110 / 145
110
Miscellany
‘And then they all lived happily ever after. The end.’ I shut the
book with a resounding thump and looked to my sister who was
gazing back at me with her lips slightly upturned at the sides.
‘You just made up that ending, didn’t you?’
I sheepishly looked down, picking at the faded blue blanket
thrown lazily over the bed, ‘maybe.’
Elaine’s soft laughter was cut off by a violent fit of coughs that
wracked her body. I leaned over, rubbing her back and pushing the
hair from her wig away from her face. Her skin was almost
transparent under the harsh hospital lights and her lips were dry
and cracked. It was clear to see that cancer had taken my sister
hostage.
‘You should go home and have a shower, you stink,’ Elaine
wheezed out.
I had given up arguing with her. I nodded, reluctantly getting off
the bed and moving towards the door.
‘Hey, Grace,’
I turned around, ‘yeah?’
‘Please drive safely.’
‘I will.’
That was the last time I ever spoke to my sister.
’
We lay on the trampoline, side by side, gazing up at the misty clouds
drifting by.
‘I wish we could live forever,’ I muttered.
‘Me too,’ whispered Elaine, ‘me too.’
’
That is how I remember Elaine. Not in an ordered way, or with the
good separated from the bad. I remember her just as she was; a
jumble of colours and emotions andwords. That is how I remember
my sister.
‘
11