by L. A. Hardt

Created on: November 12, 2008

There beyond the trees, I imagine such a wonderful place as I look out my window. There must be parks and perhaps a school where children get to play on the playground everyday. Where they push each other high in the air on swings, and toss balls to each other as they wait for the bell to ring.

I can't help but wonder what's beyond the trees, perhaps a town that decorates their windows for the holidays, and has wonderful displays at Christmas with all the colorful lights, and stores filled with toys. Someday I will get to go beyond the trees, but not right now my mother told me, I have to get stronger. Each night before I go to sleep I pray that I will become stronger so that I can go beyond the trees. This is what Ted thought as he laid in his bed.

His mother tucked him in kissing his forehead gently as she whispered to her eight year old son, that perhaps there was a castle with a draw bridge beyond the trees. He smiled up at her and said, "Oh mom do you really think there is a castle?"

"I think that anything is possible, if you can dream about it, sure there is a castle why not?" she said. Sue's hands pushed his hair back on his head in a loving way and her finger traced down the side of his face before she stood up to dim the light and let him sleep. Dreams were all he had Sue thought to herself, and it brought tears to her eyes as she closed his bedroom door.

Ted was a good little boy, oh how she missed the days when he ran around the yard playing with his dog Max. His active little body was never still, he played all day running and jumping and rolling around with the dog, so when she first saw the bruising she thought he was just playing to rough. Then came the fever, and as she bathed him one night she saw the black and blues across his tummy.

Sue dressed her son that night putting him in the car and she headed off to the emergency room, her motherly instinct told her something wasn't right. Little did she know that night would change her life forever. Sue thought losing her husband when she was only three months pregnant was the worst thing that could ever happen to her, she was soon to find out it wasn't.

The hospital waiting room became her home for the next three days when she wasn't with her son because of the tests they were doing on him. She sat in the dull peach colored room sipping coffee that she bought from a vending machine in the corner of the room. Sues mother was taking care of Max, but she would come up to the hospital with food for Sue in

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