Last Kiss

What do you tell a full grown man who is wailing? How do you console him for his loss? The loss of the apple of his eye, upon whose shoulders of all his unrelinquished dream, rested on. The loss of a 31 years young son who just reached the pinnacle of his youth with a whole brand new life laid downed before him to savour. The loss of a son who was just an anecdotal statistic in the doctor's file as an atypical presentation of cancer.

What do you tell a man who went beyond the call of duty as a parent to scout for the best of the proven and unproven modalities of treatment to annihilate the tentacles of the spreading crab? And spent his lifetime and retirement savings doing it...

Just when the tides were turning in his favour, the enemy struck back in vengeance in full throttle. He fought a good fight but lost the war and the battle.
What do you tell his parents to soothe the pain? That their son is now free of pain in a better place? That their son is so good that the Maker wants the whole of him? That the Maker likes him more? That the Maker knows best? That it is fate? That whatever happened for a good reason!#*@? That he would want a good farewell, rather than doom and gloom surrounding his departure?

"Why did it happen," the father asks. "Where did I go wrong? Did I not do something right? Have I not been a good person? Have I not paid my dues in alms? Have I not did my penance? Is it a punishment? What about my regular prostrations at the lotus feet of the Almighty for pleas of continued blessings and peace on Earth and my family? Is it a curse or is it karma?"
There seem to be more questions than answers. The departed may not be around in person. The memories of his existence on Earth would linger on forever. His physical body may be gone but not the moments that were spent with the loved ones.

With so many unanswered questions, he bends down to kiss the cheeks of his beloved son for the last time before the cortege leaves... on a long journey back...