The woman looked up as he entered the room. She looked slightly pale, but her eyes had a fire behind them that Greg couldn't begin to understand. She was beautiful! She had curly hair and big, dark blue eyes. When she spoke, her voice had a nice, smooth ring to it.
"Yes?"
Greg didn't know why he was there.
"Hi. My name is Greg. Greg Sanders. I don't know why I'm here."
"Honesty's good."
Greg nodded in casual agreement, "So... what's wrong?"
She didn't seem to be insulted by his intrusion; she just smiled in a faint way and said, "I have no kidneys."
"Ah. I'm no doctor, but I think that's bad."
She smiled her full, gorgeous smile and invited him in to sit down.
"My name is Shannon. I don't get many visitors. Why are you here?"
"I was giving blood." Greg said.
"That's really great. That's really good to do. So, who are you? What brings you across to my humble hospital room?"
"Boredom."
"Ah," She said, "I think I've felt that before."
He laughed and said, "Yeah."
An awkward pause led Shannon to ask, "So, Greg Sanders the Bored, who are you? What's your story?"
"Well, I'm 27 years old, live in an apartment near the suburbs of Las Vegas, I work in the Las Vegas Crime Lab and I enjoy long walks on the beach, volleyball, and watching 'The Bachelor'."
She smiled and said, "Well, I am 25 years old, live in a hospital room and have for the past nine months, where I enjoy typing on my laptop and watching Maury Povich. I am currently top of the list for a kidney and I did watch 'Joe Millionaire', but if you tell anyone that I will be forced to kill you."
Greg grinned. He had a feeling he would be seeing more of Shannon in the future.
--
TWO DAYS LATER:
"Greg, you are cheating." Shannon said, trying to look at his poker hand.
Greg had spent the entire weekend with her and it was already Sunday afternoon. They were playing poker and Shannon was losing horribly.
Shannon used to be a teacher but fell ill to cancer early in life. She lost both her kidneys to it before it went into remission and all she could do was wait for a kidney to come her way. She said it was sad but she hoped that someone would die and give her their kidneys, but Greg could see were she was coming from. She couldn't leave the hospital because she was permanently hooked to machines.
Greg identified so easily with this woman. He knew they would, under different circumstances, date, and he was highly attracted to her. It was so funny, because when he was with her the hole that was still present was gone. He trusted this woman wholeheartedly, and he knew many would roll their eyes at his hopeless, boyish crush. Even he would have before. He was pretty sure even Shannon would if he had enough guts to tell her.
Greg smiled and had to head home when he walked out of the door and right into a nurse.
"Hi?" Greg said, questioning the funny look on her face.
"You friends with Shannon?" She asked.
"Yes."
A sad look filtered on to the nurse's face.
"What?" Greg asked, and then realized something, "Does... does Shannon have any hope to get a kidney?"
"Oh, we get plenty of kidneys," She said, looking at her chart that was hanging outside the door, "But she can't have any of them."
"Why not?" Greg asked, afraid of the answer.
The woman flipped through the pages on her chart and said, "AB negative."
"What?"
"She is AB negative blood type. We rarely get AB negative blood, nevertheless an AB negative kidney." She walked away bluntly without a benediction, and Greg stared at her back in disbelief.
He remembered a conversation they had yesterday about how terrible it was to live in a hospital. Greg had just recently been in this very hospital because of the explosion, and he told Shannon the entire story. After he had said that, she had become rarely silent as she looked at him. He showed her the faint scar on his face and she slowly reached out to touch it as she ran her finger down his cheekbone she began to speak again.
"I have been in this same bed for about a year. December of 2001. God, will I remember that Christmas. I had to get both of my kidneys removed the day afterward. What's today? June 23rd? of 2003? I learn to stop counting after awhile."
She had stopped there, but the pain and need Greg saw in her eyes haunted him in his sleep that night. He really loved this woman. It had been three whole days, and Greg thought he was in love.
How is that possible?
"Domine sus temores, o ellos lo dominarĂ¡n." ("Master your fears, or they will master you.") I haven't learned much Spanish so sorry if I butchered that one.
