A Christmas Encounter a Lifetime of Longing

Emily.

"Hello, it's an emergency!" I spoke with my frail voice into the phone as I spoke with the state emergency number.

"He..he..He's having a stroke, sir!" I said, trying frantically to keep my breathing under check.

"Please be quick, he's just a kid" I said with years in my eyes.

"Continue doing CPR till we get there, we'll be there in 5 minutes" the man spoke from the other end of the phone.

I looked at my mom, fear was written all over her face. I understood why. She was doing her best not to lose her faith that her son would be fine. I looked into her eyes and I could read what was going on in it.

Dad.

We had lost dad a few months ago to the same thing my little brother was fighting for his life with right now.

Mom felt her world crash when dad died. He was her favorite until the day death took him from us, I still remember how he teased me about getting a husband before he gets too old.

Heart failure, that was what took him from us. We had spent so much on medication not knowing his fate had been settled. We were told he needed surgery, but due to the situation we were in, we had spent all our savings on medication for him.

Now we were facing the same trauma with my little brother.

* * * *

"Mrs Spencer?" I jumped up from my seat as I heard the doctor's voice. He was holding a file in his hand which I felt would be my brother's result. He wasn't smiling. My heart had started to beat fast.

"Can I have a moment with you?" I followed him closely to his office praying I would get good news from him.

"He's in a bad condition" He said after clearing his throat.

"But he's going to be fine, we have it under control" he said reassuring me.

"But...he'll be admitted for a few weeks in preparation for his surgery." He said without taking his eyes off my eyes.

"Surgery?" This can't be happening, that was one word I was praying I won't hear again in my life.

Not life repeating itself again, it was just like a few months back when I was told my dad would need to undergo surgery.

We were completely dried out financially from taking him to ine hospital to another, from spending money to buy his drugs and other things that he needed before we were told he needed surgery.

He died a few weeks before the date of the surgery.

I bet he didn't want us to go through hell looking for funds for his surgery.

"Why does he need surgery?" I asked.

"It's been 3 months since he started having this health issue, waiting any longer before removing the tumor could put him at greater risk, and low chances of surgery success." He said without still taking his eyes off mine.

"How long do we have for the surgery?" I asked him, during my dad's time..we had just a month to put up the bill.

"6 months, 7 months at most." I sighed deeply, thank God, at least I have enough time to work out the surgery bills.

"He'll be discharged in a few weeks, his medications would have been sorted out by then"

"Thanks sir." I said as I walked out of his office with a heavy heart.

"Good morning, mom" I said while rushing doing things I needed to do before leaving the house. The was a hot pancake on the kitchen shelf, I took one and nibbled at it.

"Hey, sweetie." She replied with a beaming smile on her face.