Annie is horribly damaged by life.
She believes she cannot be loved.
Then Bud becomes her pen pal
and love finds them both...
in one way or another.
Every few days I will post a little more.
Soon you will be able to read it all.
If you absolutely can't wait to find out
what happens between Annie and Bud,
(and I hope you can't!)
you are welcome to click a link and buy an e-book or a paperback copy.
And now, today's post:
CHAPTER TWO
Part 2
Saturday, May 15, 2004
After the appropriate amount of whining, I hung up, staggered out
of bed, threw on some clothes, and clomped outside to wait. Fifteen minutes
later, Bennie and I had resumed our vigil in the Sacred Heart ICU waiting room.
We sat there for hours. Bennie was determined to learn of her
condition. I was determined not to abandon my best friend.
Around noon, an anxious
couple entered. They sat quietly together for several minutes, then began to whisper
between themselves. We overheard them mention a terrible accident and a girl
named Annie. Bennie, a born ambassador, approached them and introduced himself.
With a passion he hadn’t expected, the lady sprang to her feet and threw her
arms around him, squeezing him so hard he couldn’t breathe, and thanking him
through her tears for saving Annie’s life. The man stood up and gently pried
the lady away while offering return introductions. They were Paul and Linda
Mason, from Boston, Massachusetts. Linda was Annie’s sister.
Paul said that Annie was in a coma, and they planned to take her
back to Boston and care for her there. Bennie wrote his name and address on a
slip of paper and handed it to them, requesting that if she ever woke up, they
have her write him and let him know she was okay. They agreed and that was the
end of it – for about six months.
One day, Bennie came home from school and his mother handed him a
letter. It was postmarked from Boston and had his name scrawled on the front.
It was a letter from Annie, written by hand in a barely discernable script,
thanking him for saving her life. She reported she was doing fine and was
expected to make a complete recovery. Bennie immediately called me and shared
the happy news. I was thrilled for them both and once again figured that was
the end of it.
Bennie had other ideas. He wrote her back. She wrote to him, he
wrote to her again, and soon, without really planning it, they were in a
full-blown pen pal relationship. They wrote each other two to three times a
month, and always had lots to say. Over time, the newness of the thing wore off
and they cut back to once a month each, which is where it stayed right up until
the letter I held in my hands.
With heavy sadness, I realized Annie
didn’t know about Bennie and I was the one who had to tell her. I wanted to
sleep, to escape the pain, more than anything I had ever wanted in my life, but
my dad had taught me from the time I could crawl that duty to God, family and
friends was above all. It had to be done, and it had to be done now.
Sitting down at my computer, I wrote the letter.
