THE BEST CURE OF ALL
I laid in my hospital bed and bemoaned how sad my life was. I had been in here for nearly a month now and it was in the month of January, I had missed Christmas and New Years and it basically sucked. Worse still my mum and sister had already visited me that afternoon so I had no visitors to look forward to that night, just another evening watching those loathsome soaps on the TV in my private cubicle. No fun for a 25 year old young man like myself attempting to come to terms with chemotherapy and all the trappings that brings. I was over the worst of it, the doctors had caught it at an early stage and I had really high chances of it not returning. Still it was hard not to lie there and feel sorry for myself that night, it had been a bad end to last year and there weren't any signs this one would be much better.
Then with just the opening of the room door the night suddenly got a whole lot better. I looked up expecting it to be one of the nurses or doctors, with another course of pills or chats about my health (physical and mental) but was more than pleasantly surprised to see that my old workmate Julie was looking around the door and smiling infectiously at me.
Ah Julie Duncan. A babe amongst babes. An angel amongst angels and a female who I had carried a torch and a crush for since the moment I had first met her. Maybe it was just her looks, after all she was stunning. She had shoulder length light brown hair in a kind of Jennifer Aniston style (only she made it look even better than the Friends star), alluring, cloudy, hazel coloured eyes than twinkled with mischief and amusement in equal measures. And that figure! Five foot six, just the shapeliest of asses and a really nice chest with curves in all the right places. The fact she wore the tightest, lowest cut tops and skirts at work just made her all the more desirable. But better than all the natural gifts she had she was just the most pleasant, sweet, kind, thoughtful girl you were ever likely to meet.
When I started in the office we worked in she took me under her wing (despite being two years my junior) and nursed me through the first few, difficult month as and we immediately struck a strong bond. But I never made a play for her during the five years we worked together, never even thought about it. Firstly, she had a couple of boyfriends during that time, the break between one and the next wasn't too long and I just knew she wasn't the type to contemplate cheating on anyone. Secondly, I grew to love our friendship and with my track record with girls I just knew I would ruin things within weeks and we would end up not even friends. So we became and stayed close friends, yes that could happen between a man and a woman!
But last Summer when I was diagnosed with my cancer I decided to quit my job and devote all my time to getting better. What use was a job if you didn't have life? Also I was lucky enough to have had a rich father pass away a couple of years earlier and I could comfortably survive off his inheritance and the health insurance I had taken out for myself when I started working. I hadn't really kept up with my ex-workmates except Julie but even her I hadn't seen much in the last month as I had undergone the intense treatment at that most busy time of year.
"Hi David! Surprise! How're you doing?"
Goodness, just hearing her soft voice and seeing her white teeth in a wide smile was an instant fillip for me.
We chatted and caught up on her antics over Christmas before I rather stuck my foot in my mouth.
"And how's Alan (her boyfriend of the last two years)?"