Everyday Heroes - Oticon

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Bliss By Katinka Aagaard It was spring. And the sun was casting a stark, white, translucent light over the living room where Michael was sitting in his chair, reading the paper. It was early evening and out in the kitchen, Jane was fi ddling about with her pots and pans. Michael felt hungry, and he was distracted by the sound of Zach’s computer game. His son was screeching round a car racing track, leaning from side to side as he turned the wheel. At only nine years old, Zach was already navigating quickly and securely. The high, jarring gaming sounds got Michael thinking: ‘Imagine being happy to hear such annoying sounds from a computer!’ It reminded him of a story he had not told in a long while; one that his son certainly had never heard. ‘We’ll be eating soon, Zach,’ Jane’s voice rang through loud and clear from the kitchen, but Zach showed no reaction. Michel went and stood behind him. ‘You can fi nish this round, but then you have to turn the computer off, okay?’ Zach nodded, and then leaned to one side in an attempt to turn the car. He crashed. ‘I’m dead anyway, daddy.’ Michael felt Zach’s pulse ’You feel pretty alive to me.’ Zach grinned and shoved his father. ‘Come on, let’s sit on the sofa until dinner’s ready,’ said Michael. And with an air of assumed gravity he said, ‘Did you know that your mother and I haven’t always known each other?’ 27
‘Of course I do,’ answered Zach. ‘Well, let me tell you how we met. It’s a long story, and it all began with a horse. I had been a vet for some years, but had just opened my own practice – my own business, that is. In our little town, everyone knows everyone else. One of my regular clients was a girl named Tina. She was a couple of years older than you are now, and had a pony called Bliss. The horse often suffered from colic, and whenever it got sick at night, I would have to tend to it. One evening, quite late, Tina’s parents rang to say that there was trouble again: Bliss was sluggish and lying down all the time. I drove out to their little farm right away. I examined Bliss, and checked whether she had fever, which she didn’t. I listened to her stomach and lungs very thoroughly, but I couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary. The symptoms all pointed to colic, so I gave her the usual treatment.’ ‘The next morning, Tina’s father rang me. Bliss has become much worse. The family had called in another vet who had told them that the lungs didn’t sound normal, which suggested the horse might have pneumonia. I could hear by the father’s tone of voice that he thought me – to put it mildly – a bit of fool. And I couldn’t understand how I could have been so mistaken.’ ‘Dinner’s on the table!’ Jane looked at her husband and son. ‘What are you two sitting around talking about?’ ‘I was telling Zach how we came to meet.’ ‘I want to tell the story too!’ she replied, with a cheeky smile. ‘You’ve probably told him the bit about the horse, but I bet I can remember more details than you. Let’s eat fi rst, though.’ Jane passed the serving dishes around, and they ate as dusk began to close in. When they had cleared away the plates, they sat down once more, and this time it was Jane’s turn to continue. ‘Let’s see then,’ she began. ‘I had just moved into a new apartment. I’d been living there alone, together with my cat, Mr C. Back then, I was working quite hard, much harder than I do now, even though your father might disagree.’ She paused. ‘My downstairs neighbour sometimes played music very loud. Not very often, but when it did happen, it nearly blew the windows out of the building. And when the TV was on, I could almost hear what was being said from upstairs.’ ‘I was on my way down to complain about the noise, when I bumped into my neighbour on the stairs. He was a very handsome 28
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Everyday Heroes - Oticon

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