Late Night Phone Call ...

Imagine this ... You've been having a relatively typical week, the same routine; not too many changes to your schedule; you get home - have dinner, chill out; catch up with friends on the phone; and eventually go to bed and pretty soon you are fast asleep - possibly for at least 2-3 hours .... a sharp sound pierces your ears; shaking you up ... your body has turned towards the sound, your mind fuzzy with sleep ... finally acknowledging the sound of that very unexpected late night phone !

With double vision, you barely register a familiar phone number and name and proceed to answer the phone with a very groggy 'hello' ... that silence of two seconds is all to much and you find yourself saying that person's name trying to get a response out of them ... at last they speak ... and it's never good news is it ?

I found myself in this situation the other night .. I am generally a light sleeper - but for some reason that night I just couldn't find myself able to sleep - I kept tossing and turning in bed, I was feeling hot & bothered, but couldn't quite put my finger on the problem ... eventually at about 2:30 - 3 a.m I fell asleep. My phone rang just before 5 a.m and it was my cousin ... At first I thought, 'shit did I oversleep and late for work' and then instantly my next thought was 'something is wrong' ...

My cousin had rang me to inform me that our grandmother who lives in her house, had a bad fall and was in an unconscious state and that I should inform my father as her father was out of the country. The next few minutes that followed was in an unknown state ... I went into my parents' room, woke my mother up and asked her to speak to my father since this was his mother who had suffered an injury.

My grandmother had just turned 83 years old on 26th January .. for her age - she was a very independent lady who liked to go out to the club and play cards - and with this one phone call - she'd become this helpless old lady and there was nothing I could do to change that situation ...

The next few hours were a bit of a blur ... I obviously couldn't go back to sleep ... All I could do was lie awake ... wondering what would happen next ... what would the doctors at the hospital say ... would my grandmother be alright ?

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