Further to the story about what my mother said she saw before her death, here’s one by an ex-colleague from mainland China about her father’s last moments.
Her mother and sister had been staying in the ward during her father’s illness. This is common practice out East, with family sleeping on a mattress on the floor beside the patient’s bed. Comforting for the patient to have family with them round the clock, but it also takes some of the workload off the hospital staff.
Her father’s ward was the second last one down the corridor. The last ward was empty.
On the night her father died, out of nowhere a thunderstorm blew up, with thunder and lightning. The lights and TV in the empty ward next door suddenly came on. The nurse said to my colleague’s mother and sister, “大鬼来带小鬼了 / dà guǐ lái dài xiǎo guǐ le / The big ghosts have come to lead the small ghost.”
When the father died, the thunderstorm stopped, and the lights and TV in the empty ward next door went off.
(China, 2008?)
No comments:
Post a Comment