Friendship & Love Eternal

Friendship & Love Eternal

               Silently he sat. On the side of the bed. Watching the clock. Minute by minute. Waiting for the alarm to go off. Sleep had evaded him often the last few nights and he wondered if that might not be a good thing. He jumped as the music of John Lennon came over the clock radio. With resolve, he slowly stood up, ran his hands through his hair, and moved forward into his day.

“Hello!” The Teddy Bear frantically tried to communicate with the man. “Can’t you see me? I am right here where you left me three years ago!” If he could just move something. Anything! He had been such an integral part of his owner’s life. An unbreakable bond, he couldn’t be left behind. Not today, of all days.

 “Please, please, don’t leave me behind. I came from the best parts of you. I vowed to always be with you. It was what she wanted when she gave me to you. I love you, just like she did.”

He came back into the room after his shower with a sadness that spoke of many things he could not change, no matter how hard he tried. He wanted to move faster, but chemo was not something he wanted to beat a path to. He knew many were standing behind him and would continue to support him no matter what this journey might bring. It just wasn’t the same as it had been in the past. Sometimes just a touch from another makes all the difference during a time like this.

Something was there, just at the edge of his mind. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it was there none the less. Well, he just didn’t have time to think about it for long. If it was that important, it would come to him. He walked to the closet and for some reason he looked up. He smiled. The perfect medicine. Just what he needed!

“Finally, he sees me!” The bear felt himself being taken down from his place on the shelf. “If I can’t do anything else, I can be at his side, like before. That is all I really want. To bring comfort to my human father. My human mother won’t be there but her spirit is with me and it is with him. Does he know it? Yes, I think he does.”

He sat in the fairly comfortable recliner, bear by his side, and the attention of some of the best medical people around. There was the usual medical facility noise and jargon all around sounding, at times, like a barnyard. He looked at the workers as he held the bear tight against him. Occasionally someone looked his way. He knew they would be with him soon, so to kill time he began to talk to the bear and the bear answered in his own way.

“Terry, looks familiar, huh?”

“That it does, that it does.”

“Just like a bunch of farm animals going about their daily business.” He saw one nurse slap her hand down on the counter, throw her head back and laugh loud and deep. “There’s the donkey.”

“Chickens, lots of those, scurrying from place to place like they can’t find a place to roost.”

“There’s the rooster.” He had to keep from laughing out loud when he saw one of the doctor’s lean in to one of the prettier, slower moving nurses.

“There’s a couple of goats!” Terry watched as two guys from the physical therapy department tried to get the attention of a new nurse on the floor. “Horny bunch, they are!”

He took a deep breath as he picked up the bear and looked it square in the face. “Looks like it is show time.” He could see a nurse heading his way. Someone called her name.

“Heeerrrre,” she whinnied as she held up her hand to whomever had called her. She looked down at the two of them. “And who do we have here?” She smiled and showed a set of teeth that would make the Osmonds proud.

“Here’s the horse.”

He couldn’t hold it in. He started to laugh and seeing her face, tried to disguise it with a cough.

“Beg pardon,” she said. “Did I miss something? Are you okay?”

“Get an apple. Better get an apple, quick!”

He went into another fit of laughter/coughing. “Will you shut up?” He put the bear in the crook of his arm.

“You want me to shut up? I haven’t said anything!” The nurse was clearly getting a little touchy.

“Maybe some oats!”

His eyes were watering with the effort to keep from laughing. He took another deep breath and, thankfully, Terry was silent. “I am just a little nervous. I’m sorry.”

“Totally understandable. I am going to get your IV started and leave you for a bit until your medication comes up from the pharmacy.” The nurse was all business now as she skillfully inserted the catheter into his arm. “That should do it for now. Just try to relax.” And she trotted away.

“Terry, you nearly got me in trouble!” He picked up the bear and hugged it tight to his chest.

“I love you, too, dad.”

He had just shut his eyes when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Terry was instantly alert as he saw the newcomer standing next to his dad. “What fresh Hell was this?”

He looked up. “What…how…when?” He took a breath. He wasn’t expecting this.

She set her tote bag next to his chair. “I knew if I said anything, you would not let me come.”

“Darn right. You shouldn’t be here. Don’t…don’t sit in that chair! My mother should be in that chair!” Terry was livid. His dad was smiling. “No…no…just…no.”

“Can I give you a hug?” She didn’t wait for an answer, she just leaned in and put her arms around his shoulders. “I’m sorry, that was awkward,” she said.

“Wait,” he said, and he stood to his feet dropping Terry into the vacated recliner. He reached out and pulled her to him in a big bear hug. “In a million years, I never expected you to turn up here.”

She pulled back and put her hand against his cheek. “Friends do for friends. As best they can in any circumstance. I didn’t want you to be alone and this was the best I could do in this circumstance. I hope you don’t mind too much.”

“Hey! Hey! Look down! He is not alone!”

She looked down then, and horror of horrors, she picked him up.

“Terry! I am so glad to meet you! I have heard so much about you!” She hugged him close, just like his dad hugged him. Like she cared.

“Ummm…okay, then. Maybe this isn’t the worst thing that could have happened.”

They both took their seats and Terry was given the place of honor on his father’s lap. The two of them began to talk, jumping from subject to subject, just like on the phone. Every now and then she would reach out and touch Terry like he was included in the conversation, and every now and then she would reach out and lay her hand on his dad’s arm or shoulder. The nurse came back with the medication, hung it on the IV pole, and started the infusion into his vein.

“I might fall asleep on you, so if you need to leave…”

“Yeah, baby, you can fall asleep on me anytime,” said Terry and if he could have winked, he would have done so.

“Terry!” The man said as his eyes started to droop.

“Bears,” she said. ”What are you gonna do?” She smiled and picked Terry up, kissing him on his teddy bear forehead before placing him next to his dad’s heart. Then she kissed the man on the forehead and took his hand in hers. He gave her hand a squeeze as he dozed off knowing that even though everything was not right with his world, it would be one day. Until then, he had the love of Terry and of his good friend. For today, that would do.

“That’ll do, pig, that’ll do.