Laying on the couch on a lazy Saturday afternoon, Kerry Bemer daydreamed. Her thoughts were interrupted when her phone started to ring.

"Hello, Kerry speaking," she answered in the business-like tone her mom had taught her.

"Hey Kerry! It's Lucy." Delighted to hear her best friend's voice, she perked up from her lazy mood.

" Hey can you find the ad section of The Lions Press then come over right away?" Lucy asked.

" Sure… why?" But all Kerry heard was a click in the phone. "That's odd, Lucy's never hung up on me before." She went and found the section of the local newspaper the Lucy wanted, then left for her friend's house, newspaper in hand.

When she reached Lucy's house, she rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer. When little Ruthie did, she replied, " Hey, I'm to see Lucy." Seconds later, Lucy appeared and pulled her upstairs into her room.

" You got the paper?" Lucy asked and waited for Kerry to pull it out. "I gotta show you something."

Kerry noticed an open diary lying on Mary's bed. "You're reading Mary's diary?

"I came in to ask her something, but she wasn't here. Then I noticed it lying there. Read this entry."

*Diary*

Dear Diary,

Mom just told me today. She recently found she has cancer! What if she dies? I'm only 16! We decided not to tell Lucy yet.

~Mary~

"I can't believe it! Mom has cancer? And they didn't tell me? As Mary said, what if she dies?" Lucy said in a distressed voice.

"Oh man, that's so sad! But remember, I'll always be here for you. By the way, what did you want the ads for?" wondered Kerry.

"I found that section under her diary, but an article was clipped out. I wanted to see what it was."

Kerry handed the paper to Lucy. As the flipped through the paper, the found the ad and read it.

It said, New and effective cancer treatments costly but worth it. Discovered by Dr. Matthew T. Joniment.

"I hope that Mary cut this out for mom," Lucy confided in her friend.

**

*

*