The Lasting Wish

Young Mrs. Evans was loved by all her students, and each year was proclaimed to have been the best teacher in existence by the children’s standards. Still only twenty-eight, the fourth grade girls always told her she was pretty and the boys would always listen as she spoke… But no student, whether boy or girl, was more fond of Mrs. Evans than little Lilly Jones. Each day after recess Lilly would bring in a handful of dandelions to put on her favorite teacher’s desk, saying that the flowers weren’t really weeds as people say, they were simply misunderstood. At the end of the year Lilly brought some more dandelions, only this time with a card... One of the cheap inspirational cards that they sell at gift-shops to small children with pictures of scenery and cheesy quotes about life. This one had a picture of a lily flower and stated: ‘Continuing to wish for a better tomorrow’. Thinking nothing of it, Mrs. Evans accepted the gift gratefully, throwing the weeds away after Lilly left and placing the card carelessly into her purse.

Just one month later, around the end of June, Mary Evans was diagnosed with cancer. She cried, her husband consoled her, and for two whole years Lilly’s card was forgotten amongst the depths of the teacher’s purse. Mary had the support of her friends, co-workers, and all her students as she started chemo treatments and was forced to adorn a wig… But Mrs. Evans never saw Lilly again after that summer. They told her Lilly moved away, but how could she believe that when the child had never even said goodbye?  

Then the end of her treatments came, and the whole school rejoiced for she was now good, safe, and healthy once more. On the last session, Mr. Evans took his wife and waited in the lobby as she went in, anxious for the end. As he waited he fidgeted in place, fiddling his thumbs, tapping his feet, and rocking his chair all before falling asleep, his head resting against the wall. Suddenly he was awoken moments later by woman with a fake-looking blonde wig as she barged through the door, completely out of breath and clutching a young girl to her side. Sitting the child down in a chair across the room from Mr. Evans, the woman told the child to stay and then turned to the receptionist’s desk where she begged to still be taken in even though she was over an hour late. The receptionist, looking sadly at the child, agreed to help and left with the woman who was gasping with thanks.

  As she left the girl began to cry... She seemed no older than twelve and had long brown hair that would have been very pretty had it not been so tangled and messy. Mr. Evans was then overcome with sympathy and walked over to sit by the girl, patting her back as she sobbed. As the receptionist returned she eyed him with suspicion, but Mr. Evans didn’t mind as his intentions were kindly and pure. He learned the girl’s name was Molly Simon and that she was thirteen years old. He was told that the woman was her mother, that she didn’t have a father, and that ever since they had to start paying for chemo treatments her and her mom had fallen into hard times. Mr. Evans said very little, he only sat and listened, giving the child a shoulder to cry on and an ear to talk to, but after they were through talking she began to weep. Unable to properly console her, Mr. Evans went to get his wife’s purse, which she had left with him, in order to look for a packet of tissues. Digging to the very bottom of the bag, he found not only the tissues but Lilly’s card as well. Smiling, he forgot the Kleenex packet and walked back over to Molly just as his wife was returning, tired and weak. Mr. Evan was overcome with sympathy for the child before him and handed her the card with pat on the back. He then left with his wife- helping her out the door. Molly just stared after them, holding the card tightly in her hand as the receptionist observed from a distance.

Three years later Molly turned sixteen and her mom had managed to beat all the odds, finally getting better. They went everywhere together and her mother always helped with her driving after school. One day as they were going down the road they were stopped by a red light. The only car on the street at that time, Molly’s mother was impatient to go, but Molly herself was calm and collected, glancing down at the steering wheel to make sure her hands were in the right position. Her mom sighed loudly and Molly smiled, but it then faded from her face as she noticed the man standing a few yards from the car on the sidewalk. He wore baggy jeans and a long coat with matted hair and a grizzled face. Noticing her gaze, her mother told her not to stare, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the unlucky man with the cardboard sign. It said that anything would help and God bless. Molly was then overcome with sympathy, and she turned to the side window and she started to peel Lilly’s card off the glass where it had been taped on for good luck. Molly’s mother became distressed, asking her what she was doing, and telling her that the light was green, and wondering why Molly was taking down her lucky card. Molly only smiled once more, saying that he needed it more than they do and rolling down the window. The man looked up and walked over, watching Molly curiously as she leaned out the window and handed him the card. He looked down at the odd little piece of paper that seemed so meaningless and old, wondering what it was for and about to ask only to realize that the teenage girl had already driven away.

The man’s name was Sam and ever since he was fired from his job and divorced by his wife, he had lost everything and fallen into debt. He had been looking for a job for the past few years, with never any luck… Until that week. Only days after the strange girl had given him the odd card, a woman in a fancy black car pulled over by his stretch of sidewalk, offering him a job with her father’s construction company. Agreeing hastily, he shook hands with the lady and scheduled a date for when he would visit their office. After years of hardship, things were finally looking up. Sticking his hands in his pockets as he walked away, he felt Lilly’s card. Taking it out Sam examined the piece of paper, thinking that his ‘better tomorrow’ may come soon than he had thought.

Eight short months passed and Sam was happy at his job. Put into the same crew as several other previously homeless men, he felt completely welcome and was overwhelmed every day by the kindness and understanding he was shown by his superiors. They even gave him extra time to get to work in the morning as he still didn’t own a car and relied on the bus system, which he often missed by seconds each day the first time around. It would happen morning after morning and whenever Sam got stuck he just sat on the bench and waited. You can meet some very interesting people while at a bus stop, and if one were to ask Sam of his experiences with this he would probably just laugh. But there are more unpleasant encounters as well… One day a middle-aged couple walked up with their daughter. The girl sat down on the bench beside Sam, staring at her feet and holding her shoulders as if bracing herself for something to come. As if on cue, the girl’s parents began to argue, waving their arms, interrupting each other’s sentences, and shaking their heads. The girl only shut her eyes, refusing to acknowledge their disagreement.

Sam sighed awkwardly, leaning back into the bench and sticking his hands into his pockets. The same pockets of the same pants he had worn exactly eight months before. Feeling Lilly’s card once more, Sam took it out and looked at it. He had completely forgotten it amongst the piles of laundry and un-emptied pockets, and it was now several years old with torn edges and fold-marks all over. Smiling to himself he began to flip the card in his hands, thinking. As his bus finally came by he stood then looking back at the family. Suddenly Sam was overcome with sympathy for the girl and he handed her the card. She looked up at the odd man about, to ask what it was for, but stopped as she saw that he seemed to be in a hurry. Sam quickly winked at the girl, tipping his baseball cap to her and jumping into the bus. The parents, who had stopped yelling, stared after Sam. The father wore a dumbstruck expression on his face and the mother wore one of shock. Suddenly she ran over to her daughter and looked at the card in her hands, turning white as she told the girl that the card was definitely a symbol of good luck. The mother didn’t mention where she had seen it before only that she knew it was good… Perhaps she had seen something like it before during her job as receptionist at the chemo treatment facility.

One long year later the girl entered high school. Known by the name of Sarah, she had many friends and was loved openly by all the teachers… And she was happy. Moved to a private school after the separation of her parents, Sarah and her mother no longer had to live with her abusive father, and she was free to do whatever she wished… Including join the track team, which she did with much enthusiasm. Each day after school Sarah went with her friends, Lynn and Ashley, to practice their long jump in the sand pit near the woods. Lynn, the most adventurous of the three, often spent this time exploring the nearby wilderness as Ashley helped Sarah with her form. One day Lynn called back to them, about how she had found a graveyard. Instantly curious, both Ashley and Sarah ran through the trees towards the sound of Lynn’s voice where they found her standing proudly next to a short chain-link fence which withheld a field of gravestones behind it. Lynn asked if Sarah and Ashley were aware of its existence and they both replied no, while Ashley continued to explain that they had probably stumbled upon the plot of land next to the school which held a church.

Lynn, stating jokingly that she had to pay her respects, hopped over the fence and began to look around at the tomb stones, and though they both believed it to be a bad idea, both Ashley and Sarah followed, eventually splitting up to each go their own way. Sarah had just noticed how oddly sunny and warm the yard was for a cemetery when Ashley called out for her to go and see something. Curious, Sarah walked over and gasped as she realized what it was. The inscription on the gravestone Ashley was watching was the same quote as that from her lucky card. Lynn walked over moments later and all three friends crouched low around the gravestone of a girl named Lilly Jones who died several years ago of leukemia, which they were unaware of. Sarah did not know the girl, nor their connection through the card- but she was still overcome with sympathy for the young child who should have lived so much more and, smiling, Sarah set down the card and walked away, her friends running after her and questioning why.

Merely hours after the girls left Lilly had a visitor, and as the woman sat down a bouquet of dandelions before Lilly’s resting place she saw the card and began to weep. Mrs. Evans had not thought of the card for many years and seeing it now was indescribable. Leaning over to pick it up, there was a sudden burst of wind on what was just moments before a tranquil day and the aging slip of paper flew out of reach. Yelling with surprise, she watched helplessly with outreached hands as the card landed right next to a mourning family. The mother was weeping openly over a fresh pile of dirt with a five year old boy standing next to her, unable to understand her tears. Noticing the card the boy waddled over to where it had landed, picked it up and raised it over his head to show his mother.

“Mommy, look what I found!” He said.

“Not now Lucas…” She sobbed.