Tattoos: A Novel (33 page)

“Meaning that everything is paid for?” I said. I was more than thrilled to know that Jax didn’t have to worry about hospital bills because even though we could have easily funded his treatment, I was certain that he wouldn’t have wanted our charity. This made everything so much easier and not only that, he was also at the best hospital in the city. I figured that alone increased his odds of getting better.

“Gran says it’s Karma, you know all the volunteer work I do for the hospital,” he said.

“You mean you never got paid to work here?” I said astonished.

“Yeah,” he smiled. “I started volunteering because I knew what it was like to live through it all. I wanted to help some way. I guess just being here made me feel like I was making a bit of a difference.

I shook my head. “Who would have figured that us having damn cancer nine years apart would have brought us together.” It didn’t make sense how life worked out.

“Bad things can happen to good people, but good things can happen too,” he said, kissing my forehead.

“Like you going into remission again,” I whispered.

“Like me going into remission again. I know it’s early in the game, but so far the doctors are hopeful, we caught it early this time.”

“Really?” I said.

“Really. And despite Gran’s gloomy demeanor she knows I’m going to be okay, apparently she saw it in my hand…and she was right about you, so she’s got a pretty good track record with reading palms.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said.
 

At that very moment Gran walked back into the room, her arms were laden with drinks.

“Expecting a bunch of people?” Jax asked. He stood up and moved toward his grandmother, relieving her of her load. He placed the half dozen bottles on the bedside tray.

“Jackson, for goodness sakes you’re the patient here, start acting like it.”
 

Jax scooped Gran up into his arms as if she was as light as a feather pillow.

“Jackson stop that, for all that’s good and holy, you’ll pull out your IV.”
 

Jax released a laugh that seemed to come from a place deep in his belly. At that very moment Max and Zeke strode into the room.
 

“Well I guess that’s another way to flex your pecs,” Max, said arching an eyebrow.

“Yeah that’s Jax, always got to show off for the ladies,” Zeke said, waggling his eyebrows.
 

In that moment everyone in the room burst into laughter and me included. And I knew in my core that no matter what life threw at us we’d make it through. Like Jax had said, bad things happened to good people, but good things happened too.
 

All I could do was hope that the good followed the bad, and that my love could get him through it all.

Epilogue

Since Jax and Marilee started the Peace Project a lot has changed. Firstly, while Jax undergoes treatment Luanne has taken over for him. She’s promised both Marilee and Jax that as soon as Jax is better they’ll be in charge again. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but for now that’s how everything stands. But props have to be given to Luanne for all her work and efforts. It seems she’s a natural at charity work, which I think is as much a surprise for her as it is for Marilee, Jax and even Harold. Luanne has managed to pin down more corporate sponsors in one month than most charities can do in a year.

Harold has cut his hours at work and has decided to do something he’s always dreamed about doing but never thought he had time to do, Ballroom dancing. He and Luanne make quite the pair and in fact are going to compete in a few competitions. Yes they still look like a mismatched duo, but they don’t care they’re having fun.
 

Luanne managed to get a lifetime supply of bird seed for Mrs. Mori and also had some of her origami pieces auctioned off at a charity function. It was enough money that Mrs. Mori got a modest one bedroom apartment on the Strip. Sherly moved into Mrs. Mori’s old place in the Tunnels. Compared to sleeping under the bridge, Sherly thinks she’s died and gone to Heaven. True to his word the owner of Electric Blue, mounted Fred Ginger’s saxophone in the club. Sherly visits often, gazing at the old pictures of Fred. She misses Fred, but she’s slowly moving forward.

Lacy finished her GED and got a job working as a cashier at a gas station. She’s working part-time on getting her cosmologist certificate. The Peace Project is paying for the fees to the cosmology school, so Lacy can use her own money to get off the streets. She now lives in a rooming house with a couple of other girls, but she doesn’t plan on staying there for long.

Emma is still a witch and dresses like a living doll. Some things never change.

Tazleo has mostly stayed clean with only a few hiccups, nothing Gran couldn’t shake him out of. He has all the cable television he can watch and regretfully still collects balled up papers. He visits Jax two times a week at the hospital. It’s the only trips he’s made out of his apartment other than his rehab stints, as far back as anyone can remember.

Max and Zeke continue to play gigs at the bar. A girl named Rani who is temporarily replacing Jax on vocals. They plan on making the band a foursome when Jax gets back. Max has even included a few love ballads in the set, not that Jax will actually ever sing them since they’re a bit cheesy, but hey it doesn’t hurt to dream.
 

Joanna passed away a month after she was admitted to the End of Life facility. She went peacefully, nestled in a warm bed with food in her stomach, and someone to hold her hand.

By all accounts Jax is getting better. He underwent a cycle of chemotherapy and is rocking the bald look. Recently he had a bone marrow transplant and it seems to have taken. His blood counts are getting progressively better, things are definitely moving in the right direction.

 
Marilee remains cancer free. She graduated from high school and has enrolled in a local university and is working on her undergraduate degree. She plans on applying to law school after she graduates.
 

She and Jax are still madly in love.

Gran still tells fortunes when she isn’t preening over Jax at the hospital. All tea leaves, pendulums, tarot cards and divination tools, point to Jax making a full recovery. Life on the Strip keeps moving forward. Because in Gran’s words change is inevitable, all good times and bad times shift, you can only hope that the good lasts longer than the bad.

The Peace Project

Tattoos isn’t a story about dying, it’s a story about living.

The Peace Project is just a work of fiction but it doesn’t have to be. Little things we do make more differences in our world than we know. Sow seeds of peace and if you’re lucky someone will copy you and a chain of peace might take hold. At the very least you will feel good for a few moments, at the most you’ll touch a life forever. Miracles do exist, I’ve seen a few happen. Angels are all around us, I’ve met one.

You must be the change you want to see in the world~ Mahatma Gandhi
 

HUMAN + KIND = PEACE
 

My songs of Inspiration:

Radiohead- Creep

Clouds- Zach Sobiech

Beverly Mahood- Ooh Child

Labrinth- Beneath Your Beautiful(featuring Emeli Sandi)

Rhianna- Stay(featuring Mikky Ekko)

Pink-(Just Give Me a Reason) featuring Nate Ruess

Sarah Brightman-
 

Just about every song that she’s ever sung.

 
She never fails to snap me out of a bad mood.

Final Words

I always said that I would never write a book that took place in a hospital, clearly I was wrong. Over the eleven years I worked as a registered nurse in a pediatric hospital on the Orthopedic unit, I saw a lot of kids come and go. Some of them were there for a flash, some were regular fixtures. Though I didn’t work on the Oncology ward I’d been present for more than a few diagnoses that sent children there, and they never failed to change me in some way.
 

My deepest wish is that someday there will be a world where cancer doesn’t exist, and where children and so many others never have to suffer again. Until that day comes I will keep on hoping for a cure and cling to the belief that there is a better day ahead.

Denise Mathew