AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jennifer raves about how amazing her latte is and I fake throwing up. I like to give her a hard time about her obsession. My phone rings again, same number.
“Hello?” I answer with one eye open and a finger in my right ear.
“Is this Felicity Marrow?”
The frothing machine roars again, so I stop outside onto the sidewalk. “Yes, can I help you?”
“Jerry Marrow has you listed as his emergency contact. He’s here at Grapevine Hospital. We need you here as soon as possible.”
It has been years since I’ve heard from my grandpa. Ever since he retired, he is always traveling and barely home. #goals.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
The bell sounds again, and I go to the back of the cafe. “I have to go. See you tonight.”
Jennifer stands up and shouts after me, but I’m not paying attention to her. What happened to him? I ask that like he’s not almost eighty years old. I stab my keys into the ignition and take off. It’s been two years since I’ve seen him. He travels a lot, and I don’t blame him. He has no ties to one place anymore, so he can go wherever he wants.
The automatic sliding doors lead into a waiting room full of beat up chairs, patients with varying degrees of injuries.
“I’m here for Jerry Marrow,” I say.
She types something on her computer and then asks me to follow. Emergency rooms are not my favorite place. The murmuring, labored breathing, and people whimpering in pain are too much. Not to mention the sterile area that smells like nothing.
“Dr. Stanton, this is Felicity. Mr. Marrow’s emergency contact,” she says, and walks down the corridor.
“Can I see him? What’s going on?” I ask, my voice cracking under the weight of the anxiety budding in my chest.
He hugs the clipboard to his chest and frowns. “I’ll take you to him. He suffered a major heart attack. We are doing everything we can.”
When he opens the door, my grandpa Jerry is very pale and appears to be asleep.
My hand covers my mouth as I stutter out, “Is he going to make it?”
The doctor’s brow lowers, defining the crease that’s already there. “I’m so sorry, but his heart is failing, and he is on the transplant list, but there is no guarantee.”
My eyes cement back to my grandfather as I recall that my grandfather has always been healthy. Hell he doesn’t even eat meat or drink soda. His age must be the factor in this or it’s hereditary.
“I’m here,” I say, pulling a chair next to his bed and taking his hand.
He coughs and opens his blue eyes worn a bit. “Kiddo, it’s been a while. No need to worry about me.”
“You are in the hospital. How am I not supposed to worry?”
Jerry has always had an interesting outlook on life. When my grandmother died, he promised to live his life to the fullest, because death could be just around the bend. His theory is that if you use the life, you have to make a difference, then you shouldn’t be afraid of dying. It’s all a running time clock from the moment we are born. It’s evitable.
“Don’t start spouting off all that religious stuff. Why didn’t you tell me you were back in town?”
He shrugs his shoulders.
“How long have you known about your heart? Not one damn phone call to me? I could’ve helped you, you know.”
“It’s not your job to worry about me, dear. Live your life. I’ve lived mine. You couldn’t have done anything to change this.”
He is a stubborn man, but I love him the same. We can both be hard to deal with sometimes, but we are family.
One machine starts to beep, and his hand clutches his chest. I jump to my feet, and hurried words rush from my lips, “Are you okay? Grandpa, what can I do?”
I’m blindsided as two nurses rush into the room, pushing past me. I back up against the wall, both to get out of their way but also to have a brace to lean on. This isn’t what I expected… I’m used to emergencies. I am used to counting my breathes while I wait for the good news but I know this is different. This is my Grandpa. This is the man who taught me coffee is better with sugar in it - a lot of sugar. This is the man who taught me to live life to the fullest. This is the man who has the same smile as me, and yet, even though he is eighty and i know this is unavoidable, the reality of it stings.
