Saving Samantha

• Kate Howlett, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2010

Right now 300, 00000 people on earth are worrying. 30, 0000 of those are in Australia. 3000 of those are in New South Wales. 300 of those are in Wahroonga and 3 of those are on Palmerston Road.
The first of these people is Miriam. She is a dreamy eleven-year-old. This is her first day at her new school and she doesn’t want to be late. She is a forgetful kid. At her old school she has a reputation for being tardy. But she wants this school to be different. She glances at her large watch. It keeps sliding off her skinny wrist but she wears it anyway. It is 9:45. She looks around and sees the enormous building that is the hospital and sinks into a daydream. Because of this daydream an ambulance siren is background noise, because of this daydream Miriam will save a life.
The second person worrying is Dave, a friendly caring ambulance drive. His first job today was at 1:00am. Last night was a lavish dinner party for all Hornsby Hospital workers so he has had no sleep. Dave turns down Palmerston Road, siren whirring. He has gotten over the worst of the traffic and he glances at the patient in the back, a boy with a rapidly swelling windpipe that could kill him in seconds. Because of this tiny glance, he doesn’t see a skimpy figure with her head in the clouds crossing the driveway of Hornsby Hospital. Because of this glance Dave’s job of saving lives will be tragically reversed.
The final person worrying is a tall dark-haired girl called Samantha. She looks across the room and out of the pristine hospital window and sees the trees swaying in the wind. She barely remembers when she could swing herself up into the many branches of the maple-leaf trees in her garden, earning her nickname: monkey. But no one calls her that any more, No one except Helen. Helen is Samantha’s sister and she is the only one who Samantha feels comfortable around. Helen will talk to her as if nothing had happened, as if they are both sitting in their tree house at home. And it was now that Helen bounces into the room and smacks a kiss on Samantha’s ghostly cheek. The nurse who has let Helen in smiles as she notices Samantha’s cheeks seem to gain more colour. Now Helen whispers something in Samantha’s ear and laughs loudly but Samantha merely smiles. She has forgotten how to laugh. A doctor comes to the door. It is the same one as last time. Last time Samantha’s mother had been there. She had said “Is it...?” her unfinished question had hung in the air for a few seconds before the doctor had shaken his head sadly. It was like all the other times. It is long since Samantha was told she was next. But this time the doctor has a new bounce in his step. “There is good news. We have a heart”.