The old man looked at the phtos and then at the girl. Suddenly he moaned loudly, looked again at the girl and the photos and said with weak voice, "You are right, you look like her but it isn't you who is on the photos".

"And who is she then?" asked the girl. The old man wiped a tear from his cheek and said, "She was my little daughter. I lost her a long time ago when she was in your age".

Caroline could no longer hold back her tears. "You have not lost your daughter. She could not find you. She tried it again and again but she wasn't successful. After she had heard the cruel truth, she tried to find you. She knows now the whole truth about her real dad, and the betrayal on him. She knows now how her mom and her lover cheated you and how they destroyed your reputation."

Caroline made a short break and then she said, " Dad, I know now everything". She took his hands in hers, looked in his surprised eyes and said, "Yes dad, it's me, Caroline, I am your daughter".

The old man leaned back in his armchair. Tears ran over his cheeks. "Caroline, Caroline, Caroline", the old man repeated again and again Caroline's name. "What about your mother and your stepvather?", he asked. "Both passed away", she said and she continued, " Mom told me the truth one year before her death. She died on cancer. I did not forgive her and I was not at her funeral." Caroline took a deep breath and said, "Dad, you have not only a daugher, you have also a son-in law and a granddaughter".

The old man couldn't grasp his happyness, hugged his daughter and her family again and again. They spoke about their life stories until late at night. Caroline and the young man from the village had to tell again and again the story how the young man had noticed the discussion between the both students and how he had combined the interrelationship between Caroline Black and her father professor Charles Forsite. It was too late to return home and so they decided to stay in the farmhouse over night.

The old man did not fall asleep for hours. He was happy and sad at the same time. Happy because of had been found by his daughter. Sad because he regreted the lost time. The young man was happy, too. He promised to the old man and his family to keep in touch.

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