Elias Monk didn’t live a lifestyle that his last name would suggest. He was a carouser, a partier, a womanizer, waking up many mornings hung over next to a beautiful woman he didn’t know, watching her hurriedly dress and say “What was I thinking, being with this guy?” This had been his way for most of his fifty-seven years of existence. But that would now end. The doctor had just said that Elias had diabetes. His life from here on would be blood sugar tests and insulin injections.
“Life isn’t fair,” said Elias, watching the cute young nurse showing him how to prick his finger and use the tester.
She just smiled and moved his hand away from her thigh.
Obviously, it would take Elias awhile to adjust to this new state of affairs.
When they were finished, Elias went to the nurse’s station on that floor of the hospital and made a follow-up appointment with his doctor.
“Which will be tougher?” asked the middle-aged nurse there. “Giving up alcohol or sex?”
“Why would I have to give up sex?” asked Elias.
“Well, tough to get a woman drunk enough to sleep with you if you’re not drinking, too,” quipped the nurse, smirking at him and glancing at his thinning hair, the acne scars on his weathered face, and the shirt stretched tight over his “middle age spread” belly. He was about five-and-a-half feet tall but wore lifts in his shoes, which she could tell, looking at his shoes.
Elias held back the acidic remark he would normally have made. She was exactly right, and he finally had to face it. He was well past his prime, still a bachelor, and not getting any younger. He also didn’t have the most endearing personality.
“Here,” said the nurse, handing him a card.
Elias took it and read: “Diabetes Is Not the End.”
“It’s a support group,” said the nurse. “You get a partner that helps you stay away from things like alcohol, sweets, even a lot of carbohydrates. It’ll be tough at first, but just tell yourself that you can do it.”
Elias nodded, stuck the card in his wallet after paying his bill, put on his jacket, and stepped away from the counter.
“Don’t forget this,” said the nurse, handing Elias the prescription slip.
“Thanks,” he said, feeling like someone who had been sailing around the sky in a hot air balloon that had just crash landed and was now trudging through deep, foot-sucking mud, every step an absolute effort.
He left the hospital and got in his car in the lot. “Dammit!” he thought. “Dammitdammitdammit!” Then he started the car and drove to the nearest pharmacy. He handed the slip to the young, very pretty woman at the prescription desk.
“We’re backed up,” she said, ignoring his wink done out of habit. “It’ll be about an hour.”
Elias sighed and walked away, wandering around the store a bit and then returning to the pharmacy section of the store. He sat in a chair next to a woman. She was sooooooo not the kind of woman he went for. She was about his age, barely five feet tall, on the plump side, graying and frizzy hair, and crow’s feet at the outer corners of her eyes.
“Been here long?” he asked her out of pure boredom.
“No, about a half hour,” she said in a voice that was warm and friendly. “I was here when you dropped off your prescription fifteen minutes ago. What’s it for?”
Elias hesitated, unsure about getting too personal here, but then he said, “Insulin.”
“Ah, you’re diabetic, too.”
“Yeah, just diagnosed. I passed out at work, and they called an ambulance, took me to the hospital.”
“Good to catch it while it can be controlled,” she said. “I’m Amanda, by the way.”
“Elias,” he said. “Elias Monk.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Are you in that group—Diabetes Is Not the End?”
“I’m the head of it.”
“Oh, well, see you there, then.”
“There’s a meeting in about an hour. Assuming we get our prescriptions refilled in time, want to come?”
Elias thought a moment. She was sooooooo not his type—but there was something appealing—the warmth of her voice, her bright eyes that sparkled as she smiled—and that smile! All those gorgeous model types he usually hit on in the bars never smiled. “It causes wrinkles,” they would say. He smiled back at Amanda and held out his hand.
“Sure, be glad to.”
“Amanda Hopkins!” called out the woman at the prescription counter.
Amanda took Elias’ hand a moment, smiled again, stood, got her prescription, and then sat back down next to him. They chatted some more while he waited for his prescription to be filled. When it was, he picked it up and came back to her, holding out his hand.
“Shall we?” he asked in his most gallant manner.
“Happy to,” said Amanda, smiling and her eyes sparkling.
They left together, walking hand-in-hand.
—
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Great character here! Would follow up with him for sure :)
Nice one, A.C.! Redemption of the lost...