One day it transpired that a newly-hired chambermaid, who could not understand why the landing should be be thus cluttered, removed the chair, and as he sat down on the wooden step, heavily and with a painful thump, his eyesight miraculously returned. The newspapers were full of the story and I am pleased to say that, although he remained deaf, his sight was good enough to enable him to join my father and his friends at many a game of bridge.
What about Brief Encounters?
If I may be permitted to quote from my book, When You Know That You Know That You Know! Or: The Redemption of Benjamin Ashton: "Each one of us, as we come into contact with one another, has a responsibility towards the other, whether we know it or not. Have you ever held a butterfly and noticed how some of its color comes off in your hands? I'm sure you have. But you don't even have to hold it; if it were just to fly too close to you, only brush your sleeve in passing, some of its 'butterfly dust' would have been left behind on you. In the same way, something of you will already have rubbed off on me, and you will go away carrying with you something of me. It may be a minuscule part, so small that you won't know that it is there, but it will be. We may possibly forget that we ever met, but none of us will ever be quite the same again."
Article comments
1 - Sarah Mentz
What a wonderful man your father must've been! My grandparents knew him and, from what they have told me, I realize that it must've been a terrible loss for you to lost him when you were only six. I have also read your blog about the day all the flags in Ficksburg hung at half-mast, and every place of business -- including the banks -- were closed.
2 - Sarah.
Oops! I meant to write: "to HAVE lost him."
3 - Viv
Sarah, can you please provide me with the URL to that blog. I'd really appreciate it.
4 - Sarah
I found the info at the very end of this blog.
Rather harrowing but well worth reading.
5 - Paul
So well written and vivid! Even the chambermaid moving the chair had a part in a plan that was bigger than all, surely bigger than the man who was healed. Maybe I will reconsider some of the 'hard landings' in my life. Thanks for sharing your gift with us.