'Too much, too young'

June 1996 - so my friend went home.

I took an afternoon off work to go and see her. It was June, it was hot.

I was shocked by what I found in her house. I don't know why, I suppose I expected her to be sitting up and chatting as she had been in the hospice. But she wasn't.

She was lying on a 'hospital trolley' type bed in her living room. The curtains were drawn to keep out the bright June sunshine. She was asleep. She did not wake up whilst I was there.

A carer from the hospice was sitting with Elaine. We went in the kitchen to make a drink and she told me the hospice ran a rota of volunteers who would sit with terminally ill patients in their homes when family and friends were not available. She said the volunteers were mainly people who had seen their relatives die of cancer and who knew how much offers of help were needed at such times.

The kindness of strangers.