“Oh I wish, I could seal the post box, cut the telephone wire, and disable the doorbell.”
Mother was looked stressed out, she needed a holiday, and after all, in two months, Paul would be going to Eton. The fees were another thing to worry about. The voices in the house screamed again, “There must be more money, there must be more money”!
Three nights before the Derby, mother went to a party at an old friends’ house. She left Paul alone with his two sisters. She dressed in style, one would think that she was well to do, but only the family knew the truth. At seven ‘O Clock, she left the house and borrowed Uncle Oscar’s car. Paul ran upstairs to his bedroom and started rocking his horse. At first, this consisted of calm, soothing movements, but in no time at all Paul was rocking at full speed. He could feel the grounds at the Derby, the horses coming in line. The gunshot sounded and the horses were released. The first fifty metres passed in seconds; still; the horses were tightly packed together. This could be anyone’s victory…
Paul was in another dimension, he was unaware of what was happening in reality. He just kept on rocking, harder and harder. The noise filled the whole house. His sister came running to his room. They looked at him, as if he was mental, and pleaded him to stop, but Paul could not stop, he was only seconds away to finding out the winner. Suddenly, Paul flew head first, onto the hard wooden floor. The thud echoed throughout the whole house. His younger sister shrieked. Paul was lying on the floor, motionless, his younger sister picked him up, but he just fell back down like jelly. His face was filled with sweat and his heart could be felt throbbing throughout his whole body. His sisters called for an ambulance. They were in shock; they had never seen anything like this before. In roughly 10 minutes, the ambulance came and the man and woman raced up the stairs carrying the stretcher. They injected Paul with some glucose as they claimed that his blood sugar level was low. They instructed the younger sister to call Paul’s mother and to ask if he suffered from any illnesses. Lissa picked up the phone and dialled the number. The phone rang and rang and eventually mother’s voice could be heard.
“Hello darling, you’re not fighting with Paul are you, because if you are…”
Lissa tried to speak but no words came out of her mouth. She just froze silently.
“Hello, Hello?”
Lissa finally spoke, “Mum, Paul hurt himself on the rocking horse, I called the ambulance, and Paul is unconscious…”
“Oh my lord, wait, don’t worry, I’m coming. I will be 10 minutes.”
Lissa put down the receiver and ran upstairs to Paul’s room. The paramedics were asking Sharon, Paul’s older sister about any allergies. Sharon could not speak either; she was in shock.
The paramedics lifted Paul onto the stretcher and carried him downstairs. Paul lay on the stretcher, his eyes closed, and an oxygen mask on his face. He lay there peacefully, but he was still sweating, so much that his clothes smelled. They reached the ambulance and opened the door, and then they brought the ramp down and secured the stretcher into the cabin. Paul’s mother then approached speeding down the road to the ambulance… and that was all he could remember.
