Chapter 24
I made up my mind and rushed to the hospital after much hesitation.
Over the years, Ruben also devoted himself to the cause of medical research.
As a teacher and a researcher, he did his best.
He had been eaten up with diseases though he wasn’t even fifty.
I entered the ward and sat beside him.
Suddenly, it occurred to me that he came to see me in a wheelchair yesterday at my daughter’s birthday party.
Maybe it was his way of saying goodbye to me one last time.
Mason sat opposite me, overcome with grief.
He, a man nearly fifty, covered his face with both hands, choking with sobs.
There were tubes all over Ruben’s body, and the ward was filled with the beeping sound of the machine.
The oxygen mask covered his nose and mouth, and I couldn’t hear him though he labored to open his mouth.
But we were siblings for decades after all, and I easily made out the word he was saying from the shape of his mouth.
0.00%
|||
O
<
Chapter 24
He was calling out my name repeatedly, eager yet feeble.
“Grace… Grace…”
288 Vouchers
Again, I thought of the heavy snow. That year, Ruben wasn’t even twenty, and he held me tightly.
“As long as we’re alive, you always have a home.”
After all these years, those memories felt like a dream.
His face turned ghastly pale gradually, and even breathing became labored for him.
He used the last bit of his strength to try to touch my hand.
I reached out and held his hand.
Then I said gently, “Hey, time to take some rest.”
Tears streamed down his face.
He looked at me, thousands of words welling up in his heart; but finally, he just repeated my name again and again.
“Grace… Grace…”
I watched as he closed his eyes.
The image on the heart rate machine gradually stretched into a long, unending straight line.
As I left the hospital, it was snowing heavily.
Antonio was waiting outside the hospital. When I came out, he draped his coat over my shoulders.
As I got into the car, I felt something and turned around; then
33.72%
|||
O
く
Chapter 24
I saw Mason.
His hair had turned gray, and he looked haggard.
The snow fell on his hair and shoulders.
1288 Vouchers
Through the wind and the snow, I said to him, “Take care.”
He had barely stopped crying, and his eyes turned red again.
He opened his mouth a few times; after a few minutes, he simply said, “You too.”
I opened the car door and got in.
As Antonio drove away, the lonely and slightly bent figure behind me gradually disappeared from my sight.
Snow fell on the car window, blurring my vision.
In a daze, I saw our family together again.
On the snowy New Year’s Eve, our family of five had dinner together.
Mom fetched the glasses, and Dad filled them.
Under the warm light, all five of us clinked glasses and then gave our blessings to each other.
“We’ll be happy as a family forever.”
The end.
