By Jocelyne Ross

Word Count: 340

Rating: G

Summary: While Joyce lies comatose, she relives her life with her husband and family, as they try to wake her up.

It is a gentle touch this time and not a voice that brought Joyce back to the present. A delicate small hand with a soft small cool towel in dabs Joyce’s forehead and cools it.

Joyce remembers her baby Carmel who is now seven months old. When Carmel was two months old, she had high fever for two weeks. All Joyce did during those weeks was nurse her and put wet, cold towels on her small forehead. She did this all day and all night; she was so worried for her baby. After two weeks Carmel was fine and had not been sick since then.

Suddenly, anxiety and worry rob Joyce of her smile. Who is taking care of my baby now? Who is feeding her and waking up at night to check on her and the other children? All of a sudden, the reality shakes Joyce into thinking about the present. She trembles. My children need me, my husband needs me and I need them… I love them… I can’t leave them… no, just not yet…and to whom does this gentle hand belong? Who is it on the other side caring for me and loving me so?

Try as she might, Joyce cannot open her eyes. After a lot of work, she manages to lift her eyebrows just a little, then she hears the voice of the gentle young girl with the gentle hand. “She is trying to open her eyes! Please try again—you can do it! We are waiting for you and we love you.”

***

Since that day Joyce is not able to rest or relax. She knows that she must find a way back home, back to her life, her husband and her precious little children but she is so confused that she cannot think clearly. She is so weak that she cannot move or even open her eyes.

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