|
|
|---|
Sunday, May 16, 2010
He was lying on a hospital gurney in the corridor outside the Cath. Lab. His strong black face such a contrast against the stark white hospital sheets.
I leant against the wall next to him waiting to go in to observe the next case.
'How ya going?' he says.
'Pretty good, what about yourself?' I reply.
'They've just cancelled me, they forgot to stop my Warfarin on the Ward, so my INR's are too high, got to come back on Monday for my Angiogram,' he says shaking his head.
'Oh that's a pain, where are you from?' I ask.
'I'm from Arnhem Land, you know it?' he says, peering at me intently, almost knowing what my answer will be.
'No I've never been, but I've heard it's a good place.' I reply rather sheepishly.
'Yeah it is, I been there all my life,' he smiles.
'It's my birthday tomorrow,' he continues.
'Oh is it? How old will you be?' I ask.
'I'll be 55 tomorrow,' a big wide grin moving across his face.
'Oh, you just beat me, I won't be 55 'til next January. Do you think they'll let you out of Hospital for a bit tomorrow to celebrate?' I ask him.
'I hope so, my wife is down with me & she wants to take me out for a birthday dinner in Darwin.' he says a little wistfully.
'But you know I made a promise to my wife that one year we'd go to Paris for my birthday.' he looks at me intently, not averting his gaze from my eyes for a second.
Gulping quickly I say to him 'Gee that's somewhere I really want my husband to take me as well.'
'Yeah, my wife has spent hours on the Internet & we've made a list of everything we want to see.' he continues.
'First we want to see the Arc de Triomphe, then the Champs-Elysées where my wife says all the good shopping is, & the Boulevard St. Germain where we want to sit & have coffee & watch the people go by. But most of all I want to take her up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, you can see all of Paris from there, the views would be really great I reckon.' he adds.
Listening to him share his dream, this traditional Yolngu tribal man from a remote indigenous Arnhem Land community, I knew these few minutes with him will go straight into that special folder in my heart labelled Awesome Life Moments.
As I get called back into the Lab. I say to him, 'That's a fantastic dream you know, I really hope you can live that one day.'
He stretches out his huge dark hand toward me & I reach for it grasping it hard.
'Good to talking to you, maybe I'll see you in Paris one day, eh?' he says.
Smiling broadly I reply 'Now wouldn't that be a great thought, all of us sitting having a coffee together in the Paris sunshine!'
'Yep, that would sure be something', his huge eyes twinkling & his grin wider than ever.
Image: World City Photos
0 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
