Notes

It is something I've put together myself.. Er... It's called The Smile..[Pause] Right I'll start, shall I? [Pause] I'm a bit nervous, so it might be a bit crap. She'd been in the hospital for about four days. She was seventy. She went into hospital to have a hysterectomy ; the operation had been a great success. I went to see her and she looked great, she even showed me the stitches. She's my gran, by the way. So at work, I was having a laugh and a good time. Then they rang, the hospital, said she'd had a stroke. So i went on the bus to the hospital, I felt sick, travelling all that way on a bus. She was on the sixth floor, I remember that, in a side cubicle in a ward full of old ladies. I walked into the room, my mum and dad were looking out the window, looking across the parkland of the hospital. And my uncle and aunt were there, looking out the window; they were crying. My gran was laid in bed; half of her face was blue and deformed, her mouth was all twisted and taut, one eye was closed. She looked at me, and tried to smile. I remember the crying in the background. She tried to speak, but said nothing. She just laid there. 'Hello gran' I said. 'What's all this bloody nonsense about you having a stroke, eh?' And she just smiled at me.. She just smiled...