THOSE AWAKE... 

By Tessa Harvey


Ava paused in the doorway of the big store, trying to remember what she was meant to be shopping for, and sighed.
    Usually she could just dismiss the concerns of her patients, but something about a woman she had seen this morning tugged at her heart.
    People jostled past her impatiently or good-naturedly, some saying "excuse me."
Apologising and moving away from the busy door, Ava paused near some toys you pressed to hear a popping noise. They were very popular at the moment and shaped like unicorns, squares, circles in every imaginable colour combination. 
Trying to choose a bracelet toy for her granddaughter cleared her mind of the very sick and weeping patient. An elderly woman was explaining the meaning of the toys to her husband. Ava noticed the way his eyebrows wiggled like grey and white bristly caterpillars. He looked disapproving, frowning.
"If children these days need toys like this to keep their brains active, something is horribly wrong!" he stated firmly.
    The nurse stifled a giggle and moved away to pay for her purchases.
    As she drove home in her small lemon-yellow car, all thoughts of everything but her family had vanished. She smiled. At last the older couple had talked about something other than Covid news which was a relief.
    Ava's two elderly friends had spent weeks in a car stranded, waiting to return to Tasmania. They spent some time praying, which Ava could not understand.


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