His Great Granny lies unmoving. They explain again and again who we are. Multisystem organ failure. She wants her hand uncovered. Her rosary slipped, and she needs to have it back.

I wait in the hallway, trying to not further confuse the dying woman. He comes out, and his eyes are brimming; my heart aches with empathy. I hold him. There's nothing to say but Oh baby, and stroke his head and back. I wipe his face and nose on my sleeve and hug him again. I glance up and there is a withered man watching us from his bed in another room.. his mouth is slightly open, and his eyes are deep and black. A woman in a wheelchair creaks down the hallway towards us, and she sits there watching, just watching us. I kiss his cheek and steady him for the Goodbye.

Once I am alone in the hallway, the woman in the wheelchair does a u-turn. The gaping-mouthed man's eyes become vacant and focussed on infinity.