A Life Less Lost: Chapter 55
...I remember the way she hugged me as a sister when we first met and the incredible night I watched her perform in the opera, Yeoman of the Guard, with Tommy Steel on the grass beneath the Tower of London. Along with other family members, I've seen her sing many times. Her pure soprano notes can raise goose bumps up my arms. Her stage presence is natural and mesmerising...
Kimm Walker receives terrible news concerning her sister-in-law.
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It's very early morning on a school day, when that phone call comes. My body feels stiffly robotic as I go through the motions to get ready for work.
It isn't possible. I picture my sister-in-law, all four foot ten inches of her and know this can't be real. As if compressing her life force into such a tiny body made it brighter, more powerful, she always sparkles with energy. She has the gift of listening with her whole self, a gift that makes you feel valued and loved. Two years older than Howard, Delith already lived in London when I joined the family so I haven't spent a lot of time with her but she's still precious to me.
I remember the way she hugged me as a sister when we first met and the incredible night I watched her perform in the opera, Yeoman of the Guard, with Tommy Steel on the grass beneath the Tower of London. Along with other family members, I've seen her sing many times. Her pure soprano notes can raise goose bumps up my arms. Her stage presence is natural and mesmerising.
In James' room, I seek out the kangaroo toy she lovingly made for him during long hours of rehearsals. And a photo recalls the time the brothers and sisters clubbed together to fly Delith home from Australia as a surprise gift for Mum's sixtieth birthday. I can't help but smile when I remember how Mum thought we'd bought her a dog when the duvet cover, with Delith inside, moved. I can hear haunting echoes of the Christmas carols we filled the pub with after the party.
David quietly says, 'What can you expect, Mum? We have a big family, more people to love but more to lose, too.'
Howard, his mum, brothers and remaining sister are by Delith's side within a week. In the face of this mass determination, they manage to persuade the doctors to at least try radiotherapy. They're able to share some lovely times together and help Delith's husband, Arthur, sort out some of the overwhelming problems facing them.
Back home, Howard feels the situation is grim but not entirely hopeless. He has remarkable stories to tell of giant spiders, lizards, bats, leeches and incredible, strange fruits. He's also covered in bug bites. Delith lives in a beautiful place, high in the mountains above Toowoomba, steamy, hot and full of extraordinary trees. Howard particularly enjoyed getting to know our niece and two nephews whilst he was there. There is concern in his observations of Mum, though. This latest blow has really shaken her. She struggled to concentrate in Australia and was often anxious and forgetful.
Coping with all of this, thoughts about my new job, writing reports and finishing up things at my old school leave me tense. My headteacher asks me to rewrite 39 pages of my reports, as she feels they're too 'jargony' (I must still be in job application mode) then she has a go at me about the discipline in my classroom. This seems to come out of the blue but perhaps in the fog I'm in I haven't noticed. It feels like steel toe caps in the ribs from my position on the floor. A few days later, she asks me to take three days off. Feeling a fraud, I try to decline but she insists.
It's enough to help me complete a few tasks, get a healthier sleep pattern back and prepare for the next big changes in our lives.
