Gracepoint Church, Peabody
At exactly noon, Callie heard the incredible sound of sheer silence. She watched the nurse stand and walked to the side of Clarence’s bed. The nurse took Clarence’s wrist in her hand and looked intently at her wristwatch. Then she gently lowered his hand to the bed and pulled her stethoscope out of the large pocket on the side of her pink smock.
As she was slipping the ear-pieces in her ears, the nurse said, “Well, Clarence, looks like this is your big day. Then she leaned over and placed the disk end of the stethoscope on his chest After a few seconds, she straightened up, stuffed the stethoscope back in her pocket and then gently patted the back of his hand. “I’ll go and let them know that you’re ready.”
The nurse’s shoes squeaked on the tile floor as she walked back to the rocking chair, picked up a clipboard from the seat, glanced at her watch one more time and then wrote on the paper. She tucked the clipboard under her arm and left the room.
Callie leaned over the bed as her grandpa’s eyelids fluttered open. She loved the look of unhindered peace that now radiated from his face. Their eyes met and she waited for that glorious spark of awareness to dance in his eyes before she whispered to him. “Hello, Grandpa.”
This is the second installment of a four-part series.