The ride back from the hospital began in silence. They were all trapped by thoughts too fearful to express. It was John who broke the silence.

"I think we should let her go, Mother."

Bob's grip tightened on the wheel. Martha watched as his knuckles whitened. "I agree with you son. What's your feeling," he said turning towards Martha.

Martha sensed something that she couldn't explain. Perhaps it was the vague memory of a dream she had had. She felt that they must wait. "I think we need more time," was all she could say.

Joshua returned from the other side. He was standing by her side. It was the first time that he had appeared so clearly. The light from his body was almost too much for Norma to bare. She tried to turn her head but could not. She felt his thoughts communicating with her.

"You will not come. Why?"

"I am afraid, Joshua. I know that once I cross the boundary, to the other side, I cannot come back."

She looked up to his face. In his eyes, Norma could see eternity.

"Then what is your choice? You know of your body, lying unmoving down there. Up here, you sense the freedom, you have felt the joy, you see the beauty..."

"Yes, yes that is true. But there is something down there that I must complete. I have unfinished business, Joshua. But my body, the ice, being frozen for ever..." Joshua felt the despair in her voice.

A smile came over his face, and through it shone the light of a million stars.

"All is possible, my child."

Norma watched as he crossed back over the boundary, to the other side. She felt a terrible loneliness as she watched him disappear. A final thought crossed her mind. "One day, we shall be together again." And then, he was gone.

Perhaps it was the strange dream that kept repeating itself that had finally convinced her. In it, the promise of spring brought the promise of a new life for Norma, Bob and John had agreed to wait.

She looked out the window and watched as the warming sun slowly awakened the trees. She watched the sparrows building nests under the eaves of the hospital. She watched and the promise of life was everywhere.

Since Joshua had left, Norma had felt the ice melting within. She had travelled to the Other Lights many times, but never again had seen him. Every time she returned, more ice had melted.

Perhaps it was the pressure of her mother's hand on her arm that caused her to push through. She felt her eyelids free from the awful pressure of the ice. Once broken, the force became irresistible. Norma, for the first time in nine months, moved.

Martha suddenly remembered the words of the man who had appeared in her dream and warm tears of joy began trickling down her cheeks.