I just slipped out for coffee. My afternoon Starbucks run to the Rainbow Cafe. When I walked in a woman at the table by the door smiled and waved at me like she knew me. She looked familiar, but I did not know her at first glance. I smiled and waved back, wondering who she was.
Only as I walked away did I realize who she was. SHIT! Was that Lori? For 10 years Lori worked around the corner from me. I saw her every day. Not exactly a friend, but more than an acquaintance. The woman who had waved at me had close cropped brownish hair. Where was her trademark mane of long blond hair? The smile was the same - beautiful and sweet. I cut my eyes to look at her from the coffee pots. OMG. It is her. She looks thinner and I realize I haven't seen her in a while, which is not too surprising. I see very little of her since the big shuffle of labs that sent her to floor 6 and me to floor 3.
In one brief flash, I understand everything from her thinness to her shorn mane to the ginger ale she is sipping. Lori has breast cancer. FUCK!!!!!!!!! I just want to walk over and put my arms around her. Find out if she is OK. I want to cry with her. I want to laugh until we both pee our pants. Mostly I want this disease to leave the people I know the fuck alone!
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