Bette and Peppy entered the room, surprised to find me there ahead of them. Bette looked beautiful with the morning light setting silver shine in her thick wavy hair. Tears rolled down her cheeks but, could not break or diminish the warmth and love so apparent in her smile and her eyes. She reached down to hold his swollen hand and said “I’m here buddy”. The word “buddy” never seemed to mean so much to me as it did that instance when it left her lips. Those two simple syllables seemed to bind and define all of their years, their trials and tribulations, their triumphs and failures, their experiences and adventures, their separations and reunions, their meanings to each other, their ties though on different paths. A word that could be taken lightly in another context among different people was in that moment as perfect and profound as any word ever uttered. Eric lay gasping like Darth Vader with a Volks Wagon on his chest. His eyes were less than half opened. Despite his barely semi-conscious state, he writhed in what seemed to be a dreadful discomfort compounding his omipresent pain. His beds controls were broken so the bed could not be adjusted and Eric had slipped into an awkward position. For that, Bette fell into outrage, feeling that this was a form of mistreatment, which in fact, I guess it was. We got a nurse to help make Eric more comfortable and then the doctor came in.
