I woke up the next day
with a feeling of dread. I had an eerie feeling that I was going to receive
some bad news. I said my prayers and then got up out of bed and did all the chores I had to do so
that there would be no interruptions when I resumed my reading. I went outside
to take care of the dogs. They were listless, they must be missing Maud a lot or maybe they
were just drawing that sense of foreboding from me. Anyway, the fowls were happy
that I finally came to remove all the eggs from the coop. I guess they needed
space to lay some more! I went back inside, made myself a huge jug of lemonade, took
a bag of crackers from the cupboard and went back to my room as it was too hot
to sit outside on the verandah. I took up the last of the ledgers and noticed
that it had a piece of black
cloth, cut in the shape of a heart, glued to its
cover. The feeling of dread engulfed me once again and I opened the ledger with
trembling fingers.
Ben went home after spending nearly a month in the hospital.
He was never the same after his stay there, according to Florence. He had lost
a lot of weight, which Ben firmly believed was because of the many ‘blood-lettings’.
Ben complained that too much blood was drawn from him daily and he felt worse
than before he went to the hospital. The doctor had said that Ben should be on
bed rest for at least another month so it meant that Stanley Wharbucks had to
continue taking Charmaine to school. As happy as Charmaine was to see her
Pawpaw back home, she was even happier that Grandpa Wharbucks would have to
continue taking her to school. The first time she called him Grandpa Wharbucks
was in the car on the way to school. Stanley Wharbucks was so shocked that he almost ran off
the road. He told Charmaine that a chicken was crossing the road and he did not want
to kill it. “Yeah
right!” said Florence. Two weeks after Ben came home from the hospital, what
Florence was dreading the worst happened. It was a habit of Charmaine to wake
Ben and give him a kiss before she left for school. Florence was in the kitchen
when she heard Charmaine screaming from the bedroom, “Wake up Pawpaw, wake up!
Why won’t you wake up?” Florence dropped the frying pan and ran to see what was
happening. She found Ben motionless half off the bed. Spittle was oozing from
the side of his mouth and his eyes were wide open. “Oh Lord Jesus!” cried
Florence. Stanley Wharbucks had just driven up to take Charmaine to school when
he heard the commotion and he also ran into the bedroom. When he saw Ben’s
condition he lifted him off the bed and took him outside to the car and
placed him in the backseat. With Florence and Charmaine safely in the front of
the car, he drove like a madman to the hospital. When they arrived at the hospital
Stanley Wharbucks got out of the car and yelled for someone to come and assist
him. Two orderlies came rushing out with a stretcher and placed Ben on it and
took him inside the casualty room. Even though they wanted to go inside the
room with Ben, Stanley Wharbucks and Florence had to stay outside with Charmaine. After
what seemed liked an eternity, a doctor came out and beckoned to them. He had a
grim look on his face. Florence started to cry. “I am so sorry, your husband
had another stroke while we were treating him. He didn’t make it.” “No!!!”
wailed Florence as she fell to the ground in tears. Charmaine, not
understanding what was happening, threw herself on the ground and started
crying also. Stanley Wharbucks asked the doctor if he was sure that Ben was
dead, the doctor nodded yes. Stanley Wharbucks sat down on the nearest chair
and gripped the handles. A nurse came and tried to comfort Florence and
Charmaine but to no avail. Florence cries became hysterical then, suddenly, she
calmed down and began to hum a song that Stanley recognized as a song that was
sung every time someone on the estate died. As a boy, his father had told him
it was a song that was used to usher in the dead to the spirit world. Florence
got to her feet as if she was in a trance. She took off her shoes and walked barefooted out of the hospital. Stanley Wharbucks told her afterwards that she was muttering the words, "Come Ben, give me your hand, there is nothing to be afraid of." He also told her that she was speaking in a language that he did not know. Stanley Wharbucks said he felt a coldness pass through his body and he felt very afraid. I shivered and the ledger fell from my hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment