Chapter Forty Alternate B -- The Story

"Wake up Mr. Grant, your boy friend is here."

Beatrice the big night nurse sure had a lot of nerve. My boyfriend. My wanna be boyfriend maybe. Sid walked in the door looking at me with those eyes. Yeah. Those eyes. The eyes that made me want to crawl under the bed just to get away. They were so beautiful-- for a guy. Not that I would notice something like that. Or the cute way his eye was twitching right now. 

"I hate the hospital," I groaned.

"Brought you these," he said. Don't know how I could have missed Sid holding a dozen red roses in a vase. Must have been distracted somehow.

"I'll leave you two alone," Beatrice said, winking at me at she closed the door behind her.

My cheeks were burning. What the hell did she know anyway?

"Sorry about your car," Sid said. "Guess that llama did it in. Anyway, you'll be ok, that's what's important."

I nodded. Sid turned and set the roses on the table next to the window. As he bent over to straighten roses, I rolled over so I could see him-- I mean them-- better.

"What about the card?" I asked. He took it off the flowers and brought it over. Sid sat on the edge of the bed and handed it to me. 

"I've thought about this for a while," he said. "I've got something to tell you, but I want you to read the card first."

I knew what was coming. Shit. He was going to finally tell me. My heart started pounding. My faced got hot. Why did this matter so much to me? I opened the card, it read:

I have to tell you a story-- I know it will sound crazy, but I can prove that it's true. When I'm done, if you want me to leave I will, but I want you to think on it before you go deciding what's what, Okay?

I looked up and nodded. Then he told me the story of Mica and Blake's poem. Through the pain killer and a few sips of ice water, I listened without interruption.

I didn't say a word. Just nodded and frowned. It was all too fantastic to believe, but I did. I knew it was all true.

At last he finished and I laid there quiet, staring at my feet. Sid reached out and squeezed my hand. 

Next to my bed was the note I'd left in my car from the three yellow roses I delivered at the Lancaster house-- all written in ones and twos. I'd tried reading it before hitting that llama. I didn't need to know binary. I knew it-- "To see the world in a grain of sand..."

It's funny how sometimes you don't know what's in your own heart until someone shows you the way. I guess I was like an old vinyl record with the needle skipping, I needed a nudge. 

I squeezed his hand and looked into those eyes I'd been afraid to stare into for all these years. 

How could I keep from loving them.

"Want me to go?" he asked.

"No. I had something to tell you too."