By Chloe Gambill
The accident was relayed to me in panic by my mother. How you were dying on a hospital bed, our newborn son in someone else’s hands. How you were in an induced coma, level of brain damage still unknown, your head was haphazardly shaved to make room for a catheter—something about decreasing the swelling.
“I don’t think she even got to hold him,” my mother said.
My heart sinks remembering I was too busy to go see you at the shower; instead, I had sent a half-heartedly written card: You’re an amazing woman, Nicole, and you’ll make an amazing mother!
A skillfully written story—but one word throws me: “our.” The “newborn son” is the speaker’s? I am confused by that since it doesn’t compute that the father would send a card in lieu of attending the shower. What am I missing here?
Hi Shoshauna – I agree that this story is well-written and so sad. I took it as the speaker and father of the baby was the woman’s ex in some way—ex-boyfriend or ex-husband, or perhaps even a current partner— who hadn’t wanted to be involved in the baby’s life. The banal message in the card and the way the speaker describes his emotion when writing it, shows to me distancing and his lack of any real love or feeling for the woman or his child.
But whose hands is the baby in? A nurse, a doctor, a new partner, or (as the speaker’s mother may fear) someone who will become the child’s new grandmother? There are so many layers in this flash. It would be a great beginning to a longer story!
Hello Kathy! I couldn’t have answered that better myself. I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed my story 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to share your perspective on it!
Congratulations published writer!
Great story but I, too, am confused as to who the “our” refers to. It seems like the person is a friend. I like the baby shower ending.