dedicated to a friend
Hope stirred her coffee in the cafeteria of the hospital. She looked about and watched the various patrons of the cafe itself. She was on a break from being on the other side of the counter, and it had been a rough day so far.
Most of the customers were patients of the hospital. They were, of course, mobile patients, but you could see the full array of ailments. People in wheelchairs, using voice boxes, and just plain getting old, were all available. Hope could take her break every day and see the truly miserable side of the pain... the pain that could only be seen in a hospital.
Just like her namesake, she could see hope all the same. They were here to be renewed. They were in this hospital to one day get better and have a second chance at making a life out of all of this. As she took a sip of her coffee, she set it down to see a sharpened man taking a seat at her table. He looked so familiar.
"Why do you look so sad?" he said with apparent concern.
"I see these people every day. I wonder if they will ever walk out of here," Hope replied.
"You worry too much. Have you ever wondered that faith itself would see them through?"
"Faith isn't always a healer," Hope said with a glare. She was not prepared for another religious freak.
The man seemed to have caught the glare, but he smiled anyways, "What's your name?"
Hope paused. She paused long enough for the man to notice. Finally she replied, "My name is Catilana."
"That's an interesting name. Does it suit you?"
This took her back a second, "Well I am a dancer."
"So why do you work here in this cafe then?"
"I like to have even a small part in helping people."
The man's smile grew broadly and quickly, "And does being a dancer not help people?"
Hope had never actually been a dancer. She had no reply to this, but she went with something that seemed fitting, "No, that's just older guys drooling on me. I do it for the money."
The man dropped a 50-dollar bill on the table. He said, "sometimes all they need is a glimmer of... hope... Cat."
With that, he got up with a smile and walked away. He had turned before he could see Hope's expression of shock. She had always wanted a pet name to go with the name she always wanted. She wondered how he could know. She also wondered if he knew she was not actually a dancer.
Looking about, she noticed that the other patrons of the cafe were looking at her and smiling. One particular elder gentleman in a wheelchair even nodded to her. She was not sure what that meant.
Could she really be the dancer she wanted to be?
Looking around again for the man, she found him again, but standing in the back corner of the cafeteria. He was smiling at her. He made a gesture with his hand as if to offer her to the top of the table she was sitting at.
Hope thought the whole idea was crazy. There was no way she would dance on the table in a hospital loaded with elders and the sick. It just wasn't the place.
He smiled again, and motioned again with his hand.
Hope wondered yet again... could he be right? Could this simple act be something that could heal?
The man spoke to her, but it could not be heard over the din of the lunchroom. However, she could read his lips. She could clearly make out that he had said, Give them hope.
It was then that Catilana had been spawned in full force. Cat did not recall the thoughts before she slowly stood up and stepped to the top of the table. The cafe had gone quiet as they were staring at her. The man smiled again and put a quarter in the jukebox in the corner. The music began to fill her body and force it to move.
She swayed with intent and happiness. The freedom by which she moved represented something in everyone in the cafe. The patients stared in wonder, but slowly approached.
As she continued to dance on the table, she felt the invigorating feeling of those watching her. She was not sure if it was bad or good, but Catilana was not prepared to stop just now.
Cat swayed with the music, intense and seductive in nature, as people drew so close that they began to take the seats around the table. They still continued to stare. Catching her eye was a man in a wheelchair in the back.
He clearly wanted to smile. Instead, he stared with his jaw dropped open. As he continued to stare, his hands reached for the armrests of his wheelchair. Cat simply continued to dance, but she smiled at him and... without thinking, she winked.
The handicapped man smiled with his mouth still open. Catilana could feel the warmth from him, the happiness and the intensity of his intrigue. She smiled at him again, and continued to dance.
She never knew why she started dancing. She always felt pretty, and had always been told so, but this was way beyond her boundaries. She never thought she'd be dancing on a table in a hospital to a song she never heard before. She never thought she'd feel so embarrassed, but she also never thought she'd feel this free. It was like nothing mattered. It was just Catilana, her audience, and the song. Even as she watched the man in the wheelchair stand on his own, and begin to walk shakily to her table, she just wanted to dance.
The room had shifted their attention to the man walking towards Catilana. He shifted his weight with every step, in dangerous fear of falling over, but those who had been patients for awhile knew him. Corey Smith. He had been declared paralyzed for life over six months ago.
He continued to walk forward, and Cat's surprise was beyond apparent, yet she never stopped dancing. She averted her gaze only long enough to look at the original stranger again. He was no longer a stranger. She recognized him, finally. His name was Michael Strathburg. He had died in his sleep three years ago. He had been the only person she had ever told about her dreams of being a dancer. She remembered now what he had said, "I have faith in you." The smile had been the same as the smile he gave now.
Catilana watched as he turned for the door. Just as Corey moved forward and hugged her, tears in his eyes, Michael smiled back at her one last time, and winked, his wings barely visible underneath his jacket.
