I should be there, but I don’t want to be there... BUT I should be there - Part 7
The talk was interesting, and I came to the conclusion, that you are going to struggle with the young, as they take things literally. The class was a broad spectrum of age groups, and I prided myself I could talk to anyone. I met up with my friends and we sat together and watched it begin.
The two nurses introduced themselves, and began with a question. "How do you explain Death?". It was thrown around the room, and a broad variety of answers came, fluttering back to the front of the hall. "The release of the soul/spirit", The emptying of the life force", "The end, full stop", and then there was a pause. The tallest nurse turn to the collective group of students, said, "How do you explain death to a child? ". She quickly points at one of the students who was talking. I knew him, he was tall, he had longish hair, (Which he'd recently cut), and he was a friendly easy going guy. "OK, I'm your child, and for some reason, we don't see Grandma anymore... DADDY, DADDY DADDY, WHERE'S GRANDMA?". She pauses, places her hands behind her back, joins hands, and starts to sway. WHERE'S GRANDMA DAD, UNDER THE PATIO?".
She waits, and the guy looks nervously round the hall, pleading with us, begging to get out of this hell that had been unleashed on him. The nurse lowers her voice, "Where's Grandma, Dad? I miss her". He nervously says, "Grandma, has gone on a journey.... and she won't be coming back.". The caused the nurse to wail, "You never liked her did you? Mummy always said you said, you'll be glad when she's put in a home". She then thanked the student, and turned to the class and said, "There are loads of pitfalls, talking to a child, you must see through their eyes, and to that purpose, we are now going to role play!"
The first thing that went through my head was "Fuck!" and the second was, "Fuck, Fuck, Fuckity Fuck Fuck", I hated role play. "OK", "The nurse carried on, "The more mature students, struggle to remember your childhood. The younger ones think back a few years, and go there.". She paused, then she said, "We're going to be coming around the room, observing. The really interesting ones will do a repeat performance, for the whole class, but to motivate, we have...", there's a dramatic pause, and the other nurse smiled. The smile turned into a grin, and with a flourish, she pulled out a large family size bag of "Malteasers". (A chocolate ball, with a honeycomb centre).
I teamed up with "Steve", a student from Sheffield, and at the time a good friend. (I honestly thought he might not be, after I'd finished with him. (I had a malicious streak of humour and I was going to unleash it on him). We had to take turns, one being the child, the other the parent, I got to be the child first.
Me - "Where's Grandma, Dad?"
Steve - "She's gone away to a really nice place".
Me - "Is she coming back?"
Steve - "No, she can't come back?
This was when one of the Macmillan nurses came to observe. "Fuck" I thought, and then realised I'd committed myself to this, and carried on.
Me - "Why can't she come back? Doesn't she love us anymore?"
Steve pauses, takes a deep breath, gets a small but quiet, round of applause from the observer, and carries on.
Steve - "She loves you very much, but the rail service is very bad where she is now".
Another round of applause...
Me - "Can we visit her?"
Steve - "No, we'd be stuck there too."
Me, "We could drive..."
Steve - "Bad roads"
Me - "Why did she goes there? It sounds like shit..."
"Steve - "Grandad is there..."
Me - Can we book a taxi?"
Steve replied "Too expensive". and got a round of applause from the nurse.
To make matters worse, we got a chance to perform in front of the class (SODDING KARMA).
What happened on the second day; they took pity on us. They came in with a table of children's books. Each book hsd been chosen to explain death, and the told use to choose a book that touched us, as we're liable to remember it.
Taking Steve's stellar performance the day prior, I chose one about a family of fishes. The grandma tells the grandson, it was time for her to go into the river. The Grandson cries, and grandma tells him, she'd try to swim back, but to know she loves him.
She enters the river, and she's buffeted about by the current, and realises she wont get back. She ends up in a pool, where Grandad is.
I enjoyed it, and looked forward to telling Karl.
The next day, I arrived on the ward, and Karl's door was closed. I opened the door....
The two nurses introduced themselves, and began with a question. "How do you explain Death?". It was thrown around the room, and a broad variety of answers came, fluttering back to the front of the hall. "The release of the soul/spirit", The emptying of the life force", "The end, full stop", and then there was a pause. The tallest nurse turn to the collective group of students, said, "How do you explain death to a child? ". She quickly points at one of the students who was talking. I knew him, he was tall, he had longish hair, (Which he'd recently cut), and he was a friendly easy going guy. "OK, I'm your child, and for some reason, we don't see Grandma anymore... DADDY, DADDY DADDY, WHERE'S GRANDMA?". She pauses, places her hands behind her back, joins hands, and starts to sway. WHERE'S GRANDMA DAD, UNDER THE PATIO?".
She waits, and the guy looks nervously round the hall, pleading with us, begging to get out of this hell that had been unleashed on him. The nurse lowers her voice, "Where's Grandma, Dad? I miss her". He nervously says, "Grandma, has gone on a journey.... and she won't be coming back.". The caused the nurse to wail, "You never liked her did you? Mummy always said you said, you'll be glad when she's put in a home". She then thanked the student, and turned to the class and said, "There are loads of pitfalls, talking to a child, you must see through their eyes, and to that purpose, we are now going to role play!"
The first thing that went through my head was "Fuck!" and the second was, "Fuck, Fuck, Fuckity Fuck Fuck", I hated role play. "OK", "The nurse carried on, "The more mature students, struggle to remember your childhood. The younger ones think back a few years, and go there.". She paused, then she said, "We're going to be coming around the room, observing. The really interesting ones will do a repeat performance, for the whole class, but to motivate, we have...", there's a dramatic pause, and the other nurse smiled. The smile turned into a grin, and with a flourish, she pulled out a large family size bag of "Malteasers". (A chocolate ball, with a honeycomb centre).
I teamed up with "Steve", a student from Sheffield, and at the time a good friend. (I honestly thought he might not be, after I'd finished with him. (I had a malicious streak of humour and I was going to unleash it on him). We had to take turns, one being the child, the other the parent, I got to be the child first.
Me - "Where's Grandma, Dad?"
Steve - "She's gone away to a really nice place".
Me - "Is she coming back?"
Steve - "No, she can't come back?
This was when one of the Macmillan nurses came to observe. "Fuck" I thought, and then realised I'd committed myself to this, and carried on.
Me - "Why can't she come back? Doesn't she love us anymore?"
Steve pauses, takes a deep breath, gets a small but quiet, round of applause from the observer, and carries on.
Steve - "She loves you very much, but the rail service is very bad where she is now".
Another round of applause...
Me - "Can we visit her?"
Steve - "No, we'd be stuck there too."
Me, "We could drive..."
Steve - "Bad roads"
Me - "Why did she goes there? It sounds like shit..."
"Steve - "Grandad is there..."
Me - Can we book a taxi?"
Steve replied "Too expensive". and got a round of applause from the nurse.
To make matters worse, we got a chance to perform in front of the class (SODDING KARMA).
What happened on the second day; they took pity on us. They came in with a table of children's books. Each book hsd been chosen to explain death, and the told use to choose a book that touched us, as we're liable to remember it.
Taking Steve's stellar performance the day prior, I chose one about a family of fishes. The grandma tells the grandson, it was time for her to go into the river. The Grandson cries, and grandma tells him, she'd try to swim back, but to know she loves him.
She enters the river, and she's buffeted about by the current, and realises she wont get back. She ends up in a pool, where Grandad is.
I enjoyed it, and looked forward to telling Karl.
The next day, I arrived on the ward, and Karl's door was closed. I opened the door....
No comments:
Post a Comment