{"product_id":"scarlet-sims-the-door-2026","title":"Scarlet Sims - The Door, 2026","description":"\u003cp\u003e24x36 - oil on canvas\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs my mother lay dying in the ICU unit, her husband secretly ordered the nurses to continue the medication that forced her heart to beat. Just before midnight, as I held her slowly cooling hand, I saw a door appear in the room beside her bed. It was a white farmhouse styled door that shimmered into being.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe door was closed, and I could see blue-white light coming from its edges and a blue-sliver thread stretched from my mother’s forehead to the door. She breathed a death sigh, yet she continued. The heart monitor continued to beep and the medicine continued to drip from the saline bag even as rigor mortis began solidifying in her fingers and toes. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe door stayed closed. She couldn’t leave. Mom existed in the in between, her energy hovering in the room with an electric hum, as she tried to open the door. Her dead heart continued to pump. She remained tethered. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe nurses grew angry, their movements jerky and hostile as my mother’s husband, sitting in a corner, stared at his phone. He had spent the past few hours looking at his phone as my mother lay dying. He did not see the door, which still sat closed.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAt last, I extricated my hand from hers. Her hand stayed upright – the rigor mortis had run the length of her arms and into her neck. At the front desk, I asked the nurse: “Mom seems to have rigor mortis setting in. Is this normal?” The nurse flattened her lips into a long line and waited before answering.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The drip is keeping her heart going,” she said.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Is that humane?” I asked. The other nurse beside her tried to shush my nurse, but she shook her head and answered me. “No. It is not,” she said. “Your stepfather insisted we keep it going.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLike a ghost, I forced myself to stand in front of my mother’s husband as I begged him to stop the drip, stop the torture. By the time he agreed, I no longer could see the door, but I felt it when it opened and released her from her cage.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Window on Sixth","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43719325417549,"sku":null,"price":850.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0654\/3540\/2317\/files\/image16_6b4c73a3-177c-4db4-b11c-e9acf4065f0b.jpg?v=1788478397","url":"https:\/\/082yu5-0b.myshopify.com\/products\/scarlet-sims-the-door-2026","provider":"The Window on Sixth","version":"1.0","type":"link"}