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.”“Correct, no chemo until Wednesday.But it’s not just the chemo that causes the nausea.I was experiencing it before I was even diagnosed.And I’m on opioids for my pain and they can all cause it, too.I don’t think I can avoid it.Just have to find a drug that doesn’t bring it on quite as much and learn to live with it.”“If that was me I’d be skippin’ the pain meds.I’d rather be in pain than be nauseous any day of the week.”“I’m the same way, and that’s exactly what I was doing.Care to indulge me in a little shoptalk? What’s the case about?”“Sorry, you must get sick of all the talk about your health.It’s uh…four missing kids.”“Go on,” Vince said.“Vince, come on,” Marshall said uncomfortably, “you don’t have to deal with this stuff anymore.”“It was my job for years, and as dark as it was, I loved it, in some sick, twisted way.”“You really miss it that much?”Vince scratched the back of his head and stared up at the ceiling.“On days I don’t have chemo, I sit around with this underlying boredom no matter how I manage to occupy my mind.I miss working.”“Well, when you put it like that…”Vince smirked.“I helped Angela go through some wrap-up one night a few weeks ago and it was utterly thrilling.Give me the details.”—Vince had been happy with his decision not to befriend anyone else aside from Frankie at the chemotherapy center, and on the days where he came in and she didn’t look all that lively, he wondered if he had been foolish even to let himself get close to her.Today, though, he longed for some human interaction between the hours of eight in the morning and four in the afternoon.Monday and Tuesday had been dreadfully boring before picking Charlie up from school.The only consolation was that his new pain patch, which he wore on his chest, relieved the majority of his pain while leaving him significantly less queasy than his last regimen had.“Hi,” Frankie mumbled when Vince took a seat next to her.Though seating was on a first-come, first-served basis, patients at the center seemed to sense a pattern and exercise caution in where they sat, as if someone’s name was on a sign next to every chair.“Hey there.Why the long face?” Vince asked.Frankie didn’t cry, but she might as well have for how effectively she tore up Vince’s insides.“Not doing so great.They had to admit me.I’m stage three now,” she said, holding up a hand to show him her identification bracelet.Her wrist were usually covered with colorful costume jewelry.Vince didn’t speak for a moment.Part of his job had been to know what to say without missing a beat.Feeling a bit rusty on that front, he at least thought to clear his throat, reach into the canvas tote he brought with him, and pull out the worn stuffed dog.It didn’t make its way out of the bag every day, but it always came with him.What could he say to a little girl whose life was threatened by an illness she was fighting with every ounce of strength she had? He was still at a loss as he handed the dog over.Frankie mustered up a smile that only squeezed heart-rending tears from her eyes.“Thanks,” she squeaked.“Why don’t you hang on to him for a while? I think you need him a little more than I do right now,” Vince said.Frankie hugged Chip to her chest, nodding, but only for a moment.She then swallowed back her tears and wiped the offending ones from her cheeks.Speechless as well now, she stared straight ahead of her to the opposite side of the large room and out onto the greening, blooming gardens behind the hospital.Though the last half of winter’s clouds had made the first couple months of Vince’s illness all that much harder to bear, the impending spring was almost crueler.While everything outside got a rebirth, he and the undeserving child next to him were on the decline.“It’s gonna be okay,” Vince said with so little conviction that he almost felt guilty for speaking.“Sure,” Frankie droned.“Do you wanna talk about it?” Vince offered.Frankie shook her head slowly, picking at the pills of fluff on Chip’s ears.“I’d rather talk about something happy.All my family keeps talking about is me and how my mom’s gonna have to quit her job to keep me company during the day and how it doesn’t look good this time.Tell me something good instead.”Yet again, the easiest way Vince could think of to put a real smile on Frankie’s face involved Angela.He hoped it wouldn’t come off as self-centered when he held up his left hand.Frankie’s eyes popped open.“Is that what I think it is?”“Whoa,” Maria said as she arrived to get Vince’s medication started up.“Did somebody get married?”“Sure did.”Frankie let out a split second of a scream before clapping her hands over her mouth.“Congratulations,” Maria laughed, both at the uplifting news and Frankie’s predictable reaction.“Thanks,” Vince said.“Cheer you up a little?” he asked Frankie.She put her hands down, and with a genuine smile that ran ear-to-ear, she nodded [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]