Graceful Hands

By Author: pangsiyan
Total Articles: 130
Comment this article

I have never seen Mrs. Clark before, but I know from her medical chart and the report

I received from the preceding shift that tonight she will die.

The only light in her room is coming from a piece of medical equipment, which is flashing its red light as if in warning. As I stand there, the smell hits my nose, and I close my eyes as I remember the smell of decay, from past experience. In my mouth I have a sour, vinegar taste coming from the I reach for the light switch, and as it silently lights the scene, I return to me bed to observe the patient with an unemotional,

Mrs. Clark is dying. She lies motionless: the head seems unusually large on a sKel body; the skin is dark yellow and hangs loosely around exaggerated bones that no blanket can hide; the right arm lies straighioot at the side, taped cruelly to a board to secure needle so that fluid may drip in; the left arm is across the sunken chest, which rises and falls with the unloving breaths.

I reach for the long, thin fingers that are lying on the chest. They are ice cold, and I quickly move to the wrist and feel for the faint pulse. Mrs. Clark's ...
... eyes open somewhat as

She is too weak for conversation, so without asking, I go about

Picking her up in my arms like a child, I turn her on her side. Nakedfex gown, she is so very small and light that she seems like a vinery of some terrible famine. I remove the Jed from ajar of skin cream and put some on the palm of my hand. Carefully, to avoid injuring her,7 Time seems to stand still. In the total silence, I feel my own pulse quicken and hear my breathing as it begins to match hers, breath for uneven breath. Our eyes meet and somehow, together, we become aware that this is a special moment between two human beings ... Her long fingers curl easily around my hand and I nod my head slowly, smiling. Without words, through yellowed eyes, I receive my thank you and her eyes slowly close.

8 Some unknown interval of time passes before her eyes open again, only this time there is no response in then Vjusi a blank stare. Without warning, her slalom breathing stops, and within a few moments, the faint pulse is also gone. One single tear flows from her left eye, across the cheek and down onto the pillow. I begin to cry quietly. There is a swell of emotion within me for this stranger who so quickly came into and went from my life. Her suffering is done, yet so is the life. Slowly, still holding her hand, I become aware that I do not mind