Tragedy struck! It was all too much for Abby to cope with this seemingly unbelievable news, but she must be strong.
André and Abby had been friends since pre-school and then later on became high school sweethearts.
It was the Year 10 high school formal. André phoned to say he had the flu and wouldn’t be able to get to the formal.
“You poor thing, I’ll skip the formal and come over and keep you company.” Abby suggested with compassion in her voice.
“No! No!” replied André. “You go and enjoy yourself, I’ll be fine.”
“If you won’t be there, then I won’t go either!” she stated.
Arriving home, Abby thought to herself. “Why stay at home alone? André doesn’t really need me to sit with him. I will go after all.”
Racing downstairs, she borrowed her father’s car and drove straight to the school. Arriving at the dance hall, she was shocked and angry at what she saw!
She stomped back to the car and roared off home at high speed. She raced up the stairs to her room and threw herself onto the bed, sobbing loudly.
Pulling herself together, she decided she must be resilient.
Next day, André phoned her and sent SMS texts to her phone. She ignored them all. When he arrived at her doorstep the following morning, she confronted him.
“You were supposed to be sick. Then I saw you at the formal dancing with some blonde. Who was she and what is it all about?” She questioned sternly.
“Oh! That blonde!” he said. “When she found out I wasn’t rich she dropped me like a hot potato. Will you forgive me, please?”
“I might think about it if you’ll take me out on a picnic,” she asked cheekily.
“A picnic! How old fashioned is that!” he remarked with a smile.
“Yes! A picnic!” she demanded.
It was a lovely sunny day. Everything was going perfectly, until André was stung by a bee and began going into an anaphylactic shock.
Abby immediately dialled the emergency number and tried to keep André calm.
Would he live or would he die? Abby was frightened but had to stay strong and resilient.
They had been picnicking on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the ocean. It was a place difficult to reach by ambulance, so a helicopter was called in to winch André out and rush him to hospital.
Abby drove to the hospital, knowing André’s life was in terrible danger. As she entered the room to sit by André’s bed, she couldn’t help but notice all the tubes attached to his body, and hearing the noise of the life support pump and the efficient beeping of the monitor.
She was deeply taken aback and in shock. She clung on to hope.
Then she saw a slight change. André’s eyes flickered and then closed again. This was repeated many times over seven days, until his eyes eventually opened wide and stayed open.
They had battled relentlessly day and night to save him. Their efforts were successful. André survived the ordeal.
There followed months where he attended speech therapy and physiotherapy before he fully recovered. He delighted in each little improvement he achieved.
He was resilient and kept moving forward, getting better and better every day.
André found a lot of things a challenge, but gradually became stronger.
Through all these dark days, Abby was also resilient. It was her devotion and dedication which convinced André to ask Abby to marry him.
Abby was delighted. “Yes!” she screamed excitedly. “But promise me one thing.”
“And what’s that Abby?”
“Let’s never go on a picnic again!”
Hilda Oakley
Copyright © 08.10.2012
