Effia

Effia had multiple sclorosis or something of the sort (no one was really sure.) She and another girl, Deborah, with a similar problem, liked to be taken outside to lie in the cool breezes. We would put mosquito nets over them to keep the flies away. Simple pleasures, simple pleasures. It didn't take much to make them happy.
A sign above her bed said she liked to be stroked on the face, which was true. We all thought it was a strange obsession of hers - when you stroked her cheek, she would give you the biggest smile or even giggle, no matter how upset she was. Then one day I happened to be wiping the drool from her face and she responded the same way. I realized the motion I had used was the same one people had used to stroke her cheek. Was this the same motion her mother had used when she had cared for her daughter? No one can know, but that's my theory.
We never know how a simple touch can change a life.