My dad was the type of guy who’d take a book or newspaper into the bathroom and stay in there forever. I didn’t really mind, but my mom always gave off a vibe that she wasn’t too thrilled about it. Not that Dad knew—he was inside the bathroom, after all.
It was a Sunday back when I was in high school—a day I’ll never forget. Mom and I were glued to the TV after eating breakfast. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dad walk into the bathroom with a book in hand. It was just another ordinary morning.
About ten minutes had passed. Suddenly, Mom jumped up from her seat and dashed over to the phone. Before I even had time to wonder what was going on, she started dialing.
“Hello, my husband just collapsed. Yes, I need an ambulance, please. He’s unconscious right now… It looked like he was clutching his chest… Yes, our address is…”
Mom spoke rapidly into the receiver. Did she just say "ambulance"? Why? Was someone sick? Dad? Just as a sense of dread washed over me, a heavy thud echoed from the bathroom.
“Give me a hand!” Finishing the call, Mom rushed to the bathroom and yanked the door open. Dad was collapsed inside. “Pull your father out! The ambulance will be here soon, so go unlock the front door!”
Still completely confused, I dragged Dad out of the bathroom. I called out to him, but got no response. Fearing the worst, I checked… No pulse, no breathing. Before panic could fully set in, Mom began CPR. Her technique was textbook-perfect, repeating the motions with steady rhythm. Suddenly, I recalled a TV show from a few days prior that happened to cover CPR in detail. Mom had been unusually glued to the screen back then, even though she normally only watched dramas or variety shows. Before long, the paramedics arrived, and Dad was rushed to the hospital.
Fortunately, Dad made a full recovery from his heart attack, almost as if nothing had happened. He had been in cardiac arrest and in critical condition, but Mom’s quick thinking and flawless first aid saved his life. The doctor smiled and said, “Your wife’s response was outstanding. Honestly, she’d make a great paramedic.”
Even if she’d seen it on TV recently, performing it so perfectly was incredible. But why had Mom been watching that CPR program so intently in the first place? “It wasn’t like I wanted to watch it, but for some reason, I just couldn’t tear my eyes away. All’s well that ends well, right?” she said casually, but was it really just a coincidence? Come to think of it, when she called the ambulance, it was almost as if she had predicted Dad’s collapse before it happened. The timeline was completely backward.
“Oh, that? Well, it was like a sudden gut feeling—a hunch that your father was in serious trouble. I just panicked and did whatever I could.”
Had she somehow foreseen the future? Or was it what people call a sixth sense, a bad omen?
My parents have an uncanny number of overlapping moments. They’ll crave the exact same food, or have identical reactions to something they see. Sometimes when we watch old home videos, I laugh because both of them say the exact same lines now as they did back then. “If you eat the same food and watch the same news every day, that’s bound to happen,” they’d say, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Later, after I grew up, I heard that Dad could predict the start of Mom’s period with eerie accuracy. I found that weird, but apparently his hit rate was disturbingly high…
It’s not like they’re an overly affectionate couple—they argue like any ordinary husband and wife—but sensing that invisible bond between them makes me a little envious. And one thing was for sure: I strongly felt that at home, it’s much better to leave the bathroom door unlocked just in case of an emergency.
