Angel

16 - Noreen

After another frustrating day of trying to strong-arm the insurance company and find gold amongst the dross of candidates to replace me, I went over to Jeremy and Ethan's apartment. Stopping at MacQuarie's Beanery, I got a tea for the two of us and a hot cocoa for Ethan.

Ethan's diet was all over the place. Sometimes he could have candy or a hot chocolate, other times he couldn't. I always checked with his father, grandmother or a nurse before he saw what I had. If he couldn't have the hot chocolate, I made sure I had a comic book with pirates or some sort of toy from Spain.

Shifting the hot cocoa, I freed my hand and knocked on the door. A few minutes later, I knocked again. Eventually, Jeremy opened the door. He looked awful. His eyes were bloodshot and he seemed way too pale.

"Jeremy?"

He was about to say something and just stopped. Looking to the ceiling and swallowing hard, he tried again. "Can you... Can the Wish Mission get us to a better hospital? Can we cancel Spain and just... I don't know... Get better doctors? Just cancel everything, that's all we need. I... I..."

Jeremy's breathing was laboured and he stared at me so intently that I almost took a step back.

Instead, I moved closer.

"Tell me what's going on."

"They..." He took a breath. "They said it's terminal. That there's nothing... Nothing they can do except make him comfortable. They... Ethan's..."

I wrapped my arms around him and he began weeping, holding me so tight I thought I might crumble. I refused to break. Not in his arms, not in my heart. Clenching my eyes closed, I took four deep breaths and then mentally counted from ten down to one. Jeremy eventually stepped back, wiped the tears on his sleeve, and took my hand. We went inside.

"Dad? Who's here?"

Jeremy turned to me. "Do you mind?"

I wasn't sure what he meant. "Of course not."

He led me to Ethan's bedroom.

"Hey, bud. Noreen wanted to come in and see you. I told her your room's just for official pirates, but she insisted."

The boy smiled wanly. "She can stay."

I kept my shit together as I sat near him and reached into my purse.

"Today we have, drum roll please, The Count of Monte Cristo. He's sort of like a pirate and the comic looked cool."

I took it out and put it on the bed next to him.

Leaning to his left, he looked at the cover. "Can you do the voices?"

"I..." Closing my eyes for a moment, I took a breath through my nose and looked at Ethan. "Absolutely. If your dad says it's okay, there might even be a hot chocolate in it for you."

So, I put a lock on my heart and did silly voices as I read the comic book.

"Are they Spanish?"

"It's, um, mostly set in France. Pretty close to Spain."

From time to time I looked over at Jeremy, who watched us from a chair in the corner, his broken heart clear and obvious. I stayed until Jeremy told me his parents were coming by. I didn't want to intrude on their time, so I told Ethan I'd see him soon and headed home, crying the entire drive.

I must have spent ninety minutes just staring at the wall. Finally, I picked up the phone.

"Mom, I need some help."