Stories
Happy Birthday Mavis.
Rose couldn’t sleep, her thoughts were of her husband lying in hospital.
He had suffered a heart attack. This was a very frightening time for
Rose, for Bernie was the stronger of the two of them. He was always
there for her and the children. He kept himself fit and healthy, always
the calm one in a crisis, he would say "Calm down, no one has died have
they?" little did he know how close he had come to the truth. Rose made
a list of all the things to take to the hospital. She checked the list
over and over again even though Bernie was very poorly she still wanted
him to look nice and clean.
The house felt so empty, Rose had never been alone in the house before.
There had always been one of the children about, but now with two of
them at university and the older one married, even her thoughts seemed
to echo through the house.
"Where have I put my gold necklace", she wondered, she had misplaced it
about six weeks ago , and didn’t have the heart to mention it to Bernie.
He would be very upset if he knew, it was a special present for her 40th
birthday.
Rose had a smile on her face as she thought about the morning when
Bernie had brought her breakfast in bed. On the tray was a single red
rose in a small vase,
"A rose for a rose" he said as he put the breakfast tray down. "Happy
birthday darling" he said giving her a kiss on the cheek. He walked out
of the bedroom. with a smile on his face. Unknown to Rose, Bernie had
put the gold necklace in a small box of after eight mints and sealed it
up again, leaving it on the breakfast tray. Rose looked at the box of
mints, she thought surely these can’t be for my birthday. Bernie would
never forget to buy me a present. She remembered how she had been near
to tears all that day until Bernie asked her if she was opening her
chocolates. She opened them offering them to him first .
"You have the first one" he said, as Rose took a chocolate out of the
box her birthday present , the gold necklace fell out. She couldn’t
believe her eyes, she remembered how she had laughed and cried at the
same time. Now her lovely romantic man was lying in a hospital bed
fighting for his life..
Rose decided against driving to the hospital. It was very difficult to
find a parking space, there was a bus that went into the hospital
grounds. On the way the bus passed a shop that sold house hold goods.
Rose couldn’t help noticing a clothes maiden, it was pine with blue
plastic coated rods going across, it folded down when not in use. She
had one the same when the children were small,she had saved some green
shield stamps to get it. Her friend Mavis, would call round for coffee,
with her children ,they played at making a den with the maiden.. Sadly
Mavis died two years ago. Rose had been thinking of Mavis quite a lot
recently, then she suddenly realised today would have been her birthday.
Rose felt a slight warm breeze on her face, "where did that come from
she thought," it is rather chilly outside.
When Rose arrived on the ward, the nurse informed her that the doctor
had examined Bernie . The tests showed a positive improvement."Your
daughter and her husband are on their way if for any reason they miss
you, they will carry on to your house". Rose thanked the nurse, she was
so pleased with Bernie’s progress. she couldn’t stop kissing him. "Slow
down old girl" he murmured, "you will have the other men jealous," even
though he was smiling he still looked poorly with all the tubes and
wires attached to him.
Rose had brought him all kinds of goodies ; mints to keep his mouth
moist ,chocolates for his sweet tooth and magazines if he was able to
read.
"What are you like Rose," he murmured. He need not have said that, for
he knew that Rose fussed over all the family. Just at that moment the
nurse came along with some medication , "you need to take this now
Bernie then try to relax , not too much talking please!" .Rose saw the
look on the nurses face and thought to herself message received . She
knew that the staff worked very hard and were very loyal and caring
people .but didn’t they realise that this man was the most important
person in Roses life. After giving Bernie a few cuddles and kisses when
the nursing staff weren’t looking. Rose decided to go home and let
Bernie rest, she had thought of a few things to do before the family
arrived.
When travelling home on the bus. For some reason she still couldn’t get
Mavis out of her mind. She murmured to herself happy birthday Mavis
hoping that no one on the bus heard her.
On arriving home, Rose felt a funny sensation .She opened the front door
and felt a breeze , it was as though she had left a window open
upstairs. She went upstairs slowly, worried about what she might find.
She knew that all the windows were closed when she left the house. As
she reached the top of the stairs, the breeze was warm and the staircase
glowed in a beautiful yellow light. Rose ran in to each bedroom, every
thing was fine, "what is it"? she thought, just then she saw something
glittering on the small table on the landing. She couldn’t believe her
eyes, here surrounded by this beautiful warm yellow light was her gold
necklace. The one she had misplaced all those weeks ago. The warm breeze
that I am feeling now she thought, is the same feeling that I had when I
was thinking of Mavis earlier. Tears rolled down Rose’s cheeks she had
no control over them. She felt so calm and at peace with her thought.
She sensed this was a message from her dear friend Mavis , telling her
not to worry , that Bernie will soon be fit and well again.
by Marie Staniforth