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"It was a horrible sight Nobody expected it I think Aunt Ruthie went to pieces and sorabbed a wad of paper tissues and went to blot the blood, saying, 'I've got it, Sweetheart ¡¯
"Butdown her chin, and then Sweetheart's tongue appeared between her lips, pushing out athered up the blood, saying, 'It's all right, Sweetheart, I' care of it ' Pretty soon I had all the blood And then, after four or five widely spaced breaths, Sweetheart breathed noRamona told me to close her eyes, which I did
"After the doctor came in and pronounced her dead, really dead -- I went out into the hall
"I felt a dreadful elation, a horror that seemed manic when I look back upon it, a hideous safety froiant hospital enfolding us, the seaht and the nurses at their station very nearby It ild and pleasurable, this feeling It was as if no other burden on earth existed It was a great suspension, and I hardly felt the tiled floor beneath my feet
"Patsy was standing there She was leaning against the wall, looking all too typical with her huge yellow hair, wearing one of her fringed white leather outfits, her nails glittering with pearlescent polish, her feet in high white boots
"Only then, as I stared at her, at her painted mask of a face, did I realize that Patsy had never come to the hospital once I went into a silent stammer Then I spoke
" 'She's dead,' I said, and Patsy came back fiercely:
" 'I don't believe it! I just saw her on Mardi Gras Day ¡¯
"I explained that the oxygen had been turned off and it had been very peaceful; Sweetheart had not gasped or suffered, she had never known of any danger, she had never known fear
"Patsy suddenly flew into a rage Dropping her furious voice into a loud hissing whisper (ere near the nurses' station) she de off the oxygen, and how could we do such a thing to her (ave us the right?
"Pops appeared, co roory as he was then He whipped Patsy around to face hiet out of the hospital or he'd kill her, and then he turned to , and then he went into Sweetheart's room
"Patsy made a move towards the door of the room, but she stopped and turned to s They were statements like, 'You're always the center of it You were there, weren't you? Oh, yes, Tarquin, everything for Tarquin ' I can't clearly reathering Patsy went away
"I left the hospital, got in the pickup truck, vaguely aware that Jas in the seat next to me, drove over to the Cracker Barrel Restaurant, went in and ordered lots of pecan pancakes, slopped them with butter and ate them till I was nearly sick
"Jas a cup of black coffee and sarette, her dark face very smooth and her manner calm, and then Jasmine said very distinctly:
" 'She suffered maybe about teeks Mardi Gras Day was February twenty-seventh She was at the parades And here it is March fourteenth That's how long she really suffered, and that's not all that bad ¡¯