A big heart

Jade winced as the driving rain hit her face when she turned the corner, her umbrella flaring uselessly above her head. Why create pedestrian shopping areas if you must park miles away to reach them? And WHY was she fetching her neighbours prescription again, when she had seen her strolling around her back garden with no sign of the "terrible rheumatism, really so bad" in her brisk movements, bending to pluck a weed from her immaculate flower beds.

The trouble is her heart was just too big, something her mother had told her many times. When Jade fetched home an injured hedgehog her Mum saw the fleas, not the sad little black eyes. When she befriended a stray dog or a lonely old man sat on a bench, her mother would sigh and say, "your heart is just too big for this sad world Jade".

Her kids only seemed to call her if they needed money or a lift somewhere, and she always gave freely of both. Her friends share their problems with her, and nobody asked her if SHE was alright, if she needed something. Jade will help; Jade has a big heart.

Her Mum was right and Jade was sick of it. Time to shrink her heart and put herself first for once! Then she saw him, a well-dressed older man in a bright yellow scarf slumped against a low wall his head drooping. As she watched he slid to the ground and lay still. Two middle aged women, bent against the rain, walked quickly right past him, they probably thought he was drunk.

Jade hesitated, remembering flea-ridden hedgehogs that died anyway, stray dogs that bit, and old men who said rude things. Then she sprinted over, and grabbing her phone dialled 999. The operator had her feel for the man's heartbeat; there was none and he was not breathing. They had a CPR session a few WI meetings ago, so Jade adjusted the mans head back and began doing compressions. "Staying alive, staying alive," she sang through clenched teeth as rain streamed down her face, her coat soaked through and her arms burning.

Thankfully she heard a siren nearby and two efficient paramedics took over. They used a defibrillator on him and got his heart started, then they bundled him into the ambulance and roared off, siren wailing. Jade continued to the chemist who called her a drowned rat and went home shivering. Mrs Evans picked up her prescription with barely a smile. Jade still felt good, she was glad she had listened to her over-large heart.

The journalist gushed, "Fantastic work, Mr Soames. You saved that childs life today, and thats thirty-one operations so far this year. How does it make you feel?" "I am grateful I can still help children" the famous surgeon replied, "thanks to my unknown benefactor". He knotted his trademark yellow scarf around his neck and strolled out of the hospital doors.