Sally walked into the Poolroom wearing her favorite swimsuit. It was a dark blue one piece with a light blue stripe
that extended down both sides. Daniel was taking off his flip-flops over by one of the chairs and turned to look at
her as she entered. He had been letting his hair grow out all summer; perhaps it had to do with all the other guys in
the mansion having long hair. It was still short in the back, but the locks from the top of his head extended down to
his ears and he looked like Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky. He smiled as his eyes took in her full appearance.
He always smiled when he looked at her and it always made her feel happy to be near him.
Sally approached the edge of the water then dove in. When she resurfaced Daniel was standing on the diving board
in his swim trunks, which were dark green. He bounced a couple of times before plunging off the end.
Sally watched from the side of the pool as he surfaced. His tan arms came up to push the long locks from his face
and back with the rest of the hair. In the instant that his face was framed with the wet, slicked back hair, darkened
by its dampness, Sally saw a similarity that frightened her. But then her boyfriend opened his gray eyes and his familiar
friendly smile glowed at her, making her forget her discomfort. He swam over to where she was leaning against the side
of the pool.
He swam to her side, grabbing the edge for support as he treaded water with his feet. Sally bit her lip as she
smiled, having him this close to her always made her giddy, a warm feeling that started in the middle of her and almost choked
her with delight.
"I have to get a few laps in today," Sally managed and pushed off the side.
"Race ya," Daniel called after her. He too pushed off the side and followed her across the pool, his arms and legs
getting into a steady rhythm as he swam.
At the halfway mark, they passed under the glass wall and swam out into the bright sunlight of the day where the late
June sun beat down with extreme heat. This day had been a great day for a swim. As the couple reached the opposite
side, they turned. Sally came up and began a backstroke for the return trip as Daniel continued his freestyle.
After a few laps, Daniel was ahead, but he was tiring faster than Sally. Again they passed under the glass wall
as they entered the mansion. Sally returned to freestyle in mid stroke, quickening her pace. She and Daniel reached
out for the perimeter wall at the same time and Daniel came up for air breathing heavily.
Sally chuckled to herself.
"How come..." Daniel gasped, "youre ... never winded?"
"Back stroke," Sally answered matter of factly. "Not quite as fast, but less strenuous on the lungs."
Daniel shook his head. He pushed his hair out of his face again.
"How long are you planning to grow your hair?" Sally asked.
Daniel shrugged. "As long as Zarbon's," he joked with a smirk.
Sally rolled her eyes.
"What?" he asked. "Don't you like guys with long hair?" he teased.
She shrugged. "You are beginning to look like one of the Beatles. Pretty soon I'll have to fend off Dee."
She giggled.
"I don't look like a Beatle," Daniel retorted softly as he splashed some water at her.
"Don't splash, Daniel, it's rude," she stated simply, then splashed some water back at him.
His eyebrows raised in mock shock. "Well, Miss Manners," he teased, "it seems that splashing in the pool is now
a serious offence and you shall be punished for it."
"Oh yeah? And what is the consequence?"
"I think you should have to be kissed by every one in the pool."
Sallys jaw dropped in mock disbelief. "Alright, I accept the punishment."
Daniel looked around the pool. "I guess I'm the only one here, so I'll just have to kiss you multiple times until
youve learned your lesson."
Sally rolled her eyes. "Just get it over with already."
Daniel leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Had enough?" he asked sternly.
"Oh, I'm SOoo sorry I splashed you," came the blondes sarcastic reply.
"Alright, I'm cranking up the torture machine then," he said then leaned in and gave her a peck on the lips. He
looked her in the eyes, and she suppressed a smile and the growing warmness that was growing inside her as she tried
to look unimpressed and rolled her eyes.
Daniel shook his head then leaned in for a third time, kissing her lips gently then pulling away.
"Is that all you've got?" Sally asked, mockingly.
But before she could do anything else, Daniels lips were on hers again caressing them slowly. Sally felt her arms
instinctively travel around his neck, caressing his bare skin. He deepened the kiss as his hands traveled to her waist,
wrapping around her and pulling their wet bodies closer.
Sallys hand traveled to his neck and her fingers began to run through his damp hair. Daniel pulled away slightly
as his mouth began to massage her neck, making her head bob back in pleasure.
He pulled back slightly as the fingers of his left hand gingerly traced over her breast through her blue suit. Sally
felt a sigh escape her lips as Daniels whole hand began to envelope her right breast, massaging it.
"Sally," Daniel pulled slightly away to look at his girlfriends face. Her eyes were still closed, her body reacting
to his touch.
"Hmm?" a small sound slid past her smile.
"I... I think there's a lump in your breast," Daniels voice was filled with concern.
"Yeah," she answered casually, "It's always been there." She opened her blue
eyes as Daniel removed his hands from her. Her smile remained as she wrapped her arms around his neck again.
"It's okay, it doesnt hurt or anything."
"Sally," Daniel looked serious and his voice carried the same tone, "dont pass it over as nothing; it could be cancerous."
"Daniel," she tried to explain to him, "It's been there since I can remember. If it were cancerous, I think I'd
be dead by now."
Her boyfriends gray eyes turned to steal and he set his jaw. "Don't even joke about such things."
Sally shook her head and apologized.
"Has a doctor examined it?"
"No," she pushed slightly away from her boyfriend; the mood had been lost.
"It's been there forever and you've never told anyone?"
"Don't lecture me, Daniel," she said in a stern voice, looking at him with a death glare.
"Sally, you've got to see a doctor. Just because you're not dead doesn't mean it isn't dangerous."
"You're just being a worry-wart," Sally scolded.
"Dang it, Sally, of course I'm worried. I love you, and I don't want to loose you. My grandmother died of
cancer and I'm not going to let it happen to you if something can be done about it."
"I love you too, Daniel. And I'm sorry about your grandmother. But I'm not going to die." She swam
around him and climbed out of the pool.
He stared up at her as she headed for the towels, then planted his hands on the edge of the pool and lifted himself out.
"Sally," he stated walking toward her, "If you love me, please smile."
"Daniel," she replied in monotone, turning toward him, "I love you so much I'd die laughing."
"Sally if you love me," he looked into her eyes, "please tell a doctor."
She blinked, then sighed and hugged him.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sally had returned home to Topeka to visit the family doctor for her yearly check up. Her mother sat in the small
chair by the door as Sally surveyed the small room form the lofty examination table. The nurse had taken her vital stats
and the doctor was now in the room asking the usual questions and then it came:
"Have you been doing monthly self breast examinations?"
"Yes," she answered monotone.
"Have you ever noticed a lump or irregularity?"
Sally hesitated. It was now or never. She thought about saying no, but there was no way to avoid this question,
to tell herself she wouldn't be lying, and she had promised Daniel.
"Yes," she almost choked on the word. Her eyes were trained on the curtains across the room, avoiding any shocked
look from her mother.
"And where exactly is it?" The doctor looked down at his clipboard as he scribbled on it.
"In my right breast, slightly right of center."
"And when did you first notice it?"
"Its just ... always been there."
"And how large would you say it was?"
Suddenly she felt detached. "Pretty fair sized, I guess."
The doctor then left the room, instructing her that hed be back to feel the lump and she was to put on the gown with
ties to the front. As she did so her mother scolded her form not telling her as soon as she had found it. But Sally
couldn't think of a time it hadnt been there: it had always been a part of her.
The doctor returned, followed by a nurse. He had Sally lie back on the table with her arm behind her head as he
began to examine the area. With a flat hand, he pressed his fingertips into her mammary gland, searching for the spot,
which he found right away.
Sally kept her eyes on the ceiling, slightly detached from the whole process. She simply answered no when the doctor
asked if it was tender, then complied when he asked her to raise the other arm and allow him to compare the two breasts, and
check her left side for masses.
When he had finished his examination, he excused the nurse and suggested a sonogram be taken of the area.
Sally just sat on the examination table smiling blondely and nodding when it was appropriate.
- - - - - - - - - -
-
"You've been going home a lot lately," Bowie said as he sat watching his blonde mistress throw some things into a small
suit case.
"There's stuff I gotta do," she replied.
Bowie wagged his tail, "Maybe I can go with you?"
"Sorry, no." She turned and smiled at him. "But I miss you every time I'm gone." She bent down slightly and
ruffled one of his ears.
He smiled tonguily up at her. He then followed her out of her room, padding softly beside her as she carried her
small suitcase down the hall then down the stairs.
"Hey," Jed's voice came from the den. "Where ya off to?"
"She's got stuff to do," Bowie answered for her.
"I've gotta go home for the day," Sally clarified. "I'll be back tomorrow."
"Don't forget you've got rounds tomorrow," Tonya came out into the hall.
"I'll be back in plenty of time for that." Sally opened the door and headed into the warm weather.
"You were just home last week," Tonya continued as she followed her roommate outside.
"Yeah, well, I gotta go today too." Sally popped her trunk and placed her small suitcase into it then flung upon
the drivers side door and got in. "See ya tomorrow," she called as she drove off.
Tonya shook her head.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The room was dim, lit only by small round lights shining down from the ceiling. Sally lay on the examination table.
She was still wearing her shorts but her top half was covered by an ugly polka dotted hospital gown. The technologist
came in and sat next to her at the large computer console on wheels.
She asked Sally about the abnormality. It was a bit redundant with what the doctor had asked. Don't these
people read the reports and other papers. Geez.
"And how large would you say it is: dime, nickel size?" She asked.
"I'd say ... about ... the size of a lime," Sally answered. She could tell the technologist was trying to hide
her surprised look.
"Well, if you can just point me to the location, we'll get started."
Sally pulled back the gown to reveal her chest. The technologist placed a towel on the patients stomach.
Then squirted some warm gel onto the area and began to slide the probe around. Again Sally just stared at the ceiling,
listening to the key strokes that the technologist typed into the computer.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
After sitting in the dim room, her feet dangling off the examination table while she sang silently to herself as she
waited for the radiologist's report on the sonogram.
The technologist reentered.
"Well, the radiologist thinks that the mass looks like normal breast tissue, perhaps a benign tumor called fibroadenoma.
But he suggests a biopsy to be certain."
Sally nodded. Another appointment. Another day away from the mansion. Another reason for everyone
to get worried. She sighed. Why can't everyone just be as certain as I am that it's not cancerous.
-
- - - - - - - - - - -
"Hey Daniel," Tonya called as she approached the gardener. He had been weeding a flower bed but had stopped and
was now sitting on the lawn timber with his chin in his hands.
"Oh, hey," Daniel replied as he looked up from his daze.
"You okay?"
"Oh, yeah," he stood, dusting off his shorts, "I'm fine."
"You've been kinda preoccupied lately. Are you sure everything is okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just dandy."
"You know if you don't just come out and tell me, I'll bug you about it unceasingly."
Daniel looked at the long haired girl, he knew she could be persistent in her pestering. He shook his head, "Sorry,
there isn't anything to tell you about."
Tonya gave him a disappointed look. "I am but a mushroom," she frowned
"Hey, that's not fair."
"But its true: you keep me in the dark and feed me bull shit!" Tonya turned on her heals, her long braid whipping
out at Daniel as she left to go back inside.
"I'm a botanist, not a fungus farmer!" he called out after her.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"You're going home again?" Tonya asked, shaking her head disbelievingly.
"Yup." Sally was eating a quick lunch before she headed back for Topeka.
"You were just there last week," Jed added.
"Do you really miss your parents that much?" asked Poopsie.
Sally rolled her eyes. "I have to go. My mom volunteered me to help out with
VBS," she lied. "I'll just be gone a week. I'll be back on Sunday."
Bowie whined.
"Oh, Bowie, don't you start in on me, too."
"You're two timing Daniel, aren't you?" Jess accused. "That's why he's been so worried. His love life is
falling apart while yours is flourishing in Topeka."
Sally gaped at her friend. "Uhhh, no."
"Just a theory," Jed covered as everyone else rolled their eyes.
"We could just ask Daniel," Poopsie suggested. Sally looked up at them disbelievingly.
"Already did; didn't work," Tonya commented. "Hey, maybe, you can... you know ... read his mind or something, Poopsie."
Sally's eyes grew wide.
"Uh, I don't think so, dear," Poopsie replied. "I don't think he or Sally would appreciate that."
"Can't you see that maybe she just doesn't want us to know?" Dee put in.
"Thank you," Sally commended her.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Monday morning, the fist day of July, Sally went to the hospital in order to do pre-surgery registration and consult
with the RN. Because breast cancer ran in her maternal family, they had decided that a "lumpectomy" would be the best
form of biopsy. In this procedure the surgeon would remove the entire lump for examination by the pathologist.
After she had found out all about the procedure, the preparation that was involved, and what would happen afterwards,
she returned home.
It was still early in the day when she heard the doorbell ring. Before opening the door she looked through the
window to make sure it wasn't one of the girls trying to find out what was happening.
She walked to the door, opened it, and let Daniel in. He smiled gently at her.
"How'd the pre-registration go?"
"Just fine." Sally smiled emotionally then threw her arms around him. Holding him close she whispered in
a relieved sigh, "I'm glad you're here."
"Are you nervous?" he asked, reaching for her hand then sitting down with her on the couch.
She shrugged slightly. "I know it won't be cancerous. But I'm a bit nervous because I've never had surgery before.
And they're going to remove part of my body."
"But it's a good thing. It's not like its decapitation or anything," he smirked.
Sally shook her head, a small smile on her lips. "You know, because of this, you are no longer the only male to
touch my breasts."
"Somehow, I'm not jealous," he smirked again and kissed her lips gently, putting his arm around her shoulders.
"Yeah, none of their touches turn me on like yours does." Daniel blushed as Sally kissed him back. She snuggled
into his arms, and leaned onto his chest, her ear close to his heart. They sat in silence for awhile until she asked,
"Would you still love me if I had opted not to take out the whole lump?"
"What kind of question is that?" he sounded offended.
"Would you think me disfigured if I kept the mass?" she rephrased the question.
He adjusted his position to look into her eyes. "What are you trying to say? You don't want to remove it?"
"No, it's coming out tomorrow, I was just wondering." She pulled away from him, sitting upright, and sighed.
"Sally..."
"You've felt it Daniel: its pretty good sized. They're going to have to make an incision that will leave an inch
to an inch and a half scar. And what if after they remove it I have a deformed breast. I mean, I'll probably weigh
at least a pound lighter. One breast could be significantly smaller than the other. I mean, God gave it to me,
he knows what he's doing. He knows what I can handle... and I dont think I could handle it if it was cancer."
"Sally, He knows what you can handle," Daniel said soothingly.
She fell back into his open arms. Then she lifted her head, running her nose lightly along his neck. She
let her lips reach out to gently kiss his Adam's apple.
He felt her gentle fingers reach for the hem of his t-shirt. Then they slid up onto his bare abdomen, caressing
his abs. He moved slightly to accommodate her reach, as her lips traveled the trail of his jaw line to his ear. He placed
one of his generous hands onto her beautiful neck as the other fell from her shoulder to the small of her back.
Soon her lips moved to his and he put his hands on her waist as she maneuvered to straddle his lap on the couch in order
to deepen the kiss. His lips moved from hers and down her elegant neck, which arched toward his warm lips.
He felt her fingers sliding along his abs and along his sides, practically tickling him with ecstasy. His
lips smiled against her neck and she leaned down and captured them in hers. He leaned back into the couch, arching his
back as her hands crept to the small of his back. With her mouth still occupying his, her fingers found the waistband
of his jean shorts, and followed it around to front again. Daniel let a moan escape into his loved ones mouth, and Sally
echoed the pleasure into his. Then her fingers began to play with the button to his shorts. At first he was thrilled
and delighted as he felt the anticipation and need growing, but then he pulled his mouth away from her sweet breath.
"Sally!" he apprehended, nearly jumping off the couch. "I thought we agreed to wait," he stated more than asked, his
chest heaving.
"I ... I'm sorry," she replied licking her lips. "I ... I don't know what happened." She looked into his
eyes. "Oh, Daniel ..." She leaned in again, kissing him deeply.
Daniel sucked in her breath with the kiss, and soon the scene repeated itself.
"Are you okay Sally?" he asked as he again forcibly removed his lips from hers. "You're never this frisky."
"Daniel, I... I just need you to be with me... I want to hold you close, so close, too close: I want to feel you.
I want you to feel me, all of me, before they take part of me away." Her blue eyes pleadingly searched his for acceptance.
"Sally..." he began to shake his head.
She helped herself from his lap and crossed the room to the large blue lay-z-boy. She sat and drew her knees up
to her chest.
Daniel stood up then knelt beside the chair. "Sally, I love you. I'll always love you. If you were a ...
a green blob from the planet Bikidoomla, it wouldn't change how I feel about you. If, somehow, you come out of surgery
tomorrow with less extremities, or more, than you went in with, my love wouldn't change. Do you understand?"
Sally bit her lip, as she continued to stare out into space.
Daniel leaned in and placed his forehead on her temple and whispered. "Sally, if you love me half as much as I
love you, I'd be the most loved man in the world."
Sally sighed as a tear fell from her eyes. She turned to face him. "Daniel, I love you so much: I'll walk into
any lion den for you."
A smile spread across his lips. "That's my angel," he whispered before he placed a warm kiss on her forehead.
- -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
"Who in the world wants their patients to come to the hospital at 7 am!? I bet it's all part of the anesthesiologist's
plan. They dont even put you to sleep because youre already so sleepy anyway. They just pretend, then bill you
for a nonexistent service," Sally complained as she yawned. She had waken up at 5:45 on June 2nd in order to shower
and dress before she and her mom had to leave for the hospital.
Daniel yawned in return. He had awaken early to wish her luck in the operating room. Her mother was going
with her to the hospital, and he would just be in the way there. He had offered to take care of her after her return,
so that her mother could return to work. Daniel kissed her gently then watched as they climbed into the minivan and
drove away. He sighed, God, please watch over my angel.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
At the hospital Sally sat in the stiff little chair in the hospital gown, her mother beside her. She was relieved
they had let her keep her underwear on. After forty-five minutes of waiting the nurses finally came in and began to
take vitals and prepare her for her procedure: excisional biopsy, or lumpectomy, of the right breast. She talked to
the anesthesiologist and decided on a general to knock her fully out. When he had told her that with the MAC a patient
can sometimes still feel and hear things, she knew she could never hold still if she heard a doctor ask for a scalpel or say
'oops'.
She was already drowsy from the IV when they wheeled her off to the operating room. Upon entering she was staring
up at the large light that would be turned on to give the doctors the brightness they needed. Starting to feel woozy
from the last injection she had just received she slid herself slowly onto the operating table like the nurse requested.
Another nurse put some kind of socks onto her legs explaining amidst the Velcro noises that they help with circulation.
She must have passed fully out shortly after because the next thing she knew she was sitting up slightly with a nurse
beside her beaconing her to wake up. Her eyes fluttered sleepily open and she saw the curtain-walled room around her.
She awoke quite quickly for coming from such a deep sleep and soon the nurse was taking her to an out patient room where her
mom would come to take her home.
As the nurse gave Sally a cup of water she felt the tightening of the blood pressure thing around her bicep. Her
mom walked in and shared the news the doctor had told her.
"He said you were a good patient. The mass was the size of two golf balls, and they discovered two smaller ones
and took them out too. They are 99% sure its benign, but they're sending it into the pathologist to be completely sure.
How are you feeling?"
"Just fine," Sally gave her best excited smile.
At the nurses request she sat up, without a hint of dizziness. She then stood and headed to the bathroom to change.
Looking into the mirror she noticed her whole breast seemed to be covered by a large square piece of gauze. She sighed,
then slid on her jean shorts, a sports bra, which she had to wear 24 hours for support as her incision healed, and a loose
t-shirt with Goofy on the front, her favorite.
After a few more minutes a nurse came with a wheelchair and Sally got the first wheel chair ride of her whole life to
the parking lot, where her mom brought the van around to pick her up.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Daniel looked up questioningly as Sally and her mom entered the house. Sally and her mom both smiled and Daniel
sighed in relief.
"Not to say I told you, or anything," Sally whispered to him as he helped her sit down on the couch. But Daniel
just shook his head and smiled, he was simply relieved that it was final.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The couple sat on the couch together the day after Sally's biopsy, watching some movies that Daniel had rented for them
to watch until she felt better.
"So, do you think he woke up 105 years later, or that the whole movie was just a dream?" Sally asked as the credits for
Vanilla Sky scrolled onto the screen to accompany Paul McCartney's song.
"Or maybe he really did go crazy and he just plummeted to his death and that was the waking call of heaven," Daniel analyzed.
Sally looked up into Daniel's face. "That's a bit freaky: Open your eyes....," she mimicked the
voice.
"You're right. I think he woke up 105 years later."
"Me too."
"So, are you feeling any better today?" he asked pulling her closer to him.
"Well, I still have some discomfort every now and then," she replied. "The incision isn't really like how I thought
it would be, though."
"What do you mean?" He cocked his neck to look her full in the face.
"Well, I thought the incision would be just a line or something; but instead it follows the edge of my nipple around
from like 7 to 12 o'clock, if you think of it as a clock."
"Cool," Daniel lifted an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah, it's the sexiest thing you've ever seen," she replied sarcastically.
He snuggled her into his arms. "I'm sure it is," he smiled sheepishly.
Sally let out a giddy sigh, as she settled into her boyfriend's arms.
They sat in silence for a moment. Until Daniel spoke.
"So, is there anything else you haven't told anyone about?"
Sally pulled away slightly so she could look Daniel in the eyes. A smile playing on her lips. Then she answered,
"I'll tell you in another life, when we're both cats."
