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NIGHT WATCH
by Roy Popkin
A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.
"Your son is here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words
several times before the patient's eyes opened. Heavily sedated because
of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed
Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand.
The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's
limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement. The nurse
brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed.
All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly
lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love
and strength.
Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and
rest awhile. He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the
Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital -
the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff
members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.
Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man
said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.
Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the
now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While
she did what she had to do, he waited. Finally, she returned. She
started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her. "Who
was that man?" he asked.
The nurse was startled, "He was your father" she answered.
"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in
my life."
"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"
"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he
needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he
was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he
needed me. I stayed."
The next time someone needs you...be there. Stay. You'll be
glad you did.
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