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“Fine, night, sweetie. I'll see you tomorrow,” he says, giving me a hug.
“Oh, and, Ben, don't forget to talk to Parker about signing those papers,” I remind him.
“I know, I will,” he promises, smiling.
A couple hours later, I head next door to the diner to get some dinner. The outside of the diner is just a square-shaped building with white wood siding. Inside it is decorated in nostalgic 1960s memorabilia. A life-size cardboard Elvis Presley sits inside the entryway to greet the patrons coming in. The floors are white-and-black tiles. The walls are lined with framed photos of older actors like Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, and Clark Gable. The best part is the seats at the booths, which are designed to look like old car hoods. The waitresses all wear short pink poodle dresses from the era. I pretty much eat all my meals here. The food is good and there are even some healthy choices on the menu. It's just me, so it's not really worth learning to cook for just one person. It's a shame, my new place has a really nice kitchen, but it probably won't be used much. After dinner, I head back to the shop and grab my gym clothes, stuffing them into my gym bag. I drive to the gym where I do my usual forty-five-minute workout routine. After leaving the gym, I head back to the shop, tired and ready for sleep. Because we handle so many chemicals in the shop, we have a shower in the bathroom. Heading in there, I clean up and change into an old T-shirt and soft shorts. Settling down on the couch with my blanket and pillow, I text Jenna before going to sleep.
Girl checked out fine, it's a go on my end. - C
I’ll talk to her and her brother (he is the one caring for her) and I'll let u know what they say. - J
Everything ok with u? - C
Great, but tired going to bed. U ok? -J
Great here to, also going to bed. - C
<3- J
<3- C
Jenna works at the local cancer center where she is in charge of family support. While performing her regular duties of checking on how the families are coping with their sick family member, she is secretly scanning to see if any of those patients could benefit from our services.
My mother had cancer. Twice. The first time it was breast cancer. I was just a kid, helpless and scared; very scared. My mom had always told me medicine makes you better when you’re sick, but that medicine was making my mom sicker. I could not hug her because it hurt her skin. Sometimes she could not get out of bed all day. Eventually, it got so bad that she could not take care of me so our neighbors, the Malones, took me in while she was going through it.
The second time was a year ago. She had gone in for her yearly follow-up exam, none of us were concerned, she had been clear for so long. We were floored when they called two days later saying they had found some spots on an X-ray of her lungs. Again, it was more rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. She was so tired at times she could not lift her head. I would find her curled up in a ball crying because her body hurt so bad. As the weeks went on, she was unable to eat, and she was losing weight so fast I thought she would just disappear. Again, I was helpless and scared, except this time I was not a kid and I needed to face this. I needed and wanted to learn how to help.
People think I am smart but really, I'm not. I just retain information better than most people. If I need or want to know something, then I will research it. I will learn, live, eat, and breathe it. And when I get started, I don't stop. I become consumed learning and remembering every single thing there is on the subject. And what I learned was marijuana could help. I also learned not all marijuana is created equal. I found a way to buy it and sometimes it helped her, sometimes it did not, sometimes the effects of it were not pleasant. But marijuana is a plant and just like the flowers in our shop, it requires certain things to thrive and grow. And just like those flowers, you could manipulate it to look, or in the case of marijuana, act the way you wanted it to when smoked or ingested. So, I went on the hunt, and I found the strain that worked. It was not perfect, not a silver bullet but it made things better for her. So now I try to make things better for other people.
Not everyone is a candidate for our services. Things like religious beliefs, career, drug addiction, and past criminal records could exclude a person from our services. For those who check out, Jenna calls them, explaining the service, and then gives them a number to a burner phone to call if they are interested. If a family is on board, a small arrangement of flowers is sent to their house or place of employment once a month. They know hidden inside the Styrofoam insert the flowers are imbedded in is the month’s supply of marijuana the patient will need. We train the patient and family members on how to use the marijuana. It is the family members’ responsibility to keep an eye on them, letting us know if there are any problems. If there is no family member then we will find a close friend, but occasionally that is not even an option, so we have a college student to look after those without trusted family or friends. If more marijuana is needed for the patient before the month is out, then they know to get a hold of Jenna and it will be taken care of. Cancer treatment is not cheap, and I know these people are drowning in debt, so everything is provided free of charge. Jenna keeps track of our patients by checking their medical charts, making sure their weight is not declining and the physician has not noted any new bouts of sickness or depression.
5
C
Iwake up early at 5:00 a.m. It's going to be a long day, so I need to get an early start. Grabbing a tank top and some jeans from a laundry basket. I head to the bathroom to get ready. I hope to start moving my stuff into the apartment today. I brush and throw my long hair up into a ponytail, brush my teeth, get dressed, and slide on my Converse tennis shoes. Looking at myself in the mirror, I shrug. Jenna would hate it, but I'm delivering plants and moving today so I need comfortable clothes on. The diner does not open till six thirty, so I head over to the kitchenette at the other side of the warehouse, opposite the office, and start some coffee. I have three orders to package and deliver for cancer patients today.I may as well get started while waiting on the coffee. I head over to the worktable and gather the items I will need, small vases, Styrofoam inserts, glue, wire, gladiolus flowers, flowering thyme, and the marijuana called Antidote, named that because it is an antidote for the symptoms of cancer treatments. Cutting the Styrofoam inserts down the side, I split them open like a hot dog bun and hollow out a space on each side big enough to conceal the small baggie of marijuana. I then insert a baggie into each insert, then glue the sides back together before sliding them into the vases. I then secured the gladiolus flowers to plastic stakes and stick them into the Styrofoam insert. I don't just use any flower. I like them to have meaning, today I chose the gladiolus flower because it symbolizes strength. Grabbing the flowering thyme, I secure a few sprigs around each arrangement to help ensure no marijuana smell can be detected from the vases if the insert becomes loose. Finishing, I head over to get some coffee and wait for Ben to come in.
I am putting the last vase I am delivering in my truck when Ben pulls up at eight.
“Hey, sweetie, how was your night?” he asks, shutting his car door. He cherishes his cherry-red, Chrysler Sebring Convertible.
“Just fine,” I answer, turning around to look at him. His blue jacket is patterned in white flowers that add a little flare to his appearance today. The wrinkle-free white shirt and dark-wash blue jeans fit tightly to his tall frame.
“How was yours?” I reply, wondering if he talked to Parker last night.
“It was good,” he states, leaning up against my truck now.
“And Parker...?”
“Yes, we talked.” He shakes his head laughing.
“And?” I prod, waving my hands.
God, it is like pulling teeth getting information out of this man.
“And... he said to do whatever makes me happy. If I want to go in with you as part owner of the shop, then he is all for it.”
“That's great.” I breathe a sigh of relief.
