“Today is the day I start the big diet,” I told my wife as I raised my hand and promised,“No chocolate today!”
“Oh,has the hospital gift shop stopped selling it?” she asked.
“No,” I said.“I’ll just have to depend on my strong determination.”
But when I arrived at the hospital,my little friend Benton has been there again.I knew my promise would quickly disappear.Because if Benton had things his way,I’d always be eating a piece of candy from the bottomless bag he often shared with me.
Benton was an eight – year – old boy who was blind because of a kind of cancer,which cause him to live in the darkness,when he was fifteen months old.For the next twenty – six months,he was in and out of our hospital.For nearly four years,it seemed as though Benton could beat the disease,until one Friday afternoon in April 2009,when he developed a headache and lost moment on his right side.His mom rushed him to the hospital.
Over the next several months,Benton came to our hospital many more times.Each time he came,we would say hello,while Benton answered the greeting by holding out a candy from his bag.
So,on that first day of my diet,I went to his room and found Benton lying in his bed,his eyes opened but not looking into this world.
“We brought his candy bag with us.Would you like to have some?” his mother asked.
Without thinking of my diet,I reached into the bag and pulled out the first piece my fingers touched.It was my favorite as if Benton had saved one last piece for me.At home that evening,I answered a phone about Benton’s death.As I hung it up,I opened the candy and ate it.