Read Online If I Should Die Before I Wake by Lurlene McDaniel - Free Book Online Page A

“it’s so beautiful up there. Ever since I was a little kid, we’ve been going to North Lake, that’s what Loch de Nor means, you know. Even before I got sick we went there. I used to take the canoe and paddle along the shoreline for hours, just exploring. I found one place—that’s just incredible. You’d have to see it to believe it. It’s fantastic! I wish I could show you Loch de Nor. . . ,” his voice trailed off. Matt took a deep breath. Deanne could tell he wasn’t feeling well.
    “I’d love to see it!” Deanne cried. She didn’t want him to lose his enthusiasm. “What’s your house like there?”
    “It’s just a house. Anthony and I share a room. Tina, Theresa, Janette, and Patricia share rooms, too. Old Anthony’s spoiled, he’s had the room all to himself this summer.”
    “Maybe you’d better check yourself out and go re-stake your claim,” Deanne teased.
    “I would in a minute, if my doctors would let me.” He paused. “We do lots of stuff as a family,” he continued. “We play Hearts and Monopoly and every outdoors game you can think of.”
    Deanne felt a twinge of jealousy. She couldn’t imagine a big family playing and having fun together like Matt said. Her childhood had been so different. “I like your family,” she said. “Tina is very pretty.”
    “Don’t I know it. Last summer this guy who lives over on the other side of the lake used to come all the way around every day at noon just to talk with Tina when she walked out to the mailbox.”
    Deanne giggled. “I’d be flattered,” she said.
    “Are you trying to tell me that no one would walk all the way around the lake to see you?” he teased.
    Deanne blushed. “Don’t be silly! Besides, who’s got time for that?”
    “For love?” he asked.
    “Stop it!” Deanne protested.
    “You’re blushing! Did I hit a nerve? Ah, so there is someone special!” he said triumphantly.
    “No one you know,” Deanne said in a huff.
    “Will you see him when school starts?”
    “He doesn’t go to my school.”
    “Someone here at the hospital?”
    She glared at him. Her face was red. “I told you there’s no one special. Now knock it off!”
    “Hey! Hey! What’s all the racket?” asked one of the nurses as she poked her head in the room.
    Matt and Deanne looked at her. “Patients on chemotherapy are supposed to be kept quiet,” she told Deanne. “You know that.”
    Deanne swallowed hard.
    “It was my fault,” Matt said. “I’ll keep calm. I promise.”
    The nurse gave them a stern look, then left.
    “Sorry,” he said.
    Deanne shrugged. “Me, too.”
    “Friends?” Matt asked,
    “Forever,” she smiled back.
    “Forever,” he whispered.

    * * * * *
    “Ugh! I hate the thought of going back to school.” Susan sipped her pop and made a face at Deanne.
    “I know,” Deanne sighed. “Me, too.”
    “I don’t know why my parents insist on keeping me in that fancy prep school anyway,” Susan grumbled. “Mother works, Dad works . . . just to send me to some silly rich kids’ school. I’d much rather go to a public school.”
    “You never told me that!” Deanne said, surprised.
    Susan glanced down. “I know,” she said. “I shouldn’t say it now. You can’t help it if you’re rich. You know, when the summer started and you started to work here at the hospital, I couldn’t believe it.”
    “What do you mean?” Deanne asked.
    “Well, you have so much. Why would you want to do volunteer work? It didn’t make any sense.”
    “I would have never done it if you hadn’t encouraged me,” Deanne said sincerely.
    Susan smiled. “I’m glad you did. Otherwise, we’d never have become friends.” She took a big sip of pop through her straw. “I’ll bet you’ve logged more hours than any VolunTeen in the program.”
    “It’s been fun. I’ve never thought of it as work.”
    “Still, when Pat Jacobson gives out the service awards next month, I’ll bet you get the most.”
    “I wish we didn’t have