Mr. Bellows

Thirteen, thirteen is the number that puts me on edge, the number that makes my palms sweat and my teeth clench. I tap the table in front of me, and the dealer throws down another card. My eyes are watery now, my mouth is dry, and my wallet is light. Walking away is the smart thing to do, yet my mind keeps giving me visions of what could be, but isn’t. The dealer shows nineteen, I have 20, the pot is mine. I loosen my clenched jaw, and take a short breath of relief, as I collect my chips and step away from the table.

Colorful lights and loud sounds are all around me, people are yelling, cussing, smoking, drinking, this isn’t the kind of scene I’m used to being in, I’ve got to leave. Heading toward the exit door, I hit the chip exchange and collect my money, Ten-Thousand dollars gained tonight. I smile, “a great night at the tables, but a lot of cash to carry”. I exit the building door, the alley I stepped into is dark and muggy. Graffiti stains the walls around me, and there’s a man asleep on the ground to my left. “Underground gambling” I thought to myself, “If anyone at my job finds out, I’m done for”. I leave the dark alley, and start heading down the crowded street of NewYork City.

My car is a couple blocks away at a parking meter. As I approach my 1997 Honda Civic, I see that 10 minutes is all that was left on my meter, it was time to get in my car and head home. Just outside of NewYork City, I live in a three-bedroom home, not that I have family, I’ve never liked the thought of responsibility for other life forms. I pull into my long dirt driveway, my porch light senses my car and turns on. It’s a really dark night out, the sky is glowing from the city lights, but the trees block any light from showing my home.

I walk into my house, and head to my bedroom and approach my large portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The portrait helps me remember the sacrifices and pain my ancestors went through to create the real American dream. I take the portrait off the wall to reveal a safe of all the money I’ve been collecting and saving, and I place the ten-thousand dollars I won into the safe.

The house smells of coffee, “it must be 10:00pm already” I think to myself, as hang Dr. King back on the wall. I walk into the kitchen to find my 10:00pm single cup of coffee that is perked on a timer. The refrigerator is low on food, and all of the freezer food is over-froze and bad. “Another night of ramen noodles” I think to myself as I fill a pot to boil water.

I take my coffee and Ramen into the other room where I sit down at my table. Every night while I drink my coffee, I write my thoughts down in my little black notebook. I’ve had several like it since I was a kid, and I’ve always kept track of thoughts. “Today work was the same as yesterday, and the day before, and the day before. It’s exhausting to know that at 25 years old, there’s no true time to live. Considering I never do much, I decided to head to the casino with $2,000 from the safe, and came back with an additional $8,000, so my medical expenses are even closer to being covered. Speaking of, I have a doctors appointment in the morning for a follow up.” I put my pen and notebook aside, and finish my food and coffee, then head to bed.

The obnoxious sound of geese migration fills the morning air, sounds of wild life surround my home and wake me up early every morning. I head downstairs and make myself an instant oatmeal and a banana, I like to keep breakfast light so I don’t feel full to early. After breakfast, I head outside to start my car, if it doesn’t run for at least 20 minutes every morning, it drives horrible. In that time I take a shower and get dressed.

The repetitive Newyork lifestyle bothers me, traffic and hatred fills the streets as people rush and scream at each other on their way to wherever they may be going, it’s draining. I approach the doctors office and park my car.

Inside at the counter, a pretty lady of Latin-origin sits. “Mr. Bellows, here for your 10:00 appointment?” She asks me as I approach the counter. “Yeah, I guess the last date I had with the Doctor went well, we get to see each other again.” I jokingly said with a sigh. “Grab a seat in the waiting room, the doctor will be with you shortly” she states back.

The doctor walks out of an electric door with a clipboard in his hand. “Mr. Bellows” he said. I jumped up and said “right here” and followed him to room number 3, Radiology. In most cases a nurse would usually check vitals, but in my case, the doctor just wanted to get to the point.

I sat down on the doctor bed covered in cheap paper, and the doctor sat in the chair across from me. He looks at me and starts speaking. “Mr. Bellows, after the last tests re ran, we realized that your cancer has spread much more through your body than we expected. At this point in time, we don’t believe we will be able to continue chemotherapy, there is no cure and it’s hard to give you this news, but you have 2 months left to live at most.” His eyes tear up, I could tell he had a hard time giving me such hard news, especially at my young age.

“It’s okay Doctor” I say to him with a small smirk. “I’m not exactly excited about dying, but my time on this Earth has never been peachy.” I explain as I wipe a single tear from my face. My doctor is aware that I was an orphan from a young age, jumping from home to home. He was the same doctor that diagnosed me with cancer the first time, at the age of 22. “Would you like us to reach out to any friends or anything?” The doctor asked. “No.” I said. “This is something I must do myself.” He then lists off psychologists to speak to if needed, and let me go my own way.

On my way out the building, I over hear a mother, around 30, speaking to her husband with their child on her hip. She states to him that her cancer can be removed, but the surgery cost after insurance is twenty-thousand dollars. I don’t have much left to do, but I knew I couldn’t allow that child to lose their mother.

I spoke to the gentleman and explained my own situation to him. “Cancer is the scariest monster to ever exist” I explain. It’s taking my body over and I can no longer continue treatment. The man looks at me with sympathy, but I explain that I didn’t need pitty. “You see, I’d like to use all the money I have saved for my treatments, to remove the cancer from your wife, so that you and your family can have many more years together.” The man looks at me in shock and says “My wife and I are complete strangers to you, why are you sticking your neck out so much for us? Is there something you want?” “No. My entire life has been disappointing, it led me to not liking other people, so I only focused on myself, because I only had myself.” I said. “If I’m going to die, I want to be able to replace the life I could have had, so that being said, please allow me to pay for the surgery.”

The last steps were complete, my cash was turned into a check made out to the family, so they could cover her surgery. The gentleman calls me 3 days later to tell me they were heading into the operating room, and to thank me for helping their family out. I grabbed my jacket and ran out the door and got to the hospital where the operation was taking place. I sat in the waiting room outside of the room where the lady was getting her surgery.

“Mr. Bellows.” It was the husband. “My wife’s surgery was a success, all the cancer was removed, she’s in recovery now. My family have you to thank. We were scared our child would grow up without a mother. “I understand that all to well” and explained my life to him. Everything all made sense to him at that point. He grabbed me hard by my neck and hugged me. I felt his tears rolling down his face, onto my neck, and down my back. I hugged him back. “Thank you for letting me help you keep what I never had. I hope the best for you and your family.”