Loss

From the ranch to the nearest small city they would take an hour on foot on dusty ground. Luckily, the Grandfather had a cart and they used it to reach the hospital on time.

The baby came too early and was born very small. The doctor secured them, however, that the baby could go home in two days, together with the mother. He was another boy.

The oldest child, not too skinny anymore, was surprised at the little one, principally at his weak crying. He was so small, there in the middle of the cradle, and he seemed to breathe panting. From time to time he got his little brother smiling, and he asked himself why.

In a particularly long and frozen night, the baby was reluctant to sleep. His tiny hands and feet remained frozen, even rolled up with the knitting gloves and shoes she had made. She was hugging and rubbing him trying to heat him, in vain. The baby was breathing accelerated, more and more panting, and sometimes launching a sharp sound of his chest. He dawned without life, in the sad lap of his mother.

In her heart was opened a great gap, which never would stop existing. Not even time, friend of the sufferers, could prevent her from always reliving the pain of that loss.