Mary’s Song
By
Ed Benjamin
©1998
Speculation about the temporary janitor seemed to
relieve the monotony and dreariness, which sometimes gripped the midnight shift
of the children’s ward of the Nix Hospital in downtown San Antonio. Even though he was temporary and it was his
last night, he mopped the floor carefully.
As he made his way down the hall, it was evident he took pride in his
work. His floors shone.
The curiosity over the quiet stranger waned after
two weeks and Julie Kilpatrick and the other nurses began to occupy their
thoughts over reports of sightings of the Virgin Mary. One report placed her in
Tucson, another in Nueva Laredo, and another sighting was reported in
Juarez. The news media had begun to
report the sightings as a curious phenomenon of Columbus Day; a day that had
arrived at midnight just after the nurses had begun their shift.
“Too bad she can’t help poor Angela”, Julie, the
head charge nurse, commented.
Angela Garcia was a ten-year-old girl in Room 314
who seemed to have lost the will to live and was wasting away from a rare
disease. Normally a skeptic, Julie wondered if miracles were really possible
and while you’re at it, give that poor man some joy. She saw the janitor working on the floor near
Angela’s room.
The door to room 314 opened and the man looked up. This was a new nurse. She beckoned him into the room. He had never seen this nurse before. He noted her radiant smile..
“Mr. King, I need your help.”
“How did you know my name?”
She smiled again.
“It’s on your name tag.”
The man went into the room. There was a scent of roses in the air.
He stood there in the room and looked around. There wasn’t any sign of any mess. He had
assumed that the nurse wanted him to clean a mess of some sort. The young girl on the bed opened her eyes.
“Are you here to sing me my song?”
“No, I’m just the janitor.”
“But the nurse said you would come in and sing me a
song.”
“I used to sing some, but I haven’t sung anything
hardly in over twenty years.”
“Please sing for me.”
The man looked around; the nurse seemed to have
disappeared. Then, he noticed a painting
of the Virgin Mary on the wall. It
didn’t seem to be there when he entered the room.
Down the hall, the music drifted past the nurses’
station.
“Somebody’s playing the radio. I haven’t heard him sing in years.”
“Where’s it coming from?”
“314, I think.
I don’t have the heart to tell her to turn the radio off.”
“Well, let her finish this song, then I’ll go tell
her to turn it off.”
Later, Julie walked down to check the room. The music had stopped. As she walked down the hall, she saw the
janitor getting in the freight elevator.
She waved goodbye; it was his last night. She noticed tears in his eyes.
She opened the door and looked in. That’s funny!
No radio. Angela lay there
sleeping with a smile on her face. There
was a rose on the pillow next to her face.
Julie instinctively knew that Angela had somehow turned a corner and
would be okay.
The mystery puzzled Julie. Who had been playing the radio at three
o’clock in the morning? And where?
Julie noticed a new painting on the wall. The painting depicted three ships. There was the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa
Maria. In the painting, the Santa Maria,
the “Saint Mary”, proudly led the other two as Columbus led his voyage of
discovery. The Santa Maria gleamed in
the early morning sun and above the ship, an image of the Virgin Mary floated
in the sky.
In the meantime, the man headed for the bus station. It’s time, Elvis thought, to discover what my
grandchildren are like.
The End
Author’s
Note:
I never submitted this one for publication because I did not think any editor
would buy it. It was close to Columbus Day in 1998 and I had to come up with
something quickly for a writers group i had joined. This was the result. I hope you enjoyed this little story. I always like to write about the endurance
and goodness of the human spirit. (Ed Benjamin, Jan 16, 2013)
Shameless Self Promotion:
If
you want to read something in a different vein, I would invite you to purchase and read my little story about
fighter pilot, Harry Miles, who becomes a national hero, loses his life’s ambition,
and then begins to discover the resilience of the human spirit. You
can find HARRY’S WAR on Amazon Kindle, Nook, and other download sites. I have listed a few sites below for your
convenience.
Amazon Kindle US: http://tinyurl.com/7oqwv3n
Barnes and Noble Nook: http://tinyurl.com/758ubdw
Apple iBookstore: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/harrys-war/id502735441?mt=11&ls=1
Amazon Kindle UK: http://urlcut.me/aFZ
Amazon Kindle Canada: http://tinyurl.com/a7em4fb
Amazon Kindle Spain: http://tinyurl.com/d2eeuhf
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