Two elderly stallions, both terminally ill, occupied the same hospital room. One of the stallions was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluids from his lungs. His bed was next to the rooms only window. The other stallion had to spend all his time flat on his back. The two stallions talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the stallion by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his room-mate all the things he could see outside the window.
The other stallion lived for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while fillies and colts sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked side by side midst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline can be seen in the distance. As the stallion by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the stallion on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. One warm afternoon the stallion by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other stallion couldn't hear the band, he can see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days and weeks passed. One morning , nurse red heart had arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the stallion by the window. He had died peacefully in his sleep. Saddened, she called the hospital attendants to take the body away.
As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other stallion asked if he could be moved next to the window. Nurse red heart allowed him to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world at the real world outside. He strained to turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank, brick wall. The wall was so high and so broad that the stallion could see nothing but brick and mortar. He immediately called for nurse red heart. He asked her what could have compelled his deceased room-mate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. Nurse red heart responded that she knew all along what the other stallion had been doing. She also informed her patient that the other stallion had been blind since the war and could not have even the wall.
She said "I kept his secret because it was his dying wish to give you hope in your last days. It was his gift to you." As she turned to leave the hospital room, another nurse entered, pushing a stallion in a wheelchair. He seemed to be in a great deal of pain. "Hello," offered the stallion by the window to the stallion in the wheelchair. "It will be nice to have someone to talk to."
