Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: PROCRASTINATE (08/04/16)
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TITLE: The Last Embrace | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jeremy Kirby
08/11/16 -
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The summer drifted into fall. She asked one morning for Ben to come to her house. It wasn’t their normal routine as her father sincerely disliked Ben. Regardless, he was there knocking on her front door with a strange apprehension dancing about his belly.
Her mother answered, “Come in Benjamin.”
She escorted him to the kitchen table where she also summoned her daughter to come out. Nervously, she came and they all sat.
“Go on dear, let the boy know.”
So Samantha with a nervous voice began, “I’m - I’m pregnant.”
Ben’s sixteen-year-old emotions overcame him. He was shamed for what he had done and feared what would happen to him for it. He ran to the front door and stopped. He saw Sam’s desperate face with eyes now swelling with tears. He let the door slam behind him.
Thirty Years later…
The hot Colorado sun made the purple paint of the ’57 Chevy Bel Air sparkle. Ben slid out from underneath with greasy coveralls and even greasier hands. He struggled to his feet holding his lower abdomen.
“Ben, ya gotta get that checked out!” yelled his boss.
“My wife says you don’t pay me enough as it is, why should I go to the doctor and make more bills for myself?” he retorted.
Eventually, the pain had grown to a point where he could no longer ignore it. Ben made an appointment and saw the doctor. He and his wife sat in a small room waiting for the oncologist to arrive with the test results. The specialist finally arrived and sat down on the brown stool and paused looking at the two of them.
He said, “It is an aggressive cancer and has already begun to spread. We must begin treatment, as putting it off any longer will surely be a death sentence. After the chemo, we will re-evaluate and determine the next best course of action. Any questions?”
Sarah, his wife got up and stormed out of the room leaving Ben alone with the doctor. He understood why, she was a nurse and had seen the financial devastation that cancer had caused families. They already struggled to survive and this would make matters far worse.
“No, sounds pretty simple to me doc,” Ben answered.
The treatments were devastating and at best, ineffective. They robbed Ben of his once defined shape, leaving him a pale shell of man with thinning hair and hollow eyes.
The “next best course of action” found Ben driving himself alone to the hospital. The nurses checked him in and prepped him for surgery. He whispered a small and fervent prayer, thanking God for the life he had left.
Twelve hours later the healing process began.
Six months later…
A thickly bearded old man hobbled across the uneven grass toward the pavilion. A brown fedora shaded his hazel eyes from the bright Michigan afternoon. He leaned against his hand carved cane scanning the crowd of people. A grin graced his lips as he watched his family working and talking, the kids playing. What a wonderful reunion.
A young woman caught his attention. She was the spitting image of… No, he wouldn’t let that thought enter his mind. As he watched, she pulled a cake from a cooler and brought it to an older woman. She paused with arms outstretched toward her daughter. He stood a little straighter as he realized she was staring back at him. The woman began at a slow pace towards him.
His mind began to race, “Is it really her, what will she think?”
Feelings that lay dormant for many years now began to burst forth out of his heart like tiny explosions.
Her walk became a jog and in a moment, she was there. She could almost taste yesterday. It was as if those many years had never passed.
Once again, she fell into his arms. He dropped his cane and with tears in his eyes, embraced her. Finally, they were home again.
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