Free Abbie's Gift by M. R. THOMAS Page B

direction of the hill, but even the path’s lower slopes began to sap her strength. Abbie had to dig deep into her energy reserves as she pushed upwards, her legs feeling like lead, and her pace very quickly slowed although her blood raced around her system with each thunderous beat of her heart in her chest, trying to force oxygen to muscles that didn’t want to move.
     
    When her pace had reduced to a mere walk, when just putting one foot in front of the other became difficult, Abbie knew that somehow she must drive herself on, upwards, and not stop.
     
    Abbie was just past the half-way point up the hill when her movement slowed so much that she was no longer running, she was almost staggering;  her lungs burned, and leg muscles felt totally solid. She put her hands on her hips and, raising her head, walked forward, gulping and gasping to get air into her oxygen-starved system. Although only walking, she was determined not to stop completely. She was aware of perspiration running down her back, her clothes damp and clinging to her skin.
    Abbie turned and looked at the town below.  She knew that today’s run was all but over, but one day she was determined to make it to the top in one go.
    Her legs felt as though she had run a marathon, and she found getting moving again difficult.  Although it was really relatively flat, the path seemed to be at an impossible incline.  Abbie managed to get into a slow forward movement, but her legs muscles rebelled as her heart rate and breathing increased again, pushing her towards exhaustion.
    She slowly forced herself on, feeling pain in her entire body, her pulse echoing in her brain with each heartbeat. Eventually she reached the top of the hill and, without pausing to recover; she immediately turned and headed down the path, carefully retracing her steps over the rocks and uneven ground.
    By the time she was on the flat Abbie had somehow, to her amazement, recovered sufficiently to break into a slow jog again, and she found that getting home was easier than she had anticipated.
     
    Another 30 or so minutes of hard exercise behind her, Abbie stood in the shower and allowed the water to refresh and revive her.
    It occurred to her that today, as difficult and tiring as the running had been, there hadn’t been any dizziness or wobbly feelings, no strange sensations or odd occurrences, no floating out of her body, just a run that had been demanding and difficult.  Abbie knew that she’d put in no less effort than on other days, in fact she’d run further up the hill than before.
    She wondered why nothing odd had happened this time.   She couldn’t understand it; she’d been at the limit of her ability, so why hadn’t it happened?  What had she done, if anything, that was different?
    Or had those things been imagined after all? A cruel trick of her grieving heart and mind? Maybe she had just not had the control that she had now, so her imagination had played tricks on her when she was at her lowest ebb.   Maybe, maybe…too many ‘maybes’, she thought, not enough certainty.
     
                                ………………………………………………………….
     
    Just on 6 pm Kate arrived, her usual cheerful self and, somehow, Abbie immediately felt she could do without someone being this cheery in her presence right now.
    That’s unfair and unkind, she thought, Kate was just being her friend and trying to look after her.  But still…
    “You look well, been exercising?” queried Kate.
    “Yes, several times, started running again, hard work, but good”.
    “It must be, you do look well, its’ good to see you like this”.  Kate hugged her again.
    Over a simple meal of cold meat, fresh bread and salad, they chatted for a while about nothing in particular. 
    Abbie then announced suddenly that she was going into work to discuss returning.
    Kate was unsure that this was a good idea and so soon, but Abbie insisted she was