One Last Moment

Michael Walket, a musician, stands in a hospital room, comforting his wife as she was diagnosed with cancer a year before. He pleaded with the doctor to do anything and everything to help her, but it was of no avail, and they said that she would only have a year to live. Michael cried for days after hearing the news. All he could do was help his wife be more comfortable until the inevitable came.

“I am so sorry that I couldn’t do more to help you,” said Michael to his wife, “if I could, I would spend the rest of eternity looking for a cure.” His wife smiled when he said that and told him that it wasn’t his fault for what had happened. “You are too kind. I don’t know what I would do in life without you.”

“You are a decent man,” said his wife named Claire, “you will be able to move on and continue your career when I am gone.” Michael continued to stand by the window, looking at the rain and the nearby trees of the hospital, trying his best not to continue crying. “Remember that one trip we went on, the one where you fell off the boat.”

“I remember,” said Michael as he began to smile, “we went to the Mediterranean, and you wanted to go travel to the islands.” Michael began to remember that trip as not only did he avoid falling off a boat, but it was her birthday, and he wanted to take Claire somewhere unique and beautiful. “I wanted to go fishing while we were on the boat, but you said it was a terrible idea.”

“You don’t fish on a cruise boat,” said Claire, “that is just silly.” Claire then turned around and looked at a photo that Michael had brough to the hospital, which was a family photo of them with their two children, Kevin and Tina. They are currently in college, with Kevin studying engineering and Tina studying medicine. “We were good parents, weren’t we?”

“Well, our kids turned out alright,” said Michael, “actually they turned out better than alright as I heard that Kevin applied to work for a prestigious company, and was accepted.” The two of them chuckled as Kevin had worked tirelessly for that position and for his degree. “That kid is going to go do great things in the future. I know it.”

“How is Tina doing,” asked Claire, “I haven’t heard from her in a long time.” Michael then explained that Tina was doing great at her college and had a GPA of 3.8. “Well, she always liked medicine. I still remember when she would dress up as doctor, and treat her dolls and the family dog as patients.” Michael and Tina shared a light laugh as they spoke about their kids.

“Isn’t she also working for that one newspaper,” asked Tina, “she told us earlier that she wanted to work in news to talk about stories that few people heard about.” Michael said that she was and had been working at the newspaper for almost a year now. “That is good for her. It is important to have things in life to be passionate about.”

Michael that changed the subject. “Remember the one time that Kevin was in a traffic accident,” said Michael, “it had to have been the worst four months of our lives.” Claire said that she remembered that, and she was in his hospital bed for hours at a time, refusing to leave. “Fortunately, he recovered. I was scared for months then, and I don’t know what I would do if I lost both of you.”

“I think he recovered, because we were there everyday for him for physical therapy,” said Claire, “it is important that parents are there for their kids when they need them.” Michael replied by saying that he agreed with her, and that it was almost ten years ago and that Michael had made a full recovery since then. “He is a good kid. A strong kid who managed to recover from a terrible accident, and is currently studying at university with a 3.7 GPA.”

“Remember that one time in the trip to the Mediterranean,” said Michael, “where we were visiting one island, and we left Tina and Michael alone by accident there.” “By the time we noticed that they were missing, we were on the boat for almost a whole day as it sailed away from the island to the next one.” Claire looked scared as she began to remember that moment. “I apologize for bringing that up again, but did I ever tell you that it was your intuition that helped as find them.”

“I think so,” said Claire, “you begged the captain to go back, and looked for them, and he agreed to, but he could only afford us about two hours to search for them before he needed to leave.’ Michael then replied saying that she guessed that they would be at the ice cream store, which was their favorite place to go to in vacations. “Yea, they enjoy going to those places more than historical buildings and landmarks. The first place I thought that they would go to would be there.”

As the two parents continued talking, a doctor suddenly entered the room with unfortunate news. “I am sorry,” he said, “but you will need to leave the room now sir.” “We will need to perform surgery, and this could be our last option. Again, I am sorry that we don’t have more options for you.” Michael told the doctor not to be too hard on himself as he knew that he was trying his best.

“Don’t beat yourself over it doc,” said Michael, “I know that you and the staff are trying your best and I thank you and your team for all that you have done for me and my wife.” The doctor then thanked him for his thoughtful response. “Honey, I will be here for the rest of the day.” Claire replied by saying that she knew he would, and they shared a kiss before Michael left the room.

Michael was greeted by the doctor again six hours later, and it was then that he learned that it would be the last kiss he would share with his wife. “She is in a better place now,” Michael told himself, “she is.”