Dr. Harrison looked conflicted.
“Even if I wanted to allow it, Judge Westbrook is unconscious. She wouldn’t even know the child was there.”
“But I would know,”
Lily said firmly.
“And Judge Catherine’s spirit would know too, even if her sleeping body doesn’t.”
“5 minutes,”
Dr. Harrison said finally.
“The child can have 5 minutes with Judge Westbrook. But that’s all, and there have to be adults with her.”
Dr. Harrison led them to the intensive care unit. Judge Catherine lay in the hospital bed. Tubes and wires connected her to various machines.
“She looks so peaceful,”
Lily whispered, walking up to the bed without any fear.
Lily climbed up onto a chair beside the bed. She gently placed her small hand on Catherine’s arm.
“Hello, Judge Catherine,”
Lily said softly.
“I know you can’t hear me with your ears right now, but I’m hoping you can hear me with your heart. I know you’re scared. When you fell down at the park, it reminded you of your car accident, didn’t it? It made you remember how scary it was when your body got hurt, and now your spirit is hiding again.”
Dr. Harrison watched in amazement.
“But Judge Catherine, I need you to remember something important,”
Lily said.
“Do you remember how it felt when we were dancing by the duck pond? Do you remember how light and happy you felt? That happiness is still inside you. It’s just hiding because it’s scared.”
Lily closed her eyes and placed both of her small hands on Judge Catherine’s arm. The room seemed to fill with a warm golden light.
“Can you see the path, Judge Catherine?”
Lily whispered.
“It’s made of all the beautiful memories you’ve forgotten. There’s the memory of you dancing as a little girl. There’s the memory of your first day as a judge. There’s the memory of us feeding the ducks and laughing together.”
Dr. Harrison looked at the monitors. Her heart rate, which had been slow and irregular, began to steady and strengthen.
“That’s it!”
Lily said encouragingly.
“You’re following the path back to the light. You’re remembering who you really are. Not just a judge in a wheelchair, but a whole person full of love and hope and dreams.”
Judge Catherine’s fingers began to twitch slightly.
“She’s responding,”
Dr. Harrison whispered in amazement.
“Judge Catherine, I want you to remember something very important,”
Lily said.
“Your accident didn’t take away your ability to dance. It just changed the way you dance. And your wheelchair didn’t make you less of a person. It just gave you a different way to move through the world.”
Judge Catherine’s eyelids began to flutter.
“Come back to us, Judge Catherine,”
Lily said.
“Come back because the world needs you. Come back because you have so much more dancing to do. Come back because miracles are real and you’re about to be part of the most beautiful miracle of all.”
Suddenly, Judge Catherine’s eyes opened.
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