The distance between grief and glee, is only, a split-second, translated…
I’d gone out with a friend that day, as we were half way into our conversations, she’d gotten a call, started looking, panicked, her eye turned red. After she’d hung up the phones, she was already, standing up, had her bag on her shoulder, told me, “my mother had a hemorrhage in her brain, she’d fallen down, she’s, been taken to the hospital”, then, left in a hurry.
I didn’t want to intruded, so I’d not called her up for a couple of days, later on, I’d, bumped into her on the streets, and I’d, asked her how her mother was, doing. “Mom’s in I.C.U., the doctor said she had a stroke, and, how she’ll do, is reliant on the weather, the temperatures of these few days, she’s too old to be, operated on”, she had the worried look on her face, with tears, in the corners of her eyes, and yet, as she’d spoken, the muscles on her face relaxed and she’d, started, smiling.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, could it be, she’s, so grief-struck, she’d become, psychotic. As my mind wandered, she’d started, “This is, it’s, too, outrageous.”
That day, the four siblings along with the others in the family all, rushed to the hospital, and the patient was, already sent, into the I.C.U. and they can only wait outside, worried. And heaven only knows how long time passed, then, a doctor rushed out, “come quick, families, your mother is, being, resuscitated, if after thirty-minutes, her vitals aren’t back, she’ll be, pronounced, dead!”
Then, the group rushed into the I.C.U. with panic, the elderly woman had tubes all over her body, and a gas mask, she looked, she’s, going to die, my friend held on to the elderly’s hand, started crying, the rest called out to her, “Mom!”, “Grandma!”, everybody was, crying then. Thirty minutes passed, the doctor brought the death certificate to the families, had the older brother of my friend sign for it.
Her older brother wiped away the tears, put on his glasses, took the pen, as he was, about to sign, he’d, scanned across the top of the document, and, lifted his head, asked, “this……my mother’s name is, printed, wrong.” The doctor took the death certificate, asked, “isn’t her name, so-and-so?”, “No, it’s, so-and so!”, the siblings all answered, in synchrony.
The doctor pushed his glasses up onto his nose, and, he’d, looked around, awkwardly, then, “ahhhhhhhhhhhh, I’m so sorry, this death certificate, is, for another patient.” They’d all, looked over, the woman, lying in the bed opposite, had, looked, similar to their mother’s, body shape, isn’t that, their, mother?
“It’s quite odd, we’re all, very upset, as our mother had a stroke, but, because of, this interlude, suddenly, we’d felt blessed, that our mother was, only in a coma, she’s, not dead yet, it’s, something, wonderful”, and this time, she’d, started, smiling for real.
And so, this was, the distance, between comedy, and tragedy, only, in a switch, of a thought.
And so, you can imagine, this woman and her families, being told, that their elder’s, dead, and realizing how, the doctors, made a mistake, and, in that, brief moment, the loved ones, already, experienced the loss, the sadness the death of their elderly mother brought to them, and, then, they’d all found out, that their mother, hadn’t, died…
Life, the Obstacle Course 