The Key to Big Change

Mary

The night before was a hard one for Mary. She had just gotten home from her 12 hour shift at the hospital. Her back was aching, and feet cramping as she walked into her home with one wish: to crawl in bed and never get back out. But as she walked through that door, her day job ended and her other job began: adulting. Mary knew she had a hamper full of laundry, a sink full of dishes, dinner that needed to be made... and that was just for the night.

The mail was sitting on the counter when she entered the kitchen. Mary almost started crying as a painful heart break bursted though her body. She thought to herself, “Another bill?” All the agony that came from that hospital might be worth it, if she got paid better (one would think a hospital job would pay better).

Mary was a dreamer. Like Walter Mitty, everywhere she was physically, she left- in her mind. Every life you could imagine; Mary has been there. A spy in Europe, car chasing through the city streets. A New York City executive, walking the sidewalks with her heels and brief case. A young heiress, bombarded by the paparazzi as she leaves the club. Or even scenarios that are way more low key. A stay at home mom of 3 living in a suburb of Atlanta. A yoga instructor on the beach of Miami, getting her favorite cup of coffee, after her sunrise class.

Mary didn’t know which one of these lives she like better. All she knew was that she wanted any of these other lives than her own.

The Day

Mary woke up the next day the same way she went to bed, in pain and depression. She felt nauseous and her head banged as she got out of bed in the pitch black- because yes, she woke before the sun. These early mornings made her sick; although, they were better than the alternative: nights. The only highlight to the mornings, was her coffee; warm, comforting, tasty. Although her morning coffees weren’t a bolt of energy like she needed, they were like a hug and a motivational speaker saying, “you can do this”, with every sip. Coffee was the only thing that kept her pushing forward.

Mary walked through the large hospital, to her unit. As she walked down the hallway, she peaked at the rooms to see which ones were occupied, as she often did. She noticed that her favorite patient Mrs. Griswold was still there. Mary was relieved, Mrs. Griswold and her had a connection. Mrs. Griswold didn’t like anyone else, she wouldn’t cooperate with any of the other nurses. Mary had no idea why Mrs. Griswold liked her, but she wasn’t gonna question it. Mrs. Griswold often invited Mary in to talk. So when Mary saw that she was still here, she thought this was the perfect excuse to hide in a room and not have to face the other scary nurses.

Once Mary sat down all her stuff and received report, she ran straight to Mrs. Griswold’s room.

Mrs. Griswold has been in this hospital for quite a while. She has lung cancer, and she had it for a while. Everyone in the hospital knew this was the end. Although this made Mary sad because she made a friendship with Mrs. Griswold, Mary knew that she was in a lot of pain and over it all.

When Mary entered the room, Mrs. Griswold looked bad, she had declined last night. The nurse giving her report, told her that Mrs. Griswold had a rough night and that they weren’t expecting her to make it to tomorrow. Mary went and sat in the chair next to her bed and picked up her hand. Mrs. Griswold opened her eyes and quickly noticed it was Mary. Her eyes sparkled as she squeezed Mary’s hand tight.

“Mary”, she said in an endearing tone.

“Good morning. I heard you weren’t feeling good last night”, Mary said concerned.

“My doll”, she started rubbing her thumb across the back of Mary’s hand, “it’s not looking much longer for me”.

Mary tightened her grip and slumped over in heart ache.

“Don’t cry for me, dear”, Mrs. Griswold consoled, “I’m over this place. 87 years is too long in this hell hole. People like you and me, we’re different; we can’t relate, we can’t deal, we don’t belong here.”

“Take me with you”, Mary replied with a slight giggle.

“No, my doll, your work here isn’t done. Trust me, you have so much to offer this world”, Mrs. Griswold paused and took a deep breath, “its hard for you because you’re in the wrong place. You’re like a circle block trying to fit in a square hole. You need to think bigger, you need to do bigger, you’re meant to be bigger. I can feel it in your soul, you are here to make big changes”.

As a single tear streamed down Mary’s face she said “thank you”. This was the kind of thing Mary needed; someone to believe in her, to show that her life has meaning. No one in Mary’s life had ever shown her that before. Although she didn’t quite believe Mrs. Griswold, it was nice to hear.

“Mary, would you grab my purse?” Mrs. Griswold gestured to the dresser in the corner. She dug through it, pulling out random pieces.“Ah ha” she exclaimed calmly. She pulled out a key and hung it in front of Mary’s face. “Take this” she demanded.

Mary grabbed the key and examined it. The key had a tag attached with the numbers 136 written on it.

“Mary, I need you to do me a favor” Mrs. Griswold said seriously. “I haven’t been able to finish my big change.” She paused and took a deep breath, “it’s no coincidence that I ended up in this hospital, on this unit, with you as my nurse. We are meant to meet. There are still things I need to finish in this world and clearly my time is up. I need you to finish them for me.”

“What’s your big change Mrs. Griswold?” Mary asked in condescending tone. Mary was used to her elderly patients saying things that made no sense- well honestly, she got weird conversation from all age groups. She sure wasn’t expecting this kind of talk from Mrs. Griswold; she seemed to have her head on straight, but Mary knew death could change someone’s mental state.

“Listen, this is a key to a safety deposit box at the bank on the corner down the street”, Mrs. Griswold pointed out her window. “The password is ‘Cornelius’, everything you need is inside.”

“Oh, okay. You wanna tell me more about it?” Mary thought that it was a fun game to see how far her patients would take these delusions, she did this often.

“Mary, just tell me you can do this” Mrs. Griswold demanded.

“So what, you want me to go to the bank, open your safety deposit box, and finish your big change?” Mary said in a sassy tone.

“Yes, Mary. You’re the one whose supposed to take it over for me. You need to do this” Mrs. Griswold said impatiently. “It’s you”. Mrs. Griswold started to fade away the moment she stopped.

“Mrs. Griswold?” Mary said concerned. She shook her chest for a response. But Mary already knew. She took a moment to catch her breath and wipe her couple of tears, then covered her face with her sheet and walked out to tell the other nurses.

Lunch

Walking to the time clock Mary was thinking about what she was gonna eat for lunch. She definitely was hungry, but at the same time her stomach was unsettled from Mrs. Griswold.

In mid step, Mary changed her mind and doubled back to the break room. Not knowing what she was doing grabbed the bag of emergency almonds she kept in her locker and her car keys. She decided she was leaving. She only had a half an hour and wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

She briskly walked back to the time clock, punching out and rushed out the stairwell door. She felt the stairwell would be faster than the elevators. She got to her car in record time, and drove off down the street that Mrs. Griswold pointed to. This was a pretty busy street and held all of the good lunch spots, so traffic was prime at this time. She hit two stop lights and had to wait for one bus stop. She saw a sign for a bank, one she wasn’t familiar with, and pulled into the parking lot.

This bank wasn’t one of those big named ones you see all over the place. She never really paid much attention to it before, but then again, she rarely went this far down the street. Pulling the vertical rod on the heavy, glass door, she knew that this was a fancy bank- vertical rods are very classy. Heels clicked on the tile floor as one teller walked across the room to a side office. It was cold, probably from all the tile. That was another “fancy tell” for Mary- fancy places were always cold from all the tile.

She walked up to one teller asking, “do you have safety deposit boxes here?”

“Um... yes”, the man in a stuffy suit said in an annoyed tone.

“I was given access by a loved one. She gave me this key, the name is Beatrice Griswold.” Mary said with false confidence. She knew she had to play it off like she was supposed to be here.

The man typed furiously, “and the password?”

“Cornelius”, Mary said rushed as she looked at her watch.

“Follow me” The man said, still annoyed.

He brought her back to a waiting room, told her to sit on a fancy, velvet couch and unlocked a drawer full of neatly organized keys. Grabbing one, he gestured that she follow him through the big door. In numerical order, they walked a wall of lockers. They reached 136, “this is a double lock system, I will unlock mine and you must unlock yours.” He said as he stuck his key in the lock. Then Mary proceeded. The locker opened and the man pulled out steel box and sat it on the table. “I will give you a moment of privacy”. Then the man walked out.

Mary open the box, taking a deep breath, not knowing what she had just gotten herself into. A stack of cash, a key, a little black book, and what looked like a deed were in the box. She opened the book and on the fist page read, “My big change is to make another’s big change possible. You have been chosen to be that person. Here lies the deed to my investments in real-estate: many buildings in New York. A key to my penthouse, for you to live. This should give you no financial worries so you may take on whatever change you would like to make. I also provided $20,000 for the mean time, till things get settled. All I ask is that you continue the change. You must set up a safety deposit box for the next generation of big changers.” The rest of the book was detailed plans of execution for this inheritance.

As Mary carefully read the details of these plans she heard a faint alarm. She dropped the book and looked up; it got louder, then louder. Suddenly Mary was in the break room, with the alarm on her phone telling her that her lunch had ended.