Awake

Harold was in that nebulous interval between dreaming and awake. The dream had been long, but with every second the shape of it was floating away into a fog, to where the details had drifted only moments before. In another moment, the whole of the dream would vanish entirely. Harold had the sense that an epiphany was escaping.

He struggled to remember the details of the vision, but they were too vague for any hope of recall. He retained only the awareness that change was imperative. That was it. Even before he was fully awake, Harold knew what needed to change.

His wife had begged him for months to get help for his drinking, but he had resisted the idea that he was an alcoholic. He knew now that he would never be happy - that his marriage would never be good - until he quit drinking. In a moment of firm resolve, Harold committed himself to do whatever was necessary to remain sober - and to salvage his marriage.

"He's waking up," Harold heard someone say in an excited voice. It was only then that he realized that he was not in his own bed waking up from a long rest.

The next few minutes were a blur of confusion. Nurses and doctors came and went. In the flurry of activity, he learned that he had been in a coma since surviving an auto accident. Harold asked about his wife and was told she was on the way.

When Sue walked in the hospital room, he noticed a difference immediately. She had lost weight and looked more beautiful than he remembered. She smiled and took his hand.

"I can hardly believe it, Harold," his wife said. "Everyone had given up. The doctors didn't think that you'd ever wake up. How do you feel?"

"I'm fine, really I am." Harold reached up to touch her cheek. "I'm better than fine, Sue. Things are going to be different now, I promise you that. I've taken my last drink."

Tears filled his wife's eyes.

"I'm sorry, honey, for all the bad times I put you through," he said, "but I'm going to make you happy now. If you ever believed anything in your life, believe that."

"You don't understand, Harold. It's too late. I had to go on with my life. It's been two years since the accident; I didn't expect you to ever wake up." She let go of his hand to take a Kleenex from the bed table. "You know we were never happy together, anyway."

A man he didn't know joined Sue at his bedside. Harold watched as the man took her hand into his.

"I'm married to Frank now, Harold," Sue said. "You and I are divorced. We have been for a year." She wiped at a tear trickling down her cheek and repeated, " I had to go on with my life."

THE END