Zombie Love

[not entirely happy with this, it feels like its too much about me, when the focus should be Rannie and David, suggestions on how to expand the Rannie and David portion are much appreciated]

Setting up his twitter account, Dennis used their email friend finder to discover who he knew were using the service. As the web page loaded, Dennis’ mobile rang and instead of paying attention, he clicked through the menu screens quickly.

A couple hours later, checking his friend feed, Dennis saw ”@dennisroy OMG! how did you find me?” by tumorrific. Unsure exactly who this was, Dennis clicked over to tumorrific’s profile page and searched for clues – man, woman, other mutual friends, etc. He learned tumorrific lived in San Francisco and was a woman working as a PR person in the games business. His mouth dropped as he read the upper right hand corner of the page “I got a tumor in my parotid gland. It's going to be okay.”

Sinking in his chair, Dennis thought about the games PR people he knew in SF – Dana, Sandra, Kat, Kathy, Rannie, Janna, Leslie…each name broke his heart.

At this point, Dennis resolved to reach out to everyone he knew. He’d been in Reno for about 4 months working as a Deputy Field Organizer in the Obama campaign. During those 100 hour weeks, he lost touch with friends, family and acquaintances, missing weddings, birthdays, football games and happy hours. Unemployed, he knew he needed to spend time with as many of his friends as he could – even though he wouldn’t tell all of them he was leaving. A month of goodbyes would be too difficult.

For the rest of the weekend, Dennis obsessively checked his twitter feed – trying to learn who tumorrific actually was and then finally the last clue fell into place. Tumorrific was Korean…and that meant tumorrific was Rannie. Dennis picked up the phone.

“Dennis, so glad to hear from you! Congrats on winning Nevada! How was it! Tell me EVERYTHING!” Rannie excitedly blurted into the phone.

Dennis told Rannie about the 100 hour weeks, McDonald’s Double Cheeseburgers eaten 3 nights a week, the elation of election night, the awesome friends he made, the cranky old lady and her sexist editorials, the cousin of the conservative pundit who worked tirelessly for the campaign, the family he had lived with. Dennis had told these stories now so many times, he had developed a routine. Then he stopped…
“I can tell you these stories anytime…how are you, what are the next steps?”

“This week has been a blur. I am having surgery on Friday, and I have dentist appointments and appointments with a fertility doctor in preparation for the chemo. My mom is here and my dad and sister are coming up tomorrow…Chemo and radiation starts sometime next week.”

“Kiddo, this is scary, I know…but, it’s not the 1980s anymore, they have gotten real good at beating this stuff”

“I know…I know…It’s just…my mom is staying with me in my little studio, I…I…I...I’m afraid my life is going to change….” Rannie sobbed, and Dennis’ heart sunk.

“Well, of course it is,” Dennis said, trying to cheer Rannie up, “you’re life was going to change anyway. Life is about changes”

“And what if I didn’t have health insurance? Erica has been so cool about this, the whole agency actually” Rannie continued to cry.

“Erica’s good people, so are your co-workers. Speaking for people without health insurance…you don’t need to worry about that now. You need to worry about getting better, about eating and drinking water. You gotta stay positive. You’re going to beat this.” Dennis said, doing his best not to cry himself.

“How long will you be in the hospital?”

“I go in Friday for surgery and get out Tuesday, chemo starts the week after”

“Where will you be? Can you have visitors?”
"The UCSF hospital on Divisidero, you don’t have to come, though. I know you’re busy.”

“I don’t know if I will be able to, but I will try” said Dennis.

He knew he would have to juggle his Saturday, but he was determined to get there.

Saturday morning rolled around, and Dennis got dressed to meet friends for lunch in the Mission and head over to visit Rannie in the hospital. As he was heading out the door, Dennis stopped in his tracks.

“Dammit” Dennis cursed under his breath “I don’t have anything to bring her. I don’t want to go over there empty handed” Dennis was unemployed, however, and was broke. He looked around his room, and on the dresser was his copy of World War Z. He’d just finished the book and loved it. Even though it was dog eared, he picked it up to give to Rannie.

Walking down the hall to Rannie’s hospital room, Dennis met Rannie’s parents, her boyfriend, David and her close friends. Dennis and Rannie had been co-workers and while close, their lives hadn’t intersected much.

There had to be at least 10 people in her hospital room; this relieved Dennis. Rannie grabbed his hand and thanked him for coming. Dennis handed her the book and her eyes lit up momentarily.

“I’ve been wanting to read this!”

As more people streamed into the room, Dennis took a break and went to the hallway. Rannie’s mom was struggling to hold it together and probably like everyone else, Dennis struggled not to give the lady a hug. She was an immigrant from Korea and unsure of the cultural implications, Dennis didn’t want to freak her out any more than she already was.

Knowing Rannie was in good hands, Dennis left.

In the confusion and emotion of the day, Rannie’s parents and friends had forgotten to bring anything for entertain her. Bored, Rannie’s friends and boyfriend took turns reading World War Z out loud, switching as each chapter introduced a new character.

Eventually, due to the the stress of the day, operation and pain medications, Rannie began to drift off to sleep. David, her friends, and family slipped away to let her sleep.

Rannie’s sleep that evening would not be restful, however. Her dreams were haunted by zombies. Her mind raced through the plague’s spread through China, its devastation of the peoples of Africa, the inability of the governments of the world to combat the problem and of research scientists trying to find a cure for the disease.

Sunday morning, David and Rannie’s parents were alarmed to see she hadn’t slept well the night before.

“What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable? You haven’t slept?!?! Can I go get the nurse”

“No, I’m fine…I had nightmares all last night, that zombie book freaked me out!”
Rannie fitfully napped on and off all day but was afraid to fall into a deep sleep. She didn’t want to be tormented by plagues of zombies again (the pain medication and stress of Friday’s operation didn’t help matters). As the evening approached, Rannie asked her boyfriend David to stay the night and be there to calm her if the nightmares returned.

David did and planned to leave Monday morning…however, he ended up staying until Tuesday, when Rannie was released from the hospital. As David and Rannie packed the stuff she had brought and accumulated during her weekend hospital stay, Rannie looked at David.

“Will you marry me?” Rannie asked. David had been a rock the past week, dealing with her parents, her friends and spending three days in the hospital with her. She knew he was the one.