Unfixable

The Hobbit

Five Years Later

It only seems like days ago when we all went to Hawaii but it was in fact five years ago, wow how time has flown. Lucy is now eight years old and her time left is growing shorter and shorter but we have to let her live her life now. Three years ago I sold Stars In Her Eyes company so I could home school Lucy, mathematics she finds difficult but she never has her nose out of a book just like her father! Currently whilst I am cooking dinner she is reading a book, I think it is new. “What are you reading honey?” I ask warmly. She peers up and presents me the cover of the book ‘The Hobbit’.

“Daddy got it for me.” She explains as she turns the page. At the moment, Ben is in America filming but this is the last project he is doing abroad until…anyway. He sends her books a lot because she reads fast not having any friends and that. It is not that we haven’t tried friends but she just hasn’t met that many people her age. For a short while we took her to this group with other children with life limiting illnesses and she did make a couple of friends but they all sadly died which caused her to be upset. That is when we stopped going to the group. Joe and Grace (Martin and Amanda’s children) come around occasionally but they are older than Lucy. Joe is now twelve and is getting quite rough at this age so Lucy doesn’t enjoy playing with him. Plus he has got a fowl mouth of his father, we told Martin that he shouldn’t swear so much in front of the kids but did he listen?! No. Grace on the other hand is a very pleasant little girl who is ten years old. They make jewellery and paint together but other than that they cannot do much together with Lucy being in a wheelchair and all.

“When did he get you that?” I reply to my daughter whose head is still buried in the book.

“It came in the post today.” She says but then briskly lifts her head up in panic, “I only opened it because it had my name on and…” She rushes which makes me giggle and I approach her leaving our dinner cooking on the stove. I lean down a kiss her lightly on the forehead.

“It is alright honey! Don’t worry.” I gush, “Do you know why daddy got you that book?” I ask and she nods before turning back a chunk of pages to find the word she is looking for. When she is triumphant she lifts the book up towards my face with her finger pointing at one word ‘Smaug’ this makes me laugh heartedly. “That’s right. He voiced the dragon…oh and the Necromancer.”

“And he did the motion capture!” She exclaims, we always take the mick out of Benedict because when he was doing interviews for The Hobbit all those years ago, he told every single interviewer that he did the motion capture to make sure they knew. “Can I watch it?” She asks full of hope.

“But darling it is a twelve and you’re a bit young.” I try to justify without sounding harsh.

“But I am not going to live until I am twelve.” She snaps back with a glare to her eyes. This saddens me, she is right. I sigh and drum my hand on the nearest surface. “Please mum.” She pleads.

“Ok! We will watch one tonight, another tomorrow and the last one the day after that.” I give in, life is too short. I inhale deeply and a nasty scent invades my nose causing me to cough slightly. Oh no! The food! I turn quickly as Lucy begins to have a coughing fit/asthma attack in her chair. I turn off the gas and rush to Lucy’s side. “Where’s your inhaler?” I ask in a panic. A part of her disease is her lungs get weaker and weaker until she…dies. “Inhaler Lucy?!” She points still coughing furiously. I look in the direction of where she is pointing to see the blue object sitting on the coffee table so I quickly move towards it. I take it back to her and place it into her mouth to help her breathe again. “Looks like dinners ruined. Let’s get pizza.” I joke the best I can to try not to show the hurt I am feeling.

“Then the hobbit?”

“Then the hobbit.” I clarify.