Playtime

Andy sat on his bed, staring morosely at the wall of the Children's Ward. On the wall was a beautiful mural of a whimsical garden, dominated by a large pear tree. Nurse Gellapi came in with a bright smile for him. "Good morning Andy! How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay." He grumbled quietly. He looked up at her hopefully. "Can I go outside today?" Andy asked pleadingly. Nurse Gellapi looked at him with sad compassion.

"I'm sorry, but you're not strong enough." She looked around the currently empty ward. "No visitors today?" Nurse Gellapi asked.

"Mom's taking Lucinda to a ballet recital. Dad had to work." Andy hugged his legs, trying to hide his disappointment.

"Would you like to play a board game? My rounds are almost finished." The nurse offered.

Andy now dropped his chin to his knees. "No thanks." He answered sadly. "I'm going to take a nap. Maybe I can get stronger. Strong enough to go outside tomorrow." He knew it was unlikely, and she knew he did. But she couldn't bring herself to break his heart again.

"Maybe you can honey." She lied to him. As she left the room, she turned off half the lights so that the room was dim, but not fully dark.

Andy laid down, facing the mural still. In the gloom, the painting was little more than light and dark contrasts, but he knew the image by heart by now. A dense growth of bushes and flowers, stone paths, and at the center, the large, twisted pear tree, it's boughs spreading wide over the rest of the garden, the leaves dotted with plump, ripe pears. He stared at it for a long time, imagining all the possibilities. Slowly, his eyes closed, and he drifted off to sleep.

***

Andy opened his eyes, the light bright and shining. The bed felt off, and he looked around confusedly.

He was laying on a soft patch of grass, the sun bright overhead. Looking around, he could see bushes at rough intervals on all sides, and paths wound all around him. Slowly, Andy stood up. As he took in his surroundings, all of it very surprising, he found the most surprising thing was how he felt. Gone was the weakness in his legs, the heaviness in his chest, and especially the bone shattering tiredness that he had been experiencing for nearly a year. He felt as good as he had before he'd gotten sick in fact.

Looking around once more, Andy finally recognized where he was. This was the garden! The garden on his wall. He could see, now, the pear tree, standing tall and wide at its center. He stared at it for barely a second. It was here in front of him, and he felt strong. Immediately he tore off toward the base, focused on only one thing: it was time to climb!

Andy ran full speed and jumped up, grabbing the lowest branch, and pulled himself up. This was a thick, sturdy branch, at least two feet thick and stretching over a dozen feet from the trunk, mostly parallel to the ground. Climbing carefully to his feet, Andy walked it's length like a balance beam, stepping cautiously up to the trunk.

Once there, he began climbing higher and higher, branches seemingly in the perfect positions for hand and foot holds, making the ascent quick and simple. Soon he was high in the canopy of the pear tree, dozens of feet above the ground. He paused on a sturdy branch, resting for a moment, revelling in the feeling of being out of breath for doing something, rather than being out of breath just sitting around. He reached out and plucked a pear, biting into the pale green fruit, feeling the juice drip down his chin. He devoured the whole thing quickly, ravenously hungry all of a sudden.

"Hey!"

Startled, Andy looked down to see a group of kids standing around the base of the tree. Rapidly climbing down, swinging from branches with the reckless abandon of youth, he made his way down. There were about a dozen boys and girls, all around his age. "Do you want to play with us?" One girl asked. Andy nodded enthusiastically.

And play they did. They played tag (the tree trunk being "safe"), they played hide and seek ("you have to put your face into the tree trunk so we know you aren't peeking!"), and they played capture the flag (each side choosing the biggest pear they could find as their "flag").

Andy's team won capture the flag, Andy sneaking up by crawling under a thorny rose bush to get behind the other team's guards. He silently stood up behind them, picking his moment carefully, then grabbing their pear and tearing off. They immediately gave chase, and Andy's teammates came out and blocked them as he raced along the winding path. The girl who had asked him to play, Annabeth, nearly got him, but he touched the tree trunk a split second before she touched him. "Wow you're fast!" She huffed, out of breath from the race. Andy noticed something strange. The bushes and flowers all started to fade, a thick grey fog obscuring them. Annabeth seemed to notice it as well. "Well, time to go home." She said regretfully. "Will you come back and play again?" Nonplussed, Andy just nodded slowly. "Great! You were really fun. Well, see ya!" And Annabeth too faded into the fog, which now obscured everything, even the thick trunk of the pear tree. Soon, Andy couldn't see anything at all.

***

Andy awoke back in his hospital bed, Nurse Gellapi standing beside him. "I'm sorry I had to wake you Honey, but it's time for your meds." Andy took a deep breath, feeling the heaviness in his chest once more, and still out of breath, even though he'd been asleep moments before. Nurse Gellapi handed him the paper cup with his pills and a glass of water. As she stepped back, she got a confused look on her face. "Andy, honey, where'd you get that?" She gestured to the nightstand by his bed, where Andy saw the large, lumpy pear that had been his victory flag.