Blood, Ring and Fire

pte

le

o seconds. I had been counting the beeps for almost

Two.

no matter how often I wet them with a cotton bud. Three weeks ago she had been standing in o

ispered. "I'

. She had not answ

the kind one. She was the one who brought me tea at night and pretended n

d softly. "Can w

. When the kind nurse asked to tal

re too bright, and the floor smelled like blea

worse?"

er medicine this evening. She needs a new drug before morning

o give i

rmacy does not have it. We ran out two d

w m

told

s almost everything I had left.

because what else coul

at the tablet, and I could see her tryi

," I said. "J

d not cover the full amount. If the balance is not paid by eight tomorro

I said. My voice cracked. "You told me th

'm so sorry, Halle. I begged them

I kept nodding even

ing. It was eleve

knew what was inside, but I counted it anyway. Folded not

ecause she had made every dress I wore until I was sixteen on that machine. I had borrowed from my old school friends until they stopp

d my mother's forehea

e," I told her. "I'll be

ldn't go anywhere. But I said it ever

it was po

a jacket, just my old gray sweater with the hole

no proper crossing. In the day, there was a man who helped people cross for small change. At night, t

ing. When the road was clear, I ran across, splashin

r, half asleep, with a radio playing soft music beside him. When I

there dripping water on his cle

t. Please, pl

small brown glass

he said. "Yo

y. I had not felt luck

. It was a little mo

er. Notes, coins, everything. I

ed me. I could fe

y mother. She's in the hospital across the road.

air and my wet sweater and my shaking hands.

"Go before I

aid. "Thank you.

made of gold. In a way, it was. It was my mothe

as empty and light. I didn't care. I had

et lights looked blurry. I checked left. I checked right. The

ted to

. An engine, loud and angry, coming

a big black shape coming st

lew past so close that I felt the wind of it on my skin. I hit the ground hard.

rything was quiet

sound. A tiny crack

at my hand.

three pieces. The medicine was running out of it, mixing

ispered. "