The Gift

I get up and throw the trash away and sit on my bed trying to decide what to do next. As if on cue, Holly comes bouncing in and I point at the chair.

She turns it towards me and sits.

“’Sup chickee?” I ask.

“Lunch time. I figure I’d come, visit and disseminate information.” She pulls out a granola bar from her pocket, opens it and starts munching.

“Well, I’m here and currently have no plans,” I tell her.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find something to do,” she says with a twinkle in her eye.

I quickly tell her about my trip to six, the kids and Brittany. She waves that away saying, “Old news. I think it was being spready as it was happening.”

I turn red, ears hot once again, but she doesn’t give me time to dwell on it. “So... The bad news. Not knowing what city, I tried a few local ones to see if 411 had any Brenda McKinley. Nada. And there were way too many using just the last name,” she tells me, and I frown and slump a little.

Another dead end.

“So, I decided to go talk to Mr. Payton to see if I could get any information that might help, like a city or Ben’s dad’s name. Information had too many McKinley’s and no Brenda’s in any of the surrounding cities.

“Then, if you can believe this, he starts laughing at me. I was peeved. ’What’s so funny?’ I asked him. Once he finally stopped laughing – which he said to thank you for by the way – he said that you misunderstood hi. What did he tell you exactly?”

I try to recall exactly what he said. “He said to ask information…”

“You sure?’ she asks with a raised eyebrow.

“No. He actually said to call the operator and ask, but I figure he meant information. They are operators, right?”

Holly starts laughing now. I’m getting upset. I don’t find this funny at all. “What?” I ask, miffed.

She wipes a tear from her eye and tries to calm down. “You’re so sweet,” she says taking something from her pocket and places it on the table beside me.

I look at it and see it’s a scrap of paper with a big zero on it. I make a what’s this face and she says, “It’s from Mr. Payton. So, there’s no misunderstanding…”

I look at the paper, then back up at her and say, “But if I dial zero, I’ll get the hospital operator, not even one from the phone company.”

Holly nods slowly and then says, “I see it’s still not registering so I saved you the trouble, flip it over.”

I did and saw, in a girl’s handwriting – Room 205.

Looking back up at Holly, she nods and says, “He meant exactly what he said. It wasn’t 411 he told you to call, it was the hospital operator, because Ben’s in the hospital right now. Ready to go?”

Huh? “Go?” I ask.

“Yeah, go. You know, downstairs to see him?”

“Umm, I dunno,” I stammer.

“Oh, don’t go shy on my now. Not after gushing about him before,” she says standing and taking my hand. She pulls me up and off the bed and at the door before I could object, not that I really wanted to.

We pass the nurses’ station and the clerk winks at me. I look at Holly who ask winks at me. Why all the winks? “What’s going on?” I ask.

“Umm,” she says, nibbling on her lip. “I kinda had to hell her why I was trying to find Ben. She’s the one who pulled up his info for me. Don’t be mad, okay?”

Mad? I wanted to hug her. As a matter of fact, as soon as we stopped for the elevator, I did.

“What’s this for?” she asks, returning the hug.

“To thank you.”

“No thanks are necessary, but you’re very welcome,” she says kissing the top of my head.

The elevator comes and we go down to the second floor. As we leave the elevator, I take Holly’s hand and she laces her fingers through mine and gives me a smile. “Can’t back out now chicken,” she says and pulls me forward.

We walk hand-in-hand down to room 205 and the door was open. I pause outside the door, unsure, butterflies in my stomach. With my hand still in hers, she nudges me with her elbow. I start to step forward and Holly tries to let go of my hand, but I squeeze harder.

Oh no you don’t, I think and pull her in with me. Stepping into the room, I see Ben lying in bed with his eyes closed. I put my finger to my lips in the universal sign for shh and begin to pull her back out of the room when Ben says, “Don’t go.”

I freeze. “I can use some company,” he says.

Clearing my throat, I say, “You sure?’

“Yes Amanda. Especially since it’s you.”

I felt myself go red and Holly saw this and pointed, soundlessly laughing at me. “Whoever is with you can stay as well. That is, unless she needs to go back to work.”

I saw Holly’s eyes go wide and she cocked her head in question. “I’ve still got a few minutes of lunch left,” she says and Ben smiles.

“I thought you were sleeping,” I say dumbly.

“Yeah, I guess you figured out it’s a waste to keep them open when I can’t see out of them, huh?”

Mental head slap. Duh. “How did you know Holly was with me?”

“I cheated. I smell two different scents. One soap, the other perfume and guessed there were two of you. The perfume wasn’t the same as the morning. Sit, please.”

I drag Holly over to the bedside and she forces me to sit in the only chair, then says, “I should really be going. I’m just here to make sure little miss cutie pie here made it safely.”

Prying her fingers from mine, she kisses me on the top of the head again and wiggles her fingers bye at me. I stick my tongue out at her and she just smiles and makes kissy lips at me.