MISSBENJ

"That’s very sweet of you” says Jeanie. “How can I help you Jeanie”? “Oh no one can help me anymore but that’s okay, but maybe you could help those kids in there” she answers. “So where do you go from here Jeanie”? “I wish I could hide away somewhere; I don’t want anyone to watch me die” says Jeanie “I would like to go away so my friends wouldn’t have to see me go through this”. “Well, I think I can help with that” Toby says “I just happened to have a house not too far away from here and no one uses it anymore and I would be glad to give you the key and let you stay there”. “Why would you do that” asks Jeanie “you don’t even know me”. “I know you more than you think” he answered, “I’ve heard about the woman who gave up her life-savings to help these kids” he adds. “I don’t “need it anymore “she says. “That was still very generous of you” he says “and a woman like that can be trusted, I’m sure of that”. “Please Jeanie, no one has used the house for a very long time and It’s a beautiful place, quiet, peaceful just what you need”. “Where is it” she asks? “It’s only about a half hour away from here”, I’ll give you the address and you can look it up on the internet” says Toby “and here is the key, take a ride out there and stay if you want to, I think you’ll like it”.

Just then the nurse calls her name. Jeanie gets up and turned to Toby and says “thank you and if you really don’t mind I’ll take you up on that, I would love to stay at your house, Can I give you some money for letting me stay there”? “Oh no he answers you doing me a favor after all it’s been empty for some time”. “The housekeeper Mrs. D. I call her, has kept it clean though so you should be able to move right in and Stay as long as you want, good luck with everything Jeanie, I’ll keep you in my prayers”. “Thank you for everything” she says and she turns around and walks into the room where she gets her chemotherapy. When she glanced back he was gone.

She sat back in the recliner waiting for that pinch of the needle going in. For some reason, it didn’t hurt this time. She puts on her headphones and closes her eyes and drifts away into a deep sleep. She dreamt about a beautiful place sitting all alone amongst a field of flowers. The flowers were all very vibrant colors. Blues, purple, red, yellow and many other colors. The house was an old Victorian mansion with high pillars in front and a wraparound porch with a porch swing and rocking chairs. It was amazing. She walks to the front door and just as she reaches for it the door opens. “You must be Jeanie” says the woman opening the door. “My name is Mrs. D., Toby told me to expect you and you must be tired from your drive, please come in and Let me show you around”. “Thank you” says Jeanie, “I didn’t think anyone else stayed here”. “I don’t stay here unless you want me to, I’m not far away though, would you like some tea” asks Mrs. D.? “That would be great” answers Jeanie”. Mrs. D. says “maybe you’d like to sit on the porch and drink it, you get comfortable and I’ll bring it out to you”.

Jeanie goes out to the porch and sits in one of the rockers. Just then the nurse wakes her up from her dream and says “all finished, we are going to miss you, you’ve been our favorite patient”. Jeanie gets up and hugs the nurse, and says “goodbye and thank you for everything”. “If only we could have done more” says the nurse, “I wish you the best, please keep in touch and if you ever need anything don’t hesitate to call here”. “I’m going away for a while” says Jeanie “I need to be by myself, well with my dogs”. As she walked out the door all of the other nurses hugged her goodbye some with tears in their eyes. “Don’t cry for me” Jeanie says “I’ve lived a good life I have no regrets and you have given me more time than I ever expected to live just keep doing what you’re doing here, keep saving lives but I will miss all of you and our talks”. Just then the doctor walks in, “Jeanie I would like to see you in my office”. She follows him in and he says “have a seat”. “I just want you to know that we tried everything we could think of but the cancer won’t leave”. “I already knew that” she answered,” I know you’ve done everything, don’t feel bad, you gave me extra months to live and I’m happy with that, It gives me time to get everything in order and I have had the best doctors, nurses and treatment in the world, I appreciate everything you did for me but now it’s time for me to go away and get my affairs in order, Thank you Dr.” she gets up fighting back tears and leaves the room.