Authors: Donna Every
“I can’t
Daniel,” said KT regretfully, “you’re still my patient.”
“So what?” he
asked.
“So I live by
certain principles and I won’t change them just to please you.”
Although it was tempting.
“I’d like to
please
you
,” murmured Daniel in a low sexy voice. KT blushed and looked
away.
“Then don’t
pressure me,” said KT ignoring his innuendo.
“OK” conceded
Daniel. “I can wait for two more weeks. I’m sure you’re worth the wait.”
KT wasn’t sure
if she liked the sound of that. Just what was Daniel expecting from this
date? She hoped not more than she was willing to give.
Daniel walked
into the Physiotherapy department with almost no trace of evidence that only
seven weeks ago his balance had been impaired. When he reached KT’s desk
he presented her with a beautiful deep purple orchid in an attractive ceramic
pot.
“Beauty for a
beauty,” he declared. The other patients and therapists in the room began
to clap and whistle, making KT blush with embarrassment.
“This is
beautiful, Daniel! Thank you! What’s the occasion?” asked KT.
“I just wanted
to add some color to your life as you’ve done to mine. And besides this is our
last session, or have you forgotten?”
“How could I
forget?” said KT. She’d miss seeing Daniel every week. It was
amazing how quickly the time went especially since he’d only needed seven weeks
of therapy to practically get back to normal. “I’m actually going to miss you,
Daniel Tennant, although you’re nothing but trouble.”
“The only good
thing about this is that since I won’t be your patient any more you can go out
with me now.”
“Who says I
want to go out with you, Mr. Tennant?” she asked coyly.
“I’m hoping
that you do,”
said
Daniel humbly, “And don’t forget
what you said about hope deferred.”
KT smiled. “I
wouldn’t want to make your heart sick, now that I’m beginning to believe that
you do have a heart,” she teased.
“So how’s next
Friday?”
“I’ll go out
with you next Friday on one condition,’ said KT. “That you’ll come to my cell
group on Wednesday.”
“Agreed!
Is that the group with the ex-cons? That
should be interesting. I can come and pick you up now that I’ll be able to
drive again.”
“They’re not
ex-cons, Daniel. Don’t you dare say anything like that when you
come.
Remind me to give you my address afterwards. Now
let’s get to work. Since this is our last session, I need to be convinced
that you’re really ready for the world again.” Though she wanted him to be
fully recovered she feared losing him to his old life again.
“Oh no, Mademoiselle
de Sade is back!” joked Daniel. “I’m really going to miss this time together,”
he said seriously holding her gaze. KT’s eyes misted up. She didn’t know
how she was going to survive not seeing Daniel walk through those doors every
week. In spite of what she told Connie, she was afraid she was becoming
very attached to Daniel Tennant.
“I’m going to
have to find other things for us to do together because I can’t imagine not
seeing you every week,” he continued.
“Maybe you can
join my cell group. That way we’d see each other every week,” she
suggested half jokingly.
“I’ll see,”
said Daniel. That wasn’t quite what he had in mind.
Wednesday night
Daniel found
KT’s apartment easily. He called her from his car and waited while she came
out, although he would have liked to have seen her apartment. He hoped
she’d invite him in when he brought her back.
He got out of
the car as KT locked her front door and walked down the short flight of
stairs. She was wearing a pair of black jeans, a deep red sweater and a
long black coat. Her hair was in its usual pony tail.
“Hi there!” he
said holding open the passenger door.
“Hi Daniel.
Nice ride!” approved KT eying the black Porsche.
“Thanks. I’m
now getting used to the feel of it again after not having driven for so long.
Want to drive?”
“No thanks,
it’s too powerful for me. I’m afraid I might hit it.”
“I trust you,
but maybe another time when we’re out of the city.” KT noted that he seemed to
take it for granted that there would be other times. “You’ll have to tell
me how to get to your friends’ house. What were their names again?”
“Richard and Ann Baxter.
They’re the cell group leaders.
We usually have about 12 people give or take a couple. I told them
that I was bringing a former patient of mine who had brain surgery but I didn’t
go into much detail.”
“So what do you
do at cell group?” asked Daniel.
“Lots of
things: hang out, listen to music, sing, talk, pray, read the Bible, eat….”
“Read the
Bible? Is it some kind of church?” asked Daniel, wondering what he’d got
himself into.
“It’s not
some
kind of church. We are the church.”
Daniel had no
idea what that meant. All he knew was this was not what he had in mind for a
first date. Although technically this wasn’t the first date, it was only
the precursor to it. OK, he’d endure church if that’s what it took to get a
real date with her.
“Tonight we’re
just going to hang out and watch a movie.”
With KT
directing him, in about half an hour they pulled up to a sizeable house in a
nice neighborhood. He got out and opened her door.
“Thanks,” said
KT feeling a bit nervous. She wasn’t sure how Daniel was going to fit in
at cell group. She hoped he’d be comfortable with her friends.
KT rang the
bell and the door was quickly opened by Ann who greeted both of them with a hug
and ushered them inside.
“Ann, this is
my friend, Daniel Tennant. Daniel, Ann Baxter and here
comes
her husband, Richard. Richard this is Daniel Tennant.”
Daniel shook
hands with Richard and said, “Hi nice to meet you.”
“Likewise” replied
Richard.
“KT tells me
that you’ve recently had brain surgery. You seem fine though,” said Ann.
“Yes, I’m
almost back to normal although I find I still get tired quite easily. KT was
great in helping me to get back on my feet; that’s how we met.”
“Well you must
be special because KT has never brought one of her patients to cell group,”
said Richard.
“Uh, why don’t
we go and join the others,” suggested KT quickly changing the subject.
Richard was not known for his tact!
Daniel was
introduced to a room full of people who welcomed him so warmly that he
immediately felt at home. It was a mixed group in more ways than one: there
were about seven men and eight women, of several races and ages. Most of
them were in their late twenties and early thirties although Richard and Ann
were probably the oldest at about 40. He knew that he would have trouble
remembering half their names. They all appeared to enjoy each other’s company
and to genuinely like each other. He and KT were obviously the last to arrive because
as soon as they joined the others, Ann turned off the CD that had been playing
in the background.
“We’re going to
watch a movie tonight,” announced Richard.
“What are we
watching?” asked one of the guys.
“Matrix.
You’ve probably seen it before. It came out
several years ago but I recently ordered the DVD so I thought it we could watch
it and talk about it,” said Richard. “Have you seen it Daniel?”
“No. I’ve
heard about the special effects in it but I’ve never seen it.”
“It’s a bit of
a guy film so you’ll probably like it.
Lots of action.”
Daniel smiled
as Richard started the movie while Ann passed out bowls of popcorn and put
other snacks on the table. The room was quiet for the next two hours
except for the sounds of the movie.
“Now that was
amazing!” said David, one of the younger guys. “The action scenes were awesome,
especially where they were doing flips and running up the walls!”
“Yes,” agreed
Richard, “but apart from the action, the film had some amazing parallels to our
beliefs. For example, the way everyone in the Matrix believed they were
actually alive when in fact they were living in a virtual world.”
“How does that
parallel your beliefs?” asked Daniel, interested in hearing the answer.
“We
believe that although we’re alive we may not always be truly living as God
intended because we’re mostly slaves in the same way that the people in the
Matrix were slaves to the machines.”
“So what do you
believe we’re slaves to?”
“All kinds of
things – desire for wealth and power, fame, illicit sex, alcohol, you name it.
We’re often controlled by these desires and we can’t help ourselves, that’s
what makes us slaves.”
“That sounds
kind of hopeless,” remarked Daniel.
“It is hopeless
when we try to do things our own way, but we believe that when we ask Jesus to
help us do things his way, then he frees us from slavery and we can live as God
intended us to, not controlled by anything. That’s like Neo taking the red
tablet and being released from the Matrix.”
“Ah,”
said Daniel. Now he understood what KT had meant about people in her cell
group being freed from a type of jail.
“They also kept
referring to Neo as the One and they believed that he could save the world,”
added in Ann. “In a way he paralleled Jesus, who we believe to be the savior of
the world. Neo even died and came back to life, as we believe Jesus did,
and in the end he called and told everyone the truth and left it up to them to
make their decision about whether they wanted to continue in the Matrix or be
free. Then he shot up to heaven.”
“Wow!” said one
of the women. “I never even thought of all those things when I first saw
the movie.”
“Yeah, that was
deep,” said Peter, another one of the guys. “It’s true though. You can
just go through life thinking that you’re living and free when you’re not,
because you’re really just a slave to something and you don’t even know it.”
Daniel realized
that finding out he had a brain tumor and that he could die had made him start
examining his life. He’d always believed that he lived life to the
fullest, but was he really living or was he nothing more than a slave to the
desire for wealth?
“So Daniel,
will we see you next week?” asked Ann.
“Uh, sure.
It’s certainly been interesting.”
As he and KT
walked to the car Daniel asked, “Would you like to go for a coffee? I
don’t want to go home yet. Unless you want to come with me,” suggested Daniel
with a teasing smile.
“I don’t think
so. Coffee sounds good though,” agreed KT wanting to prolong her time with
Daniel. This was the first time that they were together outside the hospital
and she didn’t want it to end. Granted, she had to go to work the next day
while Daniel could sleep in but she figured the time she would spend with him
was worth a couple of hours sleep.
Settling into a
booth of a popular coffee shop with their cappuccinos, Daniel asked KT, “So
tell me about your red tablet experience. What made you want to come out
of your Matrix?”
“It’s a long
story but suffice it to say that my initial high school years were not
easy. Because I’m of mixed race, my mum is Caucasian and my dad is
African American, I felt that I wasn’t really accepted by either race. I
was too black for the white kids and too white for the black kids. I was all messed
up. I felt unattractive, rejected and I was lonely and insecure.
“I started
hanging out with the Latin kids. That’s when I met my friend Desiree
Rodriguez. She invited me to a Youth Group meeting at her church where
the youth pastor was talking about us being fearfully and wonderfully made and
that God doesn’t make mistakes and stuff like that and that we need to accept
ourselves and each other for who we are because God does. I felt that he
was speaking to me. So that night, when he asked if anyone wanted
to be free from fears, doubts, insecurities and give them to Jesus, I did it. I
felt as if a void that had been in my life was finally filled. I also
discovered that I didn’t have to prove myself to anyone or try to fit in. I
could be just who God created me to be.”
“That’s great!
So are you totally over your insecurities?”
“Sometimes they
try to creep back on me but that’s usually when I’ve gotten too far away from
God and I forget all the things he’s said about me. What about you?”
“I’ve never
really had any exposure to God and that sort of stuff. I guess I believe he’s
out there somewhere, because I don’t buy the Big Bang theory, but I’ve never
given him much thought in the past. In fact I’ve probably thought more
about him in the last few months than I have in all of my life before the
tumor.”
“Maybe that was
the purpose of the brain tumor, to get your attention.”
“That’s what
Margaret said to me the night in the hospital when I found out. Well, if
nothing else, one good thing has come out of this brain tumor,” he said taking
her hand in his. “I met you.” KT smiled and said nothing. She still wasn’t sure
what Daniel’s agenda was.
“It’s getting
late and some of us have work tomorrow.”
They drove back
to KT’s apartment in a companionable silence, with soft music playing in the
background. Daniel seemed to be deep in thought, even as he pulled up to
the curb.
“Thanks for the
ride and the coffee. See you Friday,” she said getting out.
“I’m looking
forward to it,” replied Daniel. More than you know, he added silently.