Reverence

Chapter One- (a seven-day writing prompt)

an early morning southern sky just before sunrise-generated in app

The morning had begun before daybreak. Coffee brewing, she knocked softly upon his door.

“You up?”, she knew the answer before asking because there was a soft glow of light shimmering from under the door. She just wanted to hear his voice.

“Yeah”, he murmured “I`ll be out in a few minutes”.

His tone said more than his words. She could hear the exhaustion, and he clearly was struggling to catch his breath. The hum and hissing of his nebulizer let her know he was working to clear the phlegm from his lungs.

Pouring her coffee, she located her medication and placed it on the table for after. A reminder that she mustn`t forget to take them this morning. For this morning would be busy and stressful.

Slowly she sipped her coffee on the porch turning the fan on to drown out the hacking coming from her brother’s room. She could still hear if the hacking became choking, but the buffer allowed her to keep her stomach contents down as she heard him throw-up the thick phlegm.

With a flick of the lighter she deeply drew in the calming smoke of her own battle. Slow was her exhale as she peered out the screen looking for the first glimpses of the sunrise. Half her mind wondered the other half listening carefully in case he needed her.

After about 20 minutes, came the creek of his cane and squeak of the door. He made his way to his chair.

“You doing alright?”, she enquired. “yep”, he replied, lighting his cigarette. “What time do we need to leave?”, he asked. Her reply gave him the knowledge of how much time he had to prepare for his excursion out.

They sat together saying nothing much. Both staring into the morning darkness waiting for the sun to rise. He went back in first for his allotted time had expired that he could be off the oxygen that feeds him life. He shuts his bedroom door, and she hears the familiar sound of another breathing treatment.

She fixes breakfast for him, takes her medication and cleans up the kitchen. Always listening she is. She knows in her mind’s eye what he`s doing just by sound.

Once dressed, she pulls the car in front of the ramp that aids in him getting into the car. He was already out of breath, shaking as he positioned himself inside. She folded his walker tucking it carefully into the hatch to be retrieved later.

The air-conditioner was running full blast as to cool the damp humid morning air dripping from the windows. It helped him breath and to be honest, helped her too.

Her demeaner was calm and confident yet inside she trembled wondering. How much more can he take? The fear of him going into respiratory arrest while she was driving always lingers in the back of her mind. So much so, she thinks of every place on her route she could pull off to seek help if such a thing happened in mid-morning rush hour traffic.

Arriving at the doctors she pulls up to the entrance doors and helps her brother out. First of course is fetching his walker out of the back hatch. Her shoulders ache from the torn rotary, healed but never the same. Once he`s steady on his feet she proceeds to park the car and joins him inside. Another doctor’s visit in hopes of hope.

Three hours and two batteries in his personal oxygen machine they arrive home. She pulls up once again to the ramp that leads into their trailer.

“I`m going straight to bed”, he says.

After helping him inside she parks the car under the carport and draws in a deep breath and releases it in an auditable sigh. The question in her mind is the same as it was this morning. How much longer will he hold on? She doesn`t cling to hope nor is she longing for his passing. She prays for his peace. She fights for his dignity. She grieves for herself and for him.

A lifetime of memories transpired between them, and it is only noontime.

He sleeps; she waits just around the corner. Half her attention on what she is doing, the other on the rhythm of his machines ticking away the time.

✨Be the Light