Dad toppled over, his head hitting the side of the table. Face first; he landed on the floor, his eyes closed and his hand grasping his chest.  

       “Dad!” I screamed, running towards him.  Lifting him over and onto my lap, I began to pat the side of his face. “Dad? Wake up! Come on!” Harder and harder I slapped until I realized it was futile. With no time to do anything else, I ran to the living room and picked up the phone. What would I do if dad died?

       Tick Tock…Tick Tock. Time stands still when you don’t think you have any hope left, especially after so many minutes. And even though it had been only a couple of minutes, I was sure of the worst.  With my head between my knees, I waited in the Emergency Room, squeezing my eyes shut. What was taking them so long? Of course, I wasn’t the only one here. In fact, the room was packed, probably, all grieving as much as I was.  And yet, I felt different from these people, like I was here because the most important thing in my life was at his end.  They may have felt the same way but for some reason, I didn’t think they could ever feel as bad as I felt right at that moment.  Had I caused him that much stress that, in the end, all he could do was collapse?  In my hand I held my cell phone, reminding me of the seven phone calls I had missed.  I shut it off and slipped it in my back pocket.  

       I looked down. All of a sudden, the ER door opened and I heard a man clear his throat.  I didn’t bother to look up. Once again, the man cleared his throat and I noticed that he had moved closer; that I could actually see the shininess of his shoes.  I peered up to the man looking at me. On his face, appeared a smile.  

       “Hey Kiddo,” Came a rasped voice from behind the curtain.