Death

I’ve never been afraid of death. Partially because mum told us from day one, that when we die we simply go into our next life. Cool hey? No heaven and hell in my family. And as if that wasn’t enough, she would constantly bring up baggage from her ‘past lives’ that explained her problems she faced in ‘this life’. This is just one reason why I’m a sceptic.

But back to the topic of death. I’m also at ease with it because when I was six and my brother four, Dad took us into the country hospital where he worked, which was pretty rare, turned to us and said --
“Kids, do you want to see a dead body?”
“Sure!” I said. Why not?
"I’m hungry," said my little brother, gripping his teddy bear.
Dad took us into a dark little room, where a blue sheet lay covering someone on a bench. He pulled down the sheet revealing an old, skinny man with a beer belly.

He looked like he was taking a nap. A very still nap. Then Dad lifted up both of his eyelids, and shined a torch in his eyes. Closed his lids, covered his head over again, and that was that. He might as well have taken us to the newsagent to buy the paper.

I’m sure we asked lots of questions. Like – "So when does he move onto his next life?" To which my Dad would not have known how to answer. And you wonder why my parents divorced?

So that was death. Very simple. A natural part of life. Since then, I’ve seen two dead bodies in real life. One was my grandfather, and the other was a lady in the distance, who got hit by a car in China.

I do wonder if I will see Ada die. I can’t help but think if she did, we’d all just feel relieved. But I happen to know for sure that I won’t witness her death this year. And not just because she’s been dying for the last fifty years, and won’t deliver. You see, my mum got me a psychic reading for Christmas last year, and I asked her – "Will Ada die while I’m with her?"

The psycic said she won't. But then the psychic also said that Ada would really enjoy my company and to look out - because a hot romance was just around the corner, if not already starting. Well, unless by 'hot romance' she meant licking pizza drippings off my fingers, while fantasizing about Jeffrey Dean Morgan, then I'm still waiting lady! Still waiting.