- Love, like magic dragons, lasts forever, but not so,
man.
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- The call came Sunday morning a few weeks ago. The broken
female voice simply said, "Mr. Burch has passed away. You need to
tell Brandon. Think about having Brandon say good bye to Mr. Burch at the
funeral. He is welcome." Hanging up, I paused internalizing the message
wondering how I would tell Brandon that his old friend would no longer
be available to play.
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- I had planned -- as best any parent could -- for this
eventuality by teaching Brandon the song: Puff the Magic Dragon. We had
talked about the song and what it meant. Being six, Brandon had seemed
to grasp the meaning of the song, or perhaps his inexperienced little heart
had insulated him from the reality of what cancer would eventually do to
his newfound surrogate grandfather.
-
- I called Brandon into the house his brothers followed.
"Boys, I have something to tell Brandon. You two go outside and wait
for Brandon." Adam and Tyler gleefully returned to their play. Brandon
kicked off his boots then wrestled with his snow pants until he collapsed,
exhausted. "Dad, can you help me get these off?" "Sure honey."
-
- Freed from his snow pants Brandon announced he had to
go to the bathroom. He ran down the hall holding up his hand-me-down trousers
with one hand. He returned to sit on the couch beside me. "Brandon,
do you remember the magic dragon song?" "Yep." "Do
you remember what it is about?" "Yep, the dwagon can't play with
the little boy no more." "That's right, honey. Do you remember
why?" "Yep, the little boy got old and went to heaven."
-
- Brandon's attention was partially focused on the TV.
-
- "Honey, I just received a call from the family of
Mr. Burch -- you know he's been sick. Well, last evening Mr. Burch went
to heaven like the little boy in the dragon song." Brandon stared
at the TV in silence his eyes flooding with tears.
-
- After several moments I asked: "Are you okay honey?"
Brandon closed his eyes. Tears pressed from their corners. "Dad, I
think I'm having a heart attack what's a heart attack feel like?"
" I don't know, honey, how do you feel?" "My heart hurts
vewy bad." Tears flowed down his cheeks from sad hazel eyes. Brandon
drew his knees to his chest, hugging them. His little body curled with
pain from the sad news. He leaned into me I held him.
-
- "Your heart will be okay honey. You have the heart
of a mighty dragon." Brandon sniffled rubbing his tear filled eyes.
"Even the dwagon cried dad." "Yes, honey, he did . . . it's
okay."
-
- I thank Mr. Burch, a man who in the winter of his life
took what little time he had to be a loving grandfather for a little boy
who had none.
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