The following days I tried to do just that. I organized a couple field trips and a Christmas party- plus I snuck out to buy a car for Ryan, which was coming new sometime next week. I hoped it would be on time for his birthday, or for Christmas. It was kind of cutting it close to hope that they'd have it in three or four days, but with a little Christmas magic it might just happen.
The nicest day, however, was December 24th. We all awoke around ten and gathered in the living room, as we always do on Ryan's birthday, or anybody of the family's birthday, for that matter. I served some chocolate chip cookies that I'd managed to cook myself and we sipped hot chocolate, and then, we all brought our presents. Michael had drawn a card himself and had some kind of abstract finger painting in the cover. In the inside, it read: "Hapy berthdey Ryan, i lov you". I thought it was really cute. But then, I think most things Michael does and says are cute. Jamie gave Ryan a Ken barbie. She said: "Now you can play barbies with me!"
Ryan tried not to laugh. Joshua gave Ryan a new soccer ball, which was really thoughtful of him, as it was something that Ryan was sure to enjoy. And finally I handed Ryan the paper proclaiming him the owner of a new car, which would be arriving (hopefully) soon. We all had the rest of breakfast, and as soon as we were finished, the phone rang.
"Hello?" I asked, hoping it was Dr. Wilson.
It was.
"Hello, Mr. Carter, I thought I'd surprise you with a nice Christmas present."
"What is it?" I was surprised.
"Joshua's blood counts all look good and his absolute neutrophil is within good ranges, so you can spend Christmas fairly sure he's not going to get an infection one of these days."
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks so much, Dr. Wilson. I suppose that means that there is no relapse?"
"No, he's not relapsing." Dr. Wilson chuckled.
A minute later, after I'd hung up, the phone rang again. It was a group of Ryan's friends, wishing him happy birthday. Later, the phone rang for a third time.
"I've got the greatest idea, Nick!" It was Brian.
"What is it?" I asked, trying to sound excited.
"I know we haven't done concerts in, like, seventeen years, but I thought that we could organize a few concerts as a tribute to Joshua, and all the profits go to cancer research!"
I was speechless. "Wow, Brian! I'd never thought of it, but that's a great idea!"
"AJ, Howie and Kevin thought so, too." Brian exclaimed.
"Wait, when is all this going to be?"
"I don't know..." I could just picture Brian shrugging. "Maybe around March or so. That would give us plenty of time to prepare and promote the concerts."
"Well, that's great, we'll discuss it soon, okay? Right now I've got to go, we're celebrating Ryan's birthday."
"Oh, yeah, and the guys and I say happy birthday, 'kay?"
"Okay."
"Our presents should arrive in the mail one of these days."
"I'm sure he'll be really excited about that."
"Yeah, I hope so. It took us forever to find the perfect gift."
"Okay, well, talk to you soon, okay?"
"Yeah. Oh, and by the way, is Joshua doing okay?"
"He's just great."
"Well, I'm glad. Goodbye."
"Bye, Brian."
Now I'd finally feel like I'd done something to help Joshua. I was really excited about getting onstage again, although it felt different somehow. It wasn't just entertaining a bunch of girls anymore. Now we'd be helping some kids like my son get better. It seemed more important, for some reason.
Author's Chapter Notes:
I'm sorry it took so long! Here's the next chapter. Please let me know what you think! =)
