Lying there on the bed, with his child and his wife, he felt three years of anguish and anger slip away. His mind began to clear. The respite after months of furious thought and stress, was exquisite. As he drifted, balancing on a precipice between sleep and lucidity, he began to dream.
* * *
Robert stood before Simon. His exact position seemed unclear. The normal rules of perspective were blurred, though it seemed as though he were slightly above Simon.
Sarah’s grandfather, so familiar, so definitely him, was different. He was younger than Simon had ever known him. He wore old-fashioned tennis clothes, carried his racket in a much younger hand. At his feet, an enormous black and white cat wound between his tanned and youthful legs.
“Sarah!” Robert smiled towards Simon. His voice sounded younger too, the slight husk of age no longer there. “Come on darling! You’re to come with me now. Don’t dawdle. Winston wants to meet you, don’t you puss? You’re quite safe, pet. That’s a good girl. Come along now. There’s lots of people who can’t wait to say hello. That’s it, lovey.” Robert’s hand stretched out in encouragement, not quite at Simon, but in the direction in which he felt himself to be.
The waking dream faded to the purist white - a white that seemed to bathe him in a bright, soothing light. His own breathing slowed and Simon, exhausted, fell into a deep sleep beside his wife and child.
In his arms, Sarah was still.
~The End~
A Note from the author…
Thankfully, Simon and Melissa’s story is not mine and is entirely fictional. However, there are many parents who are living this nightmare.
Whilst Madron House is also a product of my imagination, the similar children’s hospices around the country do amazing work looking after children in their last days and caring for the needs of their distraught parents.
It costs between 2.5 and 6 million pounds per annum to run a hospice. Most of this money has to be found from charity.
If you have been at all moved by this tale, perhaps you would take a moment to call a hospice and make a small donation. It doesn’t have to be much. Just £2 would buy a can of squirty cream for a Kayleigh. It would buy a goldfish for a Sarah. It would buy a cup of tea for a Melissa and it would buy a moment of kindness and counselling for a Simon.
C x
Child Hospices UK: (44) 0117 989 7820
Forget Me Not Hospice, West Yorkshire: (44) 01474 487570
St Martin’s House, West Yorkshire: (44) 01937 844569
In the USA: http://www.hospicefoundation.org/
In Canada: http://www.hospicedirectory.org/
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