Betty pulled her handkerchief out of her pocket, tears streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks, she couldn’t stop the sniffling and coughing at the same time. She was running out of breath and finally gasped and chocked out her laughter with one hand holding on to her aching stomach. She hadn’t felt this alive in so long. The audience was roaring with laughter, whistling, endless clapping and stomping. It was like a tsunami of joy, a tsunami sweeping not just through the auditorium but washing Betty’s soul from all the pain and sorrow she had been through.
But even though no one seated around her knew who she was, Betty felt the love and warmth she missed desperately. As the comic thanked the fans and bowed out, the crowd standing whistling and cheering, Betty pulled out the photo from her back pocket and whispered to it. “We finally made it dad, mum and Owen. We finally made it to the show like we had planned to last week when we left home. I knew you would have peed your pants, Owen, Mum you would be screaming and Dad, your nose would have been reddened from drying your nose from all the laughter.”
Betty kissed the photo, closed her eyes and soaked up that moment. They were all there, but she knew she would never be able to see them again.
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