Santa, Elves, and Reindeer Contest

Rating = E
Mark Desautelle
Word Count = 2472


A Gift for Christmas
By M. A. Desautelle

The door to the Emergency room slammed open with a bang, startling the young woman as she leaned over the crib where her infant daughter lie struggling to breathe, and waking the old woman who lay sleeping in the bed next to the window. There was a major flu epidemic sweeping the city and, as is often the case, the young children and the elderly were the hardest hit.
The young woman grimaced at the thought of another child being sick with the thing which was slowly draining the life from her daughter. The epidemic had filled the hospital and caused the crowded conditions which had led to the necessity of doubling up all the rooms and her daughter having to share a room with the old woman.
The old woman had been here for a few days and was expected to be discharged in a couple more days. She was resting now and though she was very old, her breathing was strong and steady. The young woman looked down at her daughter as she struggled to breathe and who seemed to be getting weaker as time went by. When she had spoken with the doctor earlier, he had not been optimistic about her baby's chances.
"The problem, I’m afraid, is that your daughter is very young and small. There is not much we can give her to fight the flu. I wish we could do more, but it is up to her to fight off the virus, all we can do at this point is to continue the IV's and hope for improvement."
The young woman could see compassion in the doctor’s eyes so she touched his arm and assured him she would be fine. "Please, go and tend the others who need your help.”
Telling her to call if she needed, the doctor continued on his rounds, stopping briefly by the bed of the old woman to check her before leaving the room.
The young woman reached over and began to slowly stroke her daughter’s head. It had only been three weeks since her birth and the young woman had been so happy when she had been born, because aside from her low weight, her baby had been perfectly healthy. She had looked forward to celebrating her daughter’s first Christmas and now that seemed unlikely to happen.
As tears begin to fill her eyes she heard the old woman move and turned to find the old woman awake and looking at her." How are you holding up, dear? I can feel that you are very distraught."
Though filled with concern for her child, she moved to the old woman's bedside and replied. "I am doing okay, but you should be resting so as to conserve your strength."
“Don't you worry about me dear, I just had my 92nd birthday three weeks ago and the only reason I am in here is because I couldn't drink fluids fast enough to keep myself from dehydrating. I have no one at home to look after me, so they keep me here so they can make sure I get enough fluids until the flu passes.
"What about your family, aren’t they able to look after you?" asked the young woman.
“I only had one daughter and she died in a car accident with her husband and my granddaughter many years ago," said the old women.
The young woman's face softened as she felt the old woman's sadness and though the old woman quickly smiled, the young woman could feel that though the event was long past, the old woman still carried the pain cause by the death of her daughter and her family. The young woman was generally thankful for the strong empathic trait that ran in her family, since it was helpful for someone in her profession.
Tonight, though, she wished that she had less of it since she was able to feel her daughter’s suffering as strongly as she could feel her own. As the young woman came back from her thoughts, she became aware of the old woman's scrutiny and feeling somewhat uncomfortable, absently reached up to check that the women's IV.
"I see that you have the Gift," the old woman said as she reached out and laid her hand on the young woman's. With the touch of the old woman's hand, the young woman felt a surge of warmth flow from the woman which carried with it a flood of memories; nervousness on the first day of school , the thrill of one’s first real kiss, the deep love and contentment from a joyful marriage, the thrill and agony of her baby girl's birth, the satisfaction of seeing her child grow up and have a child of her own, the deep and burning grief from the early death of her daughter and granddaughter coupled with a frustration at not having been there to help, and most recently a deep sadness at the death of her husband.
Not sure that what had just happened wasn't just her imagination the young woman looked cautiously at the old woman and said," I don't know what you are talking about."
The old woman smiled as she replied,” The Gift is what most people call empathy. I and also apparently you have a high level of this ability. You have probably noticed that you are often able to tell
how people feel before they tell you and I imagine also that you can usually tell when someone is lying to you. A useful aspect of empathic ability, I must say. But there are more helpful and rewarding ways to use your gift.
You may have noticed that you have better than average luck in calming and quieting hurt and distressed people and that people gravitate toward you when they want help and guidance. This is because you unconsciously use your gift to project pleasant and hopeful feelings to counteract the negative feelings these people are feeling."
The young woman was still not sure that the old woman might not just be feeling the after affects of her medicine, but had to admit that most of what the old woman was saying did fit her life, and so nodded for the old woman to continue.
"As I said, you sometimes unconsciously use your gift. It is possible with training to be able to project these feelings whenever you have the need to quiet or comfort someone. For some people who are very talented it is possible to share strength and even one's life essence. This is usually very difficult and requires that one of the parties involved has the proper training and experience and that both have a high degree of empathic ability or potential. This is also very draining on the person who is giving their strength and if they are not strong enough, it can be fatal. So one must be very careful and it also helps to have other conditions in your favor."
“Other conditions," said the young woman as she turned to see if the nurse was around, since she was becoming more certain the old woman was over medicated.
" Yes, other conditions," said the old woman, a faint smile crossing her face almost as if she was aware of what the young woman was thinking. "The world is a balance of psychic energy, both positive and negative, and can affect the way we think and feel. When large amounts of people suffer and grieve, the balance shifts toward the negative. On some days, such as tonight, when people go to midnight mass and think pleasant thoughts about their loved ones and the joy of Christmas, the balance swings to the positive and the transfer of positive energy is easier. This is why you often here about miracles happening on Christmas Eve. It is a very special night and makes many things possible."
“All this talk of positive energy on Christmas Eve is nice, but I am afraid that all I can feel around here is my poor daughter's suffering. I called for the doctor sometime ago. I hope he gets here soon or we won't need him at all,” said the young woman.
As the old woman gazed toward the crib the little girl suddenly turned her head toward the woman and opened her eyes wide. For a brief moment the old woman felt a touch of innocence, clean and pure, caress her mind. Though infants often project their feelings easier than adults, not having years of emotional baggage to get in the way, that this infant girl was able to project her feelings considering how weak she was showed that the infant’s potential was on a level with her own.
For a brief moment she was reminded of her on granddaughter, who also had a high level of empathic potential before her life thread was severed by a patch of black ice and a sharp curve in the road. If given the chance she would have gladly given her life if it would have allowed her granddaughter to survive.
Lost in memories of her family, the old woman dozed off and was awakened by the sound of soft voices. Looking toward the sound of the voices she saw the doctor finish speaking and then saw the woman put her head in her hands and begin to sob. After a moment she looked up at the doctor and nodded.
After the doctor left the old woman motioned for the young woman to approach her bed. “What did the doctor have to say," she asked, though she already knew the answer.
The young woman said “He was not hopeful. She is weak and he feels that if she had strength to remain alive long enough for her body's defenses to rally then she could survive this, but it doesn’t look good." After this last statement the young woman once more burst into tears and covered her face with her hands.
The old woman reached out and to comfort the young woman and begin to think. It was obvious that though the little girl had battled valiantly, her reserves of strength were fading fast and she was losing her battle for life. This was obvious to the old woman even without the doctor’s conformation and as her thoughts came to a final conclusion, she smiled briefly. The young woman looked down at the old woman and, as her gift flared up briefly, got the strong impression that the old woman had suddenly made a decision which brought peace and fulfillment to her mind.
Before she could make a comment on this, the old woman spoke, "Would you please help me over to your daughter’s crib? I would like to get a better look at her."
"You are still weak," noted the young woman, "I am not sure that getting up would be good for you."
"I have spent the better part of my 92 years doing what I want and I am not about to change that now. If you don't help me I will simply do it myself."
Noting the determined look on the face of the old woman, the young woman relented and helped the old woman to walk to the side of
her daughter’s crib. The old woman smiled and her features softened at the sight of the little girl who reminded her of her own granddaughter who left the world at such an early age. The old woman leaned over the crib and placed a hand on the infant’s head. The little girl's eyelids fluttered at the touch as she tried to open her eyes but by now she was too weak to do so. The old woman smiled at the effort and bent over the crib to kiss her on the check. The young woman smiled at the old woman's tenderness and then turned toward the sound of the nurse entering to tell her that the priest would soon be there.
Suddenly she felt the old woman's strength leave her as the old woman sagged against her. The nurse seeing the old woman falter came in and the two of them carried her back to her bed.
“Are you okay?" the young woman asked with a note of concern in her voice.
"Don't worry about me," the old woman said," You have a little girl to raise. Just remember that she has the Gift and if you raise her with love and understanding, she will grow up to be a positive force against the pain and suffering in this imperfect world.
Looking down at the old woman, the young woman thought that the old woman had gone off the deep end and had forgotten that her daughter was waiting for the priest to come to give her the last rites. The old woman glanced over at the wall clock which now read 12:05 and then back to the young woman and said, “Merry Christmas, my dear.”
With this said the old woman lay back in her bed and slowly closed her eyes.
As she reached out and patted the old woman's hand, the last impression she received from the old woman was one of contentment from a choice well made and happiness at the prospect of being reunited with her family once more. Her attention was drawn from the old woman by the sound of the doctor and priest making cooing noise over her daughter's crib. When she rushed to her daughters crib she was stunned to see her daughter with her eyes open and smiling at the doctor and priest.
"I am not sure where your daughter found the strength or the will, but as you can see she has turned the corner and is already enjoying her first Christmas,” the young doctor said, his face showing evident pleasure at the young baby’s recovery.
The young woman looked leaned over the crib to touch her daughter and as the tears of joy and relief ran down her face, she heard the nurse whisper to the doctor. Lifting her head she turned in time to see the doctor pull the bed sheet up over the old woman's head. Her gaze rested on the form of the old woman under the sheet and a touch of sadness crossed her face at the passing of the wise old woman. As she gazed back down at her infant girl, who was now breathing strongly and without effort, and then back at the old woman, she began to realize that though there would be many more Christmases for her daughter with their parade of presents and gifts, none would ever match the gift her daughter had received from the old woman on this very special Christmas.