Close This Window To Return To Graffiti Wall

 

Waiting for my Phone Call from God 

by Elaine Bradford

 

It was the first day of summer vacation, and I had been out swimming at the local pool. I was there all day, and I was beginning to become burned, so I packed up my things, showered, and went home. I walked in the door, thankful for our central air, and saw my mom was sitting at the table.  

“You got a phone call while you were gone,” she said. 

“From who?” 

“A guy by the name of Chris. Chris Davidson, maybe? Does that sound right?” was her reply.  

I raced to the cordless phone, picked it up, and ran to my bedroom. I had met Chris through my church. His mom was the choir director, and I was in the choir, and Chris and I had been in the same Sunday school class since third grade. Chris also went to the youth group, and was in charge of publicity for events the youth group had. Mom hadn’t told me whether Chris was calling about youth group or not, but just that he wanted me to call him back. So I did. 

“Is Chris there?” 

“Yeah, just a second… Chris!!!!!” His sister had answered the phone, and had one of the loudest mouths I’d ever heard. Seconds later, Chris was at the other end of the line. 

“Hey Chris! This is Larissa. My mom told me you called. What’s up?” were the first words out of my mouth.  

“Uh, actually, ‘Rissa, I just called to let you know about our upcoming meeting. It’ll be at seven o’clock, in the church’s youth center on Wednesday. Can you make it? Afterwards, we’re throwing a birthday party for Pastor Matt.” Matt was our youth pastor, and he was turning twenty- five on Wednesday. “It’d be great if you could make it.” He started coughing, so I decided to let him get off of the phone. 

A little disappointed that all Chris wanted was to invite me to a meeting, I answered. “Yeah… I can go. Was that all you wanted? Because I have a ton of work I have to do around the house.” I didn’t mean to sound cross, but that was the way it had come out. 

After our good bye’s, we hung up our phones, and I started in on cleaning my room. I was listening to one of my favorite CD’s, when the phone rang.  

“Hello?” 

“Is Larissa there?” It was Chris again, only something didn’t sound right. 

“Yeah, I’m here, Chris. What do you need? Are you hurt? Is something wrong?” 

“ ‘Rissa, yeah, actually, something is wrong. I need to talk to you. But I can’t discuss it with you over the phone. Meet me at the park in fifteen minutes. And ‘Rissa? This may just be our last chance to see each other. 

* * * * * * * 

I hung up the phone, and went straight to the park. I needed to see Chris. Something was seriously wrong. He didn’t sound like himself on the phone. Several thoughts of what could have happened started to race through my mind. Maybe Shannon, his sister, had gotten hurt. Maybe his mom was sick. I arrived at the park, and found Chris sitting by himself on the swings. I ran over to him, hugged him, and sat on the swing next to him. 

“Chris, what’s wrong? I need to know… please… Chris?” 

Chris seemed far off in thought. Almost like he wasn’t even there. As I looked at him, I could have sworn that I saw his eyes filled with tears. Chris never cried, so this was the first hint that something was severely wrong. 

“ ‘Rissa?” Chris looked up at me, and the tears started falling from his eyes. “I want you to know something. You know how I’ve been really sick, right? How something has been in my chest causing me to cough all the time? Well, Mom took me to the doctor. He did all sorts of tests, and even gave me X-rays. The results weren’t good, ‘Riss.”  

As the tears started streaming down my face, I looked at Chris. “What did he find? Chris, is it just a bad flu? Is it pneumonia? Chris, you’re scaring me… what is it?”

Chris didn’t say anything. After a long silence, he began talking again. “ ‘Rissa, it’s a rare form of cancer. It’s formed a lump in my lungs, and they want to operate tomorrow. I have to go to the hospital tonight. They’re not sure if the surgery will help me. They think it may have spread into my heart. ‘Riss, I just wanted to tell you before I went, that if I don’t make it…” He choked back a flood of tears, just the same as I was doing. “Rissa, I love you. I’ll see you in heaven, alright? Don’t change. I’ll always remember you as that adventurous little nine year old from Sunday school.” 

“Chris… don’t say that. You will make it through the surgery. You’re a strong person, Chris, I know you will make it.” After another long silence, I added “Chris? I love you too.” I hugged him, and he had to leave, so he drove off. As I watched him driving away, I also was watching him drive out of my life forever. 

* * * * * * *  

I got into my car, and drove home, feeling more numb than ever. Chris was diagnosed with cancer, and he may die. I wanted to be with him. I went home, and found my mom. When I got a hold of her, I told her I was packing my bags, and that I was going to go stay in a hotel close to the hospital so I could be with him when he came out from surgery. She didn’t object. She just smiled at me, and told me to be careful. 

I ended up rooming with Chris’ sister and mom. We visited Chris that night at the hospital, and it was the hardest thing for me to do. He told us all that he loves us, and when the nurses came and ran us out of the room, he said he’d see us all again sometime. That scared me, because he was talking like he knew for a fact that he was going to die while in surgery. The nurses said it was just the medicine, yet, I didn’t want to believe it. 

I think Chris was the only one of us that slept well that night, and that was only because he was on medicine. That I believed. He was to undergo surgery at eleven o’clock that morning, and wasn’t to get out until the afternoon sometime. We went and stayed in the waiting room, and when his doctor came down right at noon, we all thought that the surgery had gone so well, that he was done already. The doctor sat us all down, and I knew that couldn’t be good. 

“We did all we could, Mrs. Davidson. I’m sorry, but, Chris didn’t make it.” He had talked directly to Chris’ mom just as if Shannon and I weren’t even there. He answered our questions, and tried to comfort us. Nothing would comfort me, now, though. 

We went back to the hotel, gathered our things, and went back to our houses. Chris’ mom and sister went to their house, and I went to mine. My mom tried to talk to me, but I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I wanted to be with Chris, but I couldn’t. Chris wasn’t alive anymore, and I was having difficulty accepting that. 

No longer, when the phone rings, do I rush to pick it up, because I know that I won’t hear Chris’ voice on the other end of the line. It causes too much pain to pick up the phone expecting him, and getting a relative, or a telemarketer. I miss Chris badly, and I keep on waiting for that phone call from Heaven, calling me home, to be with Chris again, just like he said it’d be, all of us together again some day. No longer am I afraid of dying. Chris wasn’t, so I won’t be, either. So I just live my life, and wait for that phone call from God.