Only One Hour?

Only One Hour?

     “Did I hear you correctly? You said that I only had one hour before I am dead.” Randy talked with his doctor, Diana, as he finished getting dressed. He only had his shirt and shoes left to put back on.

     “You heard me right. I don’t like to tell my patients bad news like this, especially with someone so young, but I don’t like to beat around the bush with my patients.”

     Randy buttoned down his shirt. Then he unbuckled his pants, and opened them, just enough to tuck his shirt into his pants. “Are you sure about that?”

     “Unfortunately, I am. I re-checked your test results three times hoping I was wrong each time.”

     “I understand that I was going to die soon. When you called me, and asked me to come in here to get my results in person instead of over the phone, I knew it was bad news. But I didn’t think it was going to be so soon.”

     Randy had to sit back down to put on his shoes. When Diana didn’t respond Randy continued. “Most people who are going to die usually have a year to live. Some have nine months. Maybe even six months. At the least it’s three. But for me it’s one hour.”

     “I’m sorry about that too. But I have been trying to get into contact with you for almost a month now. I tried to call you at least three times a day.”

     “We were on vacation. My parents took me camping. It’s my favorite kind of vacation. I know they only did it because they thought it was probably going to be my last one. We didn’t have any phone service where we were at.”

     Diana had been writing while she and Randy talked. Suddenly she stopped. Then looked at Randy with a sadness on her face. “I’m not sure what to say. True, it wouldn’t have matter much if I had of gotten in touch with you before today. But you would have had more time to deal with it.”

     For several minutes’ no one spoke. Finally, Randy broke the silence. “I just thought of something. How am I going to tell my parents about this? They knew there was a great chance I was going to die. But learning it’s this soon is going to kill them too.”

     “I have been thinking about that too. That’s what I was writing down a few minutes ago. Different ways, the best way, to tell them. I’ll talk to them about this if you want me to.”

     “That’s not a problem when it comes to my mother. But my father isn’t here. And it’s going to take him longer than an hour to get here.” Randy got up and headed for the door. “Thanks for offering to help. But I think this is something I need to do.”

     Diana thought about it for a minute. “Actually, I think I can help you tell them both. We can have a conference call. Your father does work in an office doesn’t he.”

     “Yes, he does. I’m not sure exactly what he does there. But he does work in an office of some kind.”

     “I’ll set up the conference call. While I do that you need to think about what you are going to do with the rest of your life – even if it is only an hour away.”

     “I have been thinking about that.” Randy took a piece of paper out of his pocket. After unfolding it he handed it to Diana. “I made a list of what I wanted to do. And I broke it down from one year to three months. At the top of that list, the biggest thing I’m going to regret not being able to do before I die, is sex.”

     Diana scanned the piece of paper. “Normally, I wouldn’t agree with you having sex. Especially at your age. Thirteen is just too young. That’s the doctor in me talking. But under the circumstances this time I’m going to change my way of thinking about it. I think you should do whatever you want with the time you have left. If that’s sex, then it’s sex. Do you have any particular girl, or is it boy, in mind?”

     “It’s a girl. And there is one that I do like – a lot. But I would never ask her to do something like this. I don’t know if she would ever consider it, and if she did it would probably only be because I am dying. And I’m not going to put her through that. I would rather die a virgin than ask her to do something like that. She should save herself for someone who she might be her future with.”

     “That is very noble of you.” Diana smiled as she handed the piece of paper back to Randy. “I noticed there are several other things on your lists that you could do in an hour. While I’m setting up the conference call with your parents you might consider doing as many of them as you can.”

     “Actually, it’s about a half hour now.” Randy glanced over his list. “I don’t think I can accomplish any of these in that amount of time.”

     “You are being very brave about all this. I would have been blubbering like a teething baby if it was me dying.”

     “No, I’m not. I'm already dead – inside. It’s just that I have been expecting this for so long it’s not a shock to me anymore. The only thing that really shocked me was the amount of time I had left before I died.”

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     Randy got his conference call – barely. He got to tell his parents about him dying. And how soon it was really going to be. Randy also got to say good-bye to them. He died in his mother’s arms just as the conference call ended.