Has Anyone Here Seen Larry?

by Deirdre Purcell

  Ah well – it’s now or never.

  16: Hello, Dolly!

  It was worth coming back, even though freedom was only a step away, just to see Martha’s joy when she entered the room.

  I am not out of the woods, of course. I feel very weak and I know I will be in hospital for a while. But at least she and I will now have time to fix whatever was broken between us.

  She nearly fainted when she saw my eyes open. It was Mary who told her how I came back: ‘It was very quiet, Martha, real quiet. I wasn’t even praying. Father Jimmy just had both hands on her head, one at the crown and one at the forehead. And I was just massaging gently.’

  ‘The next thing, I could actually feel a movement in the sole of one of her feet and I looked up and her hand was moving too. And then her eyes opened, real slow …’

  (I had to control it a little, not to give them too much of a fright.)

  Martha fell on Father Jimmy. ‘Thank God, thank you, Lord! It’s a miracle – Father, you’re a miracle worker, thank you, thank you!’

  Right now she is still wringing his hand. ‘I shouldn’t have left. I should have been here –’

  ‘We were all playing our part, Martha.’ Father Jimmy takes her hand and pats it. Probably to stop his own from being mangled. ‘Don’t fret,’ he says, ‘your Mammy is back with us, that’s the main thing. Now I think we should get a nurse or a doctor, don’t you? They should be told.’

  He leaves the room to me and my two daughters. Although I want to hug them both, I am too feeble to raise my arms.

  It is Martha who sees this. Careful not to disturb all the tubes and drips, she raises me gently and plumps up my pillows. And then she gives me a hug. In my living memory, this is the first time she has embraced me since her childhood.

  I try to speak but if my voice was weak before it’s a whisper now. They come close and I whisper at them to prepare the others. ‘Tell them I’m sorry they’ve had a wasted trip. No funeral.’

  ‘You could hear everything we were discussing?’ Mary is crying – with joy I believe – but Martha is appalled now. Although I can no longer read her thoughts, I know my daughter. She is flipping back through the night, trying to remember what she has said, hoping against hope she has not given me any ammunition. Things are getting back to normal.

  I smile at both of my beautiful daughters and it is no effort.

  ‘I’m sorry for giving you both a fright,’ I say. ‘I’ll never go away again.’

  OPEN DOOR SERIES

  SERIES ONE

  Sad Song by Vincent Banville

  In High Germany by Dermot Bolger

  Not Just for Christmas by Roddy Doyle

  Maggie’s Story by Sheila O’Flanagan

  Jesus and Billy Are Off to Barcelona

  by Deirdre Purcell

  Ripples by Patricia Scanlan

  SERIES TWO

  No Dress Rehearsal by Marian Keyes

  Joe’sWedding by Gareth O’Callaghan

  It All Adds Up by Margaret Neylon

  Second Chance by Patricia Scanlan

  Pipe Dreams by Anne Schulman

  Old Money, New Money by Peter Sheridan

  SERIES THREE

  An AccidentWaiting to Happen

  by Vincent Banville

  The Builders by Maeve Binchy

  Letter From Chicago by Cathy Kelly

  DrivingWith Daisy by Tom Nestor

  The Comedian by Joseph O’Connor

  Has Anyone Here Seen Larry?

  by Deirdre Purcell