“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” -Scott Adams
The next day, Mark flew into the room without Cameron noticing. He spoke to show his presence, “Hi, I have those CDs and player for you. There’s four different ones. All jazz, except for one blues CD.”
She was surprised to her he was in the room. Her mother had just brought her some clothes to wear besides her hospital gown and she had put on the most comfortable pair of shorts and a sweatshirt. She felt bashful and her cheeks, she assumed, were bright red.
Mark didn’t notice as he placed the CDs on her tray in front of her and plugged in the player. He popped the blues CD in and pressed play. It blared throughout the hospital halls before he had the chance to turn down the volume.
“I hadn’t realized it was on that loud.” He said, once the volume was down farther.
“It’s okay. That woke me up.” She said while holding back a laugh.
“I just put the blues CD in the player. I hope you enjoy it. I have to do some work on your chart, so I’ll listen with you and let you know when I’m finished. There was a rustling of papers and then a sound that could have been a pen on paper or someone scratching their arm, but she assumed it was the pen.
As the CD played she imagined seeing the band play and then a field of beautiful flowers, as if she were running through this field with Roger. Roger!
“Do you know what happened to my dog, Roger?” She asked in a hurry.
“Your mother said to tell you he’s at her house with Sheila, her maid.” Mark said casually.
“Okay,” she sighed in relief, “Thank you so much.”
“It was your mother.”
“Well you told me.”
“Well okay then.” He got back to his work.
Later he popped in a jazz CD and went to another room to help a patient go to the bathroom. She was alone with her thoughts. What would she do to “curb the boredom” like Mark said. She had to find a way to or she would surely die from it.
Mark came back in the room in a hurry, “I’ve got it!”
“Got what?” she said confused.
“Got an idea for you to curb the boredom. Have you ever played an instrument?”
“How would I see it?”
“When you get used to an instrument, you can find your own way.”
“Oh. I’m not really sure I want to try, but I guess I will. It doesn’t sound easy.”
“Once you know it, it will become more and more easy as you go.”
“Okay. I’ll try it.”
“I’ll stop by my house on my lunch break. It’s just down the street. And pick up my clarinet. We can try a jazz instrument, first, then if you don’t like it, we can try something else.”
“Okay. Sounds good.”
He left for his lunch break after about thirty minutes. When he returned he smelled like fries and burgers. She wanted something besides mushy hospital food really bad, now.
He said the thing she wanted to hear most in the world right then, “I brought you some outside food. Don’t tell.”
“Of course I won’t tell. You’re awesome.”
“Okay. I didn’t know what you wanted on your burger so I brought all the ingredients in a separate bag. All in little baggies.
“I like it plain with ketchup, but that was really nice of you.”
“Do you want the cheeseburger or the regular hamburger?”
“Cheese please.” She laughed.
“We like our burgers the same way. Good thing I brought two cheeseburgers and one regular. I’ll give the hamburger to nurse Michelle.”
“Awesome. Thanks.”
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