Where the balloons go

Dr. K swore that if Luke had come to her ER, he would have survived. When the car he was in flipped over, the thing he needed most were pediatrics surgeons. But Luke was not brought into Dr. K's service. Instead, Luke was transferred from hospital to hospital, seeking surgeons, until it was too late.

Dr. K's son was in Luke's first grade class, and she now bore the burden of explaining why her son could no longer play with his friend. How do you explain death to a five-year-old? How do you explain death to anyone?

"But where is heaven?" Dr. K's son asked her.

"Heaven is...Heaven is where the balloons go when you accidentally let them go," she answered.

For the next two years, Dr. K's son would make her buy him balloons so that he could release them into the sky.