One of the best stories

The Story: My Father’s Joy

by Torkom Saraydarian:

One of the most joyful people I met in my life was my Father. He was a born optimist. He was healthy, good-looking, energetic, and full of enthusiasm and striving. He was an incessant worker. My Father passed through the darkest hours that anyone could pass through. All his relatives — eighty-seven people — were butchered by the Turks. He was spared with my Mother because he was a pharmacist and the hospital in our town did not have a pharmacist.

Years passed and after the war and the genocide were over, my Father moved our family to a big city where he thought life would be safer. He opened a very modern pharmacy there. In a few years’ time, the pharmacy was known all over the city for its prompt and good service.

One summer morning, two policemen came and informed my Father that they had an order from the government to close the doors of the pharmacy for a week. According to his usual manner, my Father invited them into his office, offered them tea and cake, and wanted to know the reason why. They said that another pharmacy which belonged to an Armenian had poisoned an officer. The pharmacist was under investigation, and until the investigation was over, all Armenian pharmacies would be closed.

My Father took the news very calmly. He waited to see how they put wax seals on the locks of his pharmacy. Then he gave a very strange smile and took a taxi to go home. His smile was a condensation of many thoughts — difficult to express in words. In his smile there were foresight, insight, and prophecy. He knew what was going to happen, and he had already decided not to be crumbled in the hands of fate. His smile was clearly saying that no matter what happened, he would be above it.

On the way home, he was very calm and he was smiling in serenity. Mother was surprised that we were home early. “What is the matter?” she asked.

I was waiting for Daddy to condemn and curse the situation, but he smiled at Mother and said, “It’s nothing serious. We have been instructed to take a fifteen-day leave until the government finishes some investigations about a pharmacy which is suspected of having prepared a poisonous prescription … or something like that.…”

“What action are we going to take?” she asked.

“Just be patient, and all will go the way it should.”

Then he took Mother and me to dinner on an island which was covered with pine trees. The fragrance of pine, the dinner, and the joyful environment brought cheer to our hearts.

During the next few days, my Father made an effort to reopen his pharmacy….

Six months passed, and early one morning a policeman came and gave my Father the key to his pharmacy and a note from the government that said, “The case is closed. We wish you success.”

My Father smiled. He knew their language well. He took a few dollars from his pocket and gave them to the waiting policeman. “Here, you may use these few dollars,” he said. “Thank you for the key.” And he smiled the same smile that he had smiled when they were sealing the doors of the pharmacy. The policeman disappeared without saying thank you.

On the way to the pharmacy, my Father said, “For me, all life seems like a play. It is not real. That is why sometimes loss or gain does not make a difference to the actors…. Does it?”

“I guess not.”

“If we lose, we can make it again. If we make it again, we may lose it again…. Well, let’s see how the pharmacy did in my absence.”

We unlocked the door, and Father slowly and carefully opened it. The whole pharmacy was empty. Father took a long breath and began to laugh.

I was scared.

He continued laughing. Then he said, “I bet you that the safe will also be empty.”

The safe was empty. All our cash, jewelry, and gold were gone. Daddy looked at the key, threw it away, and said, “I knew exactly how things were going to be. Let’s get out of here and go eat a good lunch.”

At the restaurant people congratulated him on reopening the pharmacy. “Thank you, thank you,” he said. “We are going to start from scratch.” And he began to laugh.

“Daddy,” I said, “why do you laugh?”

“For the first time I feel great, so great about this,” he said. “Such tragedies cannot take away the joy of my heart. This is a great challenge for me to prove to my Lord that I can start my service again.”

At night, many doctors, psychiatrists, and other professional friends came to comfort him and encourage him. He served wine, made jokes, and made people laugh. And he said, “I am, in a sense, glad because a heavy load has been taken from my shoulders, but I am sorry for those whom I was serving almost free.” One of my Father’s habits was to give poor people their prescriptions free.

Years later, once when we were talking about this incident, he said, “We saved energy, health, and money by not falling into depression, anger, hatred, and irritation but by maintaining our joy, patience, and serenity. If we had lost these three diamonds, the future would have been lost for us.”