Splintered Lives (25 page)

Chapter 37

The accident is reported and the French recovery services go to the site where the car has burnt out and the bodies unrecognizable inside it. There is no sign of life until they find a boy, who is farther out on the hillside as though he was thrown out of the car as it trundled down from the road. “He is just alive.”
     
The ambulance man says as he finds a faint pulse.
 
“We must get him in intensive care as soon as possible.
 
The others are all dead.”
 
He confirms.

The boy is taken to a hospital in
Grenoble
and he is unconscious. He has hit his head on a stone as he fell.
 
He lies in bed almost lifeless for ten days, when he opens his eyes he sees a man who claims to be his grandfather from
Katmandu
standing over him, there to claim him and take him home.
 
He doesn’t recognize the man but the photo of the two of them and the telephone number on the back has alerted the French hospital as to who he may be.
 
When they are seen together they are sure that they have found his family.

“Simon you are back with us.” Says Dr Menon “Do you remember what happened to you?”

Simon looks at the man staring down at him with love and wonder in his eyes but does not remember anything.

“Your doctor here says that in a few days, when you are stronger, you will be able to come home with me to your beloved mountains in
Nepal
.”

Simon’s mind is blank as he tries to remember the Asian man looking down at him.
 
He is very tired and after a very light meal he falls asleep.
 

His doctor is by his bedside as he awakens eight hours later.

“You will be able to travel in a day or two when you have become stronger by eating and sleeping well.
 
Tomorrow you will be able to get up and walk a little around the ward.
 
The day after you should be strong enough to walk around the grounds.” He tells Simon.

Simon looks around him and remembers the Asian man looking down at him from his bedside.
 
Then he sees the photograph propped up on his bedside table of himself and the man and thinks. “This is me, who I am.” He then yawns and falls back into a fitful sleep.
 
He sleeps for many hours and when he awakens, Dr Menon is looking down at him, with sympathy and love in his eyes.

“I have something to tell you Simon, the doctor tells me that you have lost your memory and that you were in an awful accident with your family.
 
The car your father was driving came off the road and all the family is dead.
 
You were thrown out by some miracle and because Taz had given you the photograph of you and me, the French hospital contacted us and I am here to take you home.”

Simon smiles at the man as he feels the love and kindness caressing him as he looks into Dr Menon’s eyes.

The next few days pass in a daze as Simon begins to feel the strength returning to his body.
 
He feels sad at what he has been told of his family but he can’t remember any of his previous life and as he has proof that Dr Menon is really his grandfather, he knows that he must go home with him.
 

He feels strange as he leaves the plane at
Katmandu
airport but feels his spirit rising when he sees the mountains through the mist in the early morning.

When he arrives home there is a welcoming family waiting with hugs and kisses for him.
 
Mrs. Menon, who he realizes is his grandmother, holds on to him as if she will never let him go.
 
This is the son of their beloved Taj.

His new family, Dr and Mrs. Menon, sit him in the garden until he is free of his injuries but his memory seems to have gone forever.
 
They try doctors at the hospital and although they use all their skills on head injuries, they cannot break through his amnesia.
 

The time has come for him to resume his studies.
 
They know he wants to be a doctor like his father so Dr Menon arranges for him to register at the University in
Katmandu
where he may live at home with them and so that they may keep a protective eye on him.
 
The university school of medical sciences was set up the previous year and Dr Menon and Taz were both involved in the beginning and although the lectures were conducted in Hindu some of the lecturers were chosen because of their skills in the English language and the technology was becoming up to date and some programmers on the computer were able to translate any difficult phrases from Hindu to English.

Although his life before the accident has been lifted from his memory, Simon is still the bright boy he has always been, and with the help of his family he starts to learn their language.
 
His grandmother is with him a lot of the time and she teaches him to speak and read the Hindu language.
 
She knows that if he is to be a doctor in
Nepal
he will have to be able to communicate with the local people.

She makes a game of it and soon Simon is enjoying the time he spends with her. She takes him to meditate with her and they find a great bond has formed between them.

Although Dr Menon is partly retired he is still involved with the lectures and the training of the students because the hospital where he and Taz work is a teaching hospital.
 
Taz helps to choose the lecturers and trains the students.
 
She is also involved in the affiliation of other hospitals in to the teaching of doctors.
 
She and her father, and her brother before her, were the starting engine for the medical school and they have worked for many years to achieve it.
 
The need for medical care for the people of
Nepal
has been foremost in their minds for many years, started when his son Taj worked in
Katmandu
, and he was a general practitioner in Pokhara.
 
The loss of Taj spurred him on to try to achieve what was Taj’s dream and when his daughter joined him in his profession they talked about the great need for more doctors in the place they loved.

The time for Simon to register for the medical college came as a great relief because he knew that he would have to have the backing of the
University
of
Katmandu
, in order to became accepted as a doctor.
 
His grandfather had fought for this day, as Simon had worked for six years, in the hospital that was to become the teaching hospital.
 
He was very familiar with the place so he did not feel so strange as his grandfather took him in the first day and introduced him to the lecturers.
 
He felt lonely as the other students chatted away and although he had learnt quite a lot in the six years he had been in
Nepal
, some of the local accents sounded strange to him.

He was soon integrated into the student body and the shy smiles he received from some of the girl students made him feel less alienated and his natural friendliness kicked in, as he relaxed into the life of a student.

Chapter 38

David

Sarah and David have been told of the accident in
France
and that the whole
family have
been killed.
 
They are devastated and arrange to go to
Grenoble
where the funeral has been arranged by both sets of parents of Jack’s father and mother. They have been informed that because of the state of the bodies, they are unidentifiable, so that the coffins are closed and they do not get to say a final goodbye.

The sadness of the occasion and the devastation of all the mourners find it heartbreaking as David leads Sarah and Anne back to their rental car. Sarah’s mother and father, as well as Charlie, have flown out to the funeral and the sad little party return to
Grenoble
airport

 
There is nothing anyone of them can say.
 
Charlie remembers the good times he spent with Simon from him being a little boy.
 
Joe and Mary hold hands tightly with their heads bent.
 
Sarah is trying to concentrate on the road so that they can find their way back to their plane.
 
David is driving slowly because he feels so bereaved at the loss of his darling son.
 
Anne sitting between her granddads is openly sobbing for her older brother.

They all reach home after a wretched flight and Sarah goes to Simon’s room and lies on his bed.
 
She is distraught and just wants to be on her own.
 
Her heart is empty. Her mind is a blank.
 
She has shut down her thoughts.
 
She wraps her arms around herself and lets the tears fall.

“How can this have happened again?” She thinks.
 
“Taj died in a fire and now his son has gone in the same way, how can I endure it?
 
Nobody can help her, David knows the story of Taj but he has not experienced the loss.
 
Anne doesn’t know about her mother’s past, because Sarah loves David and she doesn’t want Anne to know that Simon is only her half brother.”
 
“How am I going to live my life without my wonderful son?”
 
She cries as her hands cover her mouth and her sobs wrack her body until in pure exhaustion she falls into a restless sleep.

David, Anne and Charlie have all gone into the kitchen where David puts on the kettle for a cup of tea.

“Where’s Mum?” Anne asks as she reaches for beakers from the cupboard.

“I think she has gone to Simon’s room, we should leave her for a little while.” David replies.
 
“We will have a cup of tea and then we will see if she wants one.”

The three of them sip their tea and find that they have nothing to say, each with their own thoughts and grief for the person they have lost.

Charlie looks through the window at the lake and remembers the first time he encountered Simon and Sarah.
 
He remembers the laughing little boy with his big brown eyes and the sound of his chuckling as David threw him in the air.
 
How will any of them survive this terrible tragedy?
 
He has always loved Simon as his own grandchild and when Simon was older the friendship of the two of them had always been close.

“I’d better make a move.” Charlie remarks as he gets up, puts his beaker in the sink and giving both Anne and David a kiss and a hug, he goes through to his own part of he house.
 
He needs to be alone so that he can let go of the terrible grief he feels.

Anne looks at her dad and he hugs her to him whilst they both break down and sob.

“It isn’t fair,” sobs Anne, she can hardly speak for the tears rolling down her cheeks and the catch in the throat.

“I know it isn’t.”
 
David replies.
 
“He had such a lot to contribute and he was such a happy, gentle boy and he will leave a great void in all our lives.”
 
After a little while when Anne has settled down a little, David lifts her head from his shoulder and says,

“I’ll just see if your mother is ready for a cup of tea, I’m sure she must be needing at least a drink.
 
None of us has eaten much since we got the news.”

He warms up the pot and makes some fresh tea and takes a beaker of it to Simon’s room.

“Sarah are you asleep?” He whispers.
 
He can see her outline under the duvet but she makes no move and he can see that she has fallen asleep.
 
He decides to leave her until she wakens up in her own time because he knows that when she is awake, she will again be back in this painful world.

He gets to work and empties the contents of their overnight case into the washing machine.
 
He then looks into the fridge to see what he can make for all of them for their meal.
 
He doesn’t feel hungry but he knows that he needs to do something to take away this bleak feeling they are all sharing.

“We’ll make a meal he tells Anne, we’ll prepare it together to take our mind off things.
 
What do you want, how about a fish pie?”
 
David knows that that is comfort food and he will make enough for all four of them.

“Will you peel the vegetables whilst I look in the freezer to see if we have the ingredients?”

David finds salmon and plaice but he can’t see any smoked mackerel.

“I’ll just go to Dad’s to see if he has any.” He tells Anne quietly as he doesn’t want to disturb Sarah until the meal is ready.