Short Story 4 - Only Death Will Separate Us
ONLY DEATH WILL SEPARATE US
by
Magdelin Rodrigues
Sixty-three years, eight months and thirteen days they had spent together. They had woken up together, sat down and shared breakfast, talked, laughed and eaten dinner together on every one of those days. Now a thick slab of plexiglass and emergency government interventions kept them apart.
Frank stood as close to the plexiglass wall as he could, tears soaking his legally mandated surgical mask as he saw his beloved for the first time since she had been admitted. Helena laid in the middle of a small cold room surrounded by stainless steel equipment of all sorts. There were tubes running to her arms, her nose and down her throat. She was loosely covered with a hospital gown; she looked frail and weak in a way Frank could not have imagined before.
Helena had always been so full of colour and spirit. The day they had met for the first time, she wore a stunning purple polka-dotted yellow knee length dress and had taken Frank’s breath away at first sight. Her self-confidence and sense of humour had drawn him in. Then her stubborn determination and compassion sealed the deal. This was the woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
They had made a perfect pair. She had brought colour and joy into his life and he had provided plentifully for her body and soul. They did not have it easy, especially as they loved through the White Australia Policy. She was of Asian descent and many in the community let their disapproval of inter-racial relationships be well known. Not that Helena ever let them get her down. She would just laugh it off and continue skipping down the road holding the hand of her white man.
“How is she?”
Frank was jolted out of his reveries by the sudden appearance of their second son, Daniel.
“Not looking good, mate.” Frank croaked in reply.
Daniel stepped up to the plexiglass with hands behind his back grasping a colourful bouquet of flowers. He stared silently for a moment at his mother, taking in the horror of the tubes and the cold colourless equipment that surrounded her. “How are you doing, Dad?” He asked as he turned to his father. Frank continued to watch his beloved. He could observe her chest rising and falling with each assisted breath and knew she was still alive.
“It is not right she is in there all alone with no colour. You knew your mum; when did she ever were all white like that?”
“Never,” Daniel replied, he had heard this speech many times before but played along to humour his father. “Not even in her wedding photos.”
“That is right! Never! Even at our wedding, she could not bring herself to wear all white and walked down the aisle with a bright purple and yellow lotus flower tucked behind her ear. She was the most beautiful bride to ever walk down an aisle and we have the photos to prove it.”
“Maybe I can ask a nurse to take these flowers in to Mum. I’m sure they will understand.” Daniel said as he started to walk off.
“Why can’t I just go in there and take them to her myself? It would do her a world of good, better than a nurse doing it. She would be better by now if I were holding her hand rather than standing out here being useless.”
“Dad, I do not want you to get sick too or get locked up by the police. It is a new disease. They need these strict rules, so it does not get out of control before they know what it is. I am going to find a nurse, just stay here and don’t do anything silly.” Daniel walked off. Frank stared towards the door and thought about how easy it would be to simply open it and walk in. No one was around now to see. He could sneak in, hold her hand, towel down her face and get back out before anyone notices.
Frank took a step towards the door. Suddenly an alarm blared from within Helena’s room. Frank took a step backwards as nurses and a doctor rushed through the door, fully draped in Personal Protection Equipment from head to toe.
Daniel walked in still holding onto the bouquet. “They cannot take anything into her. Some contamination policy or something.”
“Contaminate what? She is already dying! All these stupid rules are not going to help my Helena.” Frank raised his voice, attracting the nurses’ attention from within the quarantine room. A nurse pressed the security alarm around her neck in full view of Frank.
“They will protect you and me and all your grand kids.” “They will protect their butts so no one can sue them, that is all. Give me that!” Frank snatched the bouquet out of his son’s hands, picked out a bright purple and yellow flower and discarded the rest onto the floor.
Frank burst through the door and rushed towards his wife. The treating nurses and doctor back away, waiting for security to rush in and put an end to the situation. Frank placed the flower behind Helena’s ear, instantly brightening her face to where she almost looked as she had on her wedding day. Frank pulled off his mask, bent down and managed to place a kiss on his love’s forehead before three security guards grabbed him from behind and dragged him towards the door.
Frank looked back to see his wife alive for the last time. Helena smiled softly before a nurse plucked the flower from her hair and threw it into a bio-hazard bin.