Progymnasmata
The Scent of the Reaper
by , 11-09-2009 at 11:21 AM (1646 Views)
The only person I've ever seen die was my grandmother -- about seven years ago. Cancer.
My mother, aunts, and wife were in her hospital room. We were on death watch. The end was near. Grandmother had an abdomen so full of cancer it looked like she had swallowed a cantaloupe. She was doped up on morphine to ease her pain. She had as much as she wanted. The end was coming.
I remember watching her chest rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall.
MAs & hospice nurses went in and out of the room.
Then, suddenly, I smelt the strong, pleasant smell of fresh baked bread: sweet, yeasty. I remember that smell completely overtook the distinctly antiseptic smell that had previously permeated the room.
I asked the nurse who came in to check her chart -- "are you guys making bread?"
"It won't be long now" she said.
"Huh?" I asked.
"They always smell like bread before. . . ."
Then she left. And we returned to our death watch: rise & fall, rise & fall, rise. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
After I smelled bread, it took about 5-10 minutes for my grandmother to die.
There was no bread. Anywhere.
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