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[00:-1.00]1  I have never seen Mrs.Clark before,
[00:-2.00]but I know from her medical chart
[00:-3.00]and the report I received from the preceding shift that tonight she will die.
[00:-4.00]2  The only light in her room is coming from a piece of medical equipment,
[00:-5.00]which is flashing its red light as if in warning.
[00:-6.00]As I stand there, the smell hits my nose,
[00:-7.00]and I close my eyes as I remember the smell of decay from past experience.
[00:-8.00]In my mouth I have a sour,vinegar taste coming from the pit of my stomach.
[00:-9.00]I reach for the light switch,
[00:10.00]and as it silently lights the scene,
[00:11.00]I return to the bed to observe the patient with an unemotional, medical eye.
[00:12.00]3  Mrs.Clark is dying. She lies motionless:
[00:13.00]the head seems unusually large on a skeleton body;
[00:14.00]the skin is dark yellow and hangs loosely around exaggerated bones
[00:15.00]that not even a blanket can hide;
[00:16.00]the right arm lies straight out at the side,
[00:17.00]taped cruelly to a board to secure a needle so that fluid may drip in;
[00:18.00]the left arm is across the sunken chest,
[00:19.00]which rises and falls with the uneven breaths.
[00:20.00]4  I reach for the long, thin fingers that are lying on the chest.
[00:21.00]They are ice cold,
[00:22.00]and I quickly move to the wrist and feel for the faint pulse.
[00:23.00]Mrs.Clark's eyes open somewhat as her head turns toward me slightly.
[00:24.00]I bend close to her and scarcely hear as she whispers,
[00:25.00]"Water," Taking a glass of water from the table,
[00:26.00]I put my finger over the end of the straw
[00:27.00]and allow a few drops of the cool moisture
[00:28.00]to slide into her mouth and ease her thirst,
[00:29.00]She makes no attempt to swallow;
[00:30.00]there is just not enough strength.
[00:31.00]"More," the dry voice says, and we repeat the procedure.
[00:32.00]This time she does manage to swallow some liquid and weakly says,
[00:33.00]"Thank, you."
[00:34.00]5  She is too weak for conversation, so without asking,
[00:35.00]I go about providing for her needs.
[00:36.00]Picking her up in my arms like a child,
[00:37.00]I turn her on her side.
[00:38.00]Naked, except for a light hospital gown,
[00:39.00]she is so very small and light
[00:40.00]that she seems like a victim of some terrible famine.
[00:41.00]I remove the lid from a jar of skin cream
[00:42.00]and put some on the palm of my hand.
[00:43.00]Carefully, to avoid injuring her,
[00:44.00]I rub cream into the yellow skin,
[00:45.00]which rolls freely over the bones,
[00:46.00]feeling perfectly the outline of each bone in the back.
[00:47.00]Placing a pillow between her legs,
[00:48.00]I notice that these too are ice cold,
[00:49.00]and not until I run my hand up over her knees
[00:50.00]do I feel any of the life-giving warmth of blood.
[00:51.00]6  When I am finished,
[00:52.00]I pull a chair up beside the bed to face her and,
[00:53.00]taking her free hand between mine,
[00:54.00]again notice the long, thin fingers.
[00:55.00]Graceful. I wonder briefly if she has any family,
[00:56.00]and then I see that there are neither flowers,
[00:57.00]nor pictures of rainbows and butterflies drawn by children, nor cards.
[00:58.00]There is no hint in the room anywhere that is a person who is loved.
[00:59.00]As though she is a mind reader,
[-1:00.00]Mrs.Clark answers my thoughts and quietly tells me,
[-1:-1.00]"I sent...my family...home...tonight
[-1:-2.00]...didn't want...them...to see..."
[-1:-3.00]Having spent her last ounce of strength she cannot go on,
[-1:-4.00]but I have understood what she has done.
[-1:-5.00]Not knowing what to say, I say nothing.
[-1:-6.00]Again she seems to sense my thoughts, "You...stay..."
[-1:-7.00]7   Time seems to stand still. In the total silence,
[-1:-8.00]I feel my own pulse quicken and hear my breathing as it begins to match hers,
[-1:-9.00]breath for uneven breath. Our eyes meet and somehow,together,
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