Never Say Never

Genie Hales sat staring at the hospital wall fuming angrily as her
grandmother cried and screamed with hysterics.
“Hold him!” She yelled “Hold my baby boy!. He Doesn’t want this,
Genie thought to herself, can’t you see? He wants to die in peace! Just
let him go!
From across the room she sat and listened while one after another,
relatives gave in to her grandmothers desperate pleas and walked over to
his hospital bed to hold his hands and say a few words to him.
Suddenly her grandmother was there, beside her, crying out “Genie
your his only daughter. Go to him hold him!” Genie looked up into her
face and saw that every wrinkle had turned into a river, over flowing with
tears. In her grandmother’s eyes she saw a horrible pain and a
desperate longing to deny it all.
As much as she wanted to say no, she couldn’t. One last time she
looked up into her grandmothers face “Please.” she whispered quietly,
that decided her. Genie got up and walked slowly and deliberately to the
hospital bed. “Daddy” she whispered in a small voice, can he even hear
me?, she wondered silently. The only thing that told her he was even alive
was the steady beep, beep of the life-support monitor.
Genie took her dying father’s hand and held on to it, suddenly
desperate not to let him go. Though she could feel him struggling with her
grip, pulling his hand away she still held on. When she only held on
tighter, he snatched his hand away with the last of his strength.
Staring silently at her hands she saw that they shook and trembled.
Straightening her back she turned and walked from the room without a
backward glance. She had almost made it to the waiting room when she
dissolved into tears. I’m only 14 years old, how could my father die? she
had no answer for that question, and knowing that just made her cry
harder.
Genie backed up against the wall and slid slowly to the ground.
Knees drawn up to her chest, she cried herself into exhaustion, and finally
slept.
Her father walked over to her as she sat crying on her bed. Eight
year old Genie looked up as she heard him walk with light footsteps
toward her. She saw the pain and exhaustion in his face; she could her
his breath as he rasped for air.
As her father sat next to her and put an arm around her she
whispered, “Daddy will you never get better?”
Smiling fondly at his daughter he replied, “Of course I will, I’ll be
better someday even if I’m not with you when it happens.”
Genie wiggled closer to he father taking comfort from the fact that
he was with her now. “ Daddy when you’re gone will I never see you
again?” Her father smiled and kissed her lightly on the forehead, “Never
say never,” he told he quietly. "Never say never.”
Genie’s sobs quieted and she now felt safe and content in her
fathers arms. She knew that her father never lied, and because of this,
she knew one day she would see him again and he would healthy and
happy and he and mother and her would be a happy family again.
“Genie!”
“Genie, wake up” Genie opened her eyes and her mother’s tearstained
face came into view.
“Genie we’re leaving. Come on.” her mother said in an exhausted
and distant voice.
Genie got up off the floor as her joints groaned in protest. Sighing
she began to walk into the waiting room and then down the hall, toward
the exit.
“Wait a second, I forgot my bag in Dad’s room. I’ll meet you at the
car, I have to go get it.” Genie said.
Turning around she started to run back to her father’s room. As she
neared the room, she slowed down and thought, this could be the last
time I’ll ever see him alive. Genie turned slowly took a deep breath and
opened the door.
The only noise in the room was the beeping of the life monitor and
the faint rasping of the oxygen mask. Genie walked over hesitantly to her
father’s bed. Standing with her hands stiff at her sides, tears brimmed
over her eyes. She turned around and walked over to the far left corner of
the room where she had been sitting before, and took her bag. Slinging it
over her shoulder she started for the door.
“Genie...” said a voice so light and quiet she couldn’t be sure she
had even heard it.
“Genie...”, her father whispered.
Frozen in place Genie could not move. It seemed almost as if she
was held in that spot against her will. “Genie... never say never...” he
whispered. On the last word his voice broke and a single loud beep filled
the room. Alerted by the sound, nurses and doctors rushed into the room.
Genie walked from the room smiling because she now had a new
certainty, a new hope that she would see him again no matter what. She
would never be alone.