Justin Timberlake looked up from his schedule and groaned
loudly, shaking his head in what any passer-by would
view as nothing short of disgust.
"ONE DAY?!? Justin said, his voice reflecting
his anger and disgust. "We've been working almost
non-stop since the release of our album and we only
get ONE DAY off for Christmas?!?"
Lance sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah.
Looks like we have to fly back to New York the morning
of the 26th, do "Good Morning Live" with Regis
and then take off from La Guardia to LA and then
"
Justin slammed his hands down on the table angrily.
"This is ridiculous! We've been going almost non-stop
for years now!"
JC reached over and patted Justin on the back. "C'mon
Jus
.it'll be cool. We can fly our relatives in
for New Year's Eve and--"
Justin snorted as he looked back down at his schedule.
"And what, JC? Spend like twenty minutes with them
before we host MTV's New Year's Show? It looks like
New Year's Day is out as well, as we'll be flying back
home that afternoon to head back into the studio and
begin recording on our next album. When does it stop?
We've been burning the candle from both ends now for
like 5 years. When do we get some time to catch our
breath and just relax so we don't burn out on all of
it?"
Justin stood up and looked around at the others, shaking
his head at their silence.
"Guys
It wasn't a rhetorical question!"
Joey looked up and smiled, "Oh shit
he's
serious
he just used a BIG word."
Justin threw his papers down and left the room, slamming
the door behind him as he left.
'It's non-stop! One thing after another
.everyone
pulling at me, at us, in every different direction all
at once. DO this, DO that, SIGN this, HOLD that pose,
SMILE now
when can I, when can we
have some
time to ourselves
.to just be normal.'
Justin's bitter thoughts carried him to the far end
of the Jive offices, where he walked into the bathroom
and stood in front of the mirror. He wet some paper
towels with cold water and patted his face, hoping that
the cooling effect would also help to cool off his temper
and soothe his frustrations.
A moment later, JC walked into the bathroom and stood
beside him, a concerned look on his face.
"Hey! You OK?"
Justin nodded, "I
I just lost my temper
I'm
kinda frustrated
I wanted to just hang out at home
and spend some time with my folks."
JC smiled, "We all understand that, Justin. Believe
me, we all see where you're coming from, but we're just
gonna have to take our holiday in February after we
finish recording the album. We don't want to go much
longer without giving the fans some new material."
Justin nodded again and sighed. "Yeah. Gotta stay
on top while we can."
JC patted Justin on the back. "We're all done
with the meeting; the schedule was the last bit of business.
Are you heading back to your place to start packing
to go to Tennessee for Christmas?"
Justin nodded. "Yeah. We have our interviews and
television taping tomorrow morning and then I'm flying
out on a five o'clock flight."
JC smiled and nodded. "I fly out to DC around
2 tomorrow. Let's hang out tonight, OK?"
Justin grinned. "I have to go shopping tonight.
I have a few more gifts to pick up. Wanna tag along?"
JC nodded. "Sure! Oh
By the way, I was chatting
with Melinda and she said that Katrina was looking for
you and had asked her to ask you to stop by her office."
Justin smiled, "OK. I'll call you after I get
done with Katrina."
JC grinned. "Cool. I'll head back to the house
and start packing.
Justin and JC parted at the elevator and Justin walked
around the corner and down the hall, stopping about
three quarters the way down, before knocking on a door.
Justin grinned as he heard a shuffling of papers and
a pleasant voice ringing out with a crisp, "Come
in!"
Justin walked in and was greeted by a pretty, late-twenties
woman with frosted blond hair brushed into what Lance
had appropriately called a "power helmet"
hair-do. Katrina Marino had joined the Jive staff as
a somewhat knowledgable expert in the field of public
image and public relations. Her experience in the public
relations arena along with her kindness and positive
outlook had done wonders to fend off and destroy a good
deal of the negative press and rumormongering that had
done disservices to other popular bands.
"Hey Kat
I heard you wanted to see me?!"
Katrina smiled and gestured for Justin to sit down
in the seat across from her own.
"I need a favor from you, Justin. I saw that,
of all the guys, you had the latest flight out tomorrow
and
.well
lemme get right to the point
.Justin
my
neighbor Marjorie is a nurse in the terminally ill ward
of Orlando's Children's Hospital and there's a young
boy named John who is one of her patients
"
John sat in bed, listening to his music and feeling
more tired today than he'd ever been before. The doctors,
for all their education, were naive enough to let his
chart hang on to the end of the bed. They'd made the
erroneous assumption that he wasn't old enough to understand
their medical jargon and John wasn't going to inform
them that he was able to read, and to a point, understand
what they'd written about him.
Rhabdomyosarcoma. John had heard this term banted around
by all of his doctors for the last few years, since
that day it had appeared on tests that had been run
on his kidneys. The doctors had removed them, one after
the other, in an effort to stop the spread, but it was
just too aggressive to be stopped. John had read where
each physician and specialist had been called in to
look at him and had signed off on his condition, stating
that there was no feasible treatment that could reverse
or eliminate the problem. Even with the treatments that
John was being given, his organs were just beginning
to be overcome and it was just a matter of time before
his body would fail to support him.
John had looked over their prognoses and was saddened
to see that they had almost all come to agree that,
having already lost function in several of his more
vital organs, he would be dead by years' end. John looked
over at the battery of machines to his side, all beeping
and blipping and frowned as he saw definite visual changes
from the previous day.
John looked up and pulled off his headphones as a nurse
named Marjorie came in and sat down next to him on the
bed.
"Hey fella! How are you feelin' today?"
John shook his head. "My EKG is off, I feel almost
too exhausted to move, and your poker face really sucks
lady
it's not looking to be a real fun Christmas
for me, huh?"
Marjorie sighed. "I was never good at poker, Sugar,
and you are one seriously smart kid. I represent a foundation
called "A Christmas Wish". What we do is ask
terminally ill patients what they want for Christmas,
and then we try to fulfill it. We were wondering what
it is that you would like this Christmas? Don't limit
yourself
.make it good, and we'll try our best
to get it done for you."
John sighed and shook his head. He doubted that they
would ever be able to get him what he truly wanted for
Christmas.
"It's probably impossible, but I'd really love
to see NSYNC in person. I'm a big fan of their music."
Marjorie's eyes bugged out for a moment, then she nodded.
"Well
that's a tall order, but let me get
to work on that for you."
John watched Marjorie leave and shook his head again
as he put his headphones back on and turned up the volume
of his music. He seriously doubted that he would get
his wish, but it was nice of the hospital to try for
him.
Justin looked at Katrina and sighed, he really didn't
wanna spend the free time he had the afternoon of Christmas
Eve in a hospital.
"Please Justin." Katrina begged. "It
would really mean the world for this kid, and to me
too."
Justin sighed and then looked over at Katrina and nodded,
"Yeah. OK. If it's that important to you, I guess
can do that."
Katrina smiled, "You're the best! Here
here's
some CDs and stuff I've already wrapped for you to give
to him."
Justin smiled. "You were banking on me doing this,
huh?"
Katrina nodded. "I was hoping you would
."
Justin headed home and packed up his gear, then gathered
all his stashed presents from throughout the house and
placed them carefully in the large box that he was going
to have checked at the airport the next day.
Justin's shopping trip with JC was surprisingly uneventful
and he picked up the last few items that he had been
wanting to get and got them wrapped before the two guys
headed back to their place.
The next morning the taping went off, amazingly enough,
without a hitch, and the guys found themselves finished
several hours before they had planned. Katrina caught
up with Justin and subtly reminded him of his visit
by giving him a copy of the visiting hours of the hospital.
Justin looked at the time and headed out to the hospital.
John's dialysis had been almost disastrous that morning.
A new and inexperienced nurse and an unfamiliar doctor
had been working the rounds, and John was never so happy
to relax in the quiet of his room as he was after they
left and pulled the curtain shut.
John felt worse than he did the day before and he was
looking forward to a long bout of not having to move
or be poked, prodded, or otherwise manhandled. John
put his headphones on and was about to turn the music
on when he heard a nurse at the nurse's station say
his name and give out his room number. John slowly pulled
off his headphones and gawked as he looked up and saw
a familiar looking young man with blond curly hair enter
his room.
"Hi
John? I'm
"
"You're Justin
.Justin Timberlake."
Justin smiled. "Yep. I heard you wanted to see
NSYNC, but the others are all heading home for the holidays
and couldn't make it. I hope that I'll do by myself,
tho?"
John nodded. "Yeah. Wow
.I didn't think Marjorie
could pull it off. You're actually here."
Justin nodded, smiling as he noticed how similar John
looked to his own kid brother Jonathan.
"Well
I brought you some Christmas gifts.
Why don't you open them early?"
John's eyes lit up as Justin handed over the large
package of gift wrapped CDs.
"That's really cool! Thank you so much!"
Justin watched with a smile as John opened the CDs
carefully one by one, exclaiming excitedly after he
saw each one. Justin looked around and saw that John
had very little other possessions in sight, and was
happy that his gift could bring about such happiness
in the little boy.
"
what do you think, Justin?"
Justin's head snapped up and he smiled, "I'm sorry
I
was caught up in my thoughts there. What did you say?"
John nodded and repeated his question and Justin smiled
and answered the question with ease. A while later,
John put aside all his CDs and looked up at Justin who'd
pulled up a chair and was sitting beside the bed.
"What's the matter?"
Justin smiled. "Huh? Nothing
I'm cool."
John shook his head and smiled. "You can't kid
a kid, Justin. What's up? I've been noticing that every
once in a while your "public happy face" kinda
falls away and you look really upset."
'Wow
this kid is perceptive,' Justin thought and
then replied, "It's just
this time of year
.and
work and all
we only get one day to spend with
our families."
John nodded, "Well
.I know it's hard to do,
but you should make the best out of the time you have
with them and not let the fact that your time was limited
mess up the time that you do get to spend with them.
I guess if you just pack in all the memories you can
in the time you've got, you won't dwell on time that
was cut short."
Justin looked down at John in disbelief. 'I'm getting
advice from a dying kid I just met in the hospital.
This is surreal."
Justin and John chatted for a while longer and it soon
became apparent to Justin that he was seeing John's
condition worsen; he was actually beginning to deteriorate
in front of his eyes. In just the time that he had spent
chatting with the young man, John's skin had begun to
turn an unhealthy hue and he seemed to become a lot
less cognizant of the conversation and his surroundings.
"John?" Justin asked quietly, "Where
are your folks? Shouldn't they be here now?"
John shrugged his shoulders and replied nonchalantly,
"Dunno
I haven't seen them....They musta got
stuck."
Justin looked up at the clock and saw that his flight
was due to leave in under an hour and that he would
have to leave very soon if he was going to catch it.
As he got up to say goodbye, he looked down and saw
a single tear fall out of the side of John's eye and
onto his pillow.
"I think I'm gonna call my mom and tell her I'm
gonna stay here tonight and take an early flight out
tomorrow."
John nodded and Justin called his mother and left a
message on her machine, telling her not to worry and
that he'd catch an early flight and see her tomorrow
morning.
Justin sat back down next to John's bed and smiled..
John looked over at Justin and motioned for him to
come closer.
"I never ever expected to see you in person."
John smiled weakly. "I am happy that I got to see
a bit of the real you that you hide beneath your public
face. You talked with me and let me see that you're
a real person too
with real problems
just
like me. I always thought your world was all perfect
and that you had it easy cause you're a star."
Justin cocked his head and nodded.
"But beyond that, you gave me the best Christmas
present in the world today, Justin. Better than the
one I asked Marjorie for."
Justin's eyebrows raised in curiosity. "I did?"
Justin looked at the CDs on the stand and then back
to John who smiled and shook his head lightly.
"No
not the CDs. You gave me something you
don't have a lot of, which made it even more special.
You gave me your time
time to sit and talk with
you
time to get to know you
time to make a
last few great memories. You took away my fear. I was
afraid that I'd not have anything memorable happen to
me before I died
but now, I'm not afraid anymore.
Cause I got to meet you."
Justin had valiantly tried to keep his emotions intact,
but at that moment, his control completely eroded and
his eyes began to overflow with tears.
"Well John
I'm here for you, buddy."
John snuggled down in his pillows and closed his eyes.
Justin grabbed hold of his hand and bowed his head in
a silent prayer.
A noise from the corner of the room alerted Justin
that someone had entered the room. Justin looked up
and saw the nurse looking sadly down at the two of them.
"He's gone, Justin."
Justin looked over at the little boy in the bed and
saw that he had stopped breathing, and he began to weep.
"No. No he's not gone
he's still here with
me
in the memories I have
of the time I got
to spent with him today."
The nurse came over and put her arms around him and
hugged him close.
Justin slowly got up and reached out to the young boy's
face, brushing away the strands of hair from his eyes,
and then letting his arm fall limp to his side. Justin
turned to the nurse and sniffed.
"Where are his folks? I can't believe they weren't
here
."
The nurse looked at Justin and shook her head. "His
folks abandoned him when he was little and he started
having kidney problems
.he hadn't seen them in
years."
Justin's face fell and he shook his head. "But
he said
"
"He said that they just got stuck
or delayed?
Yeah
He said that so that no one would feel sorry
for him, cause he'd been abandoned."
Justin used the back of his hand to wipe off his face.
"Well who's paying for all his medical expenses
then?"
The nurse shrugged, "He's a ward of the state.
They pay for it
well...to a point. I don't know
what they'll do now that he's gone."
Justin determinedly shook his head. "I'll take
care of his funeral expenses
and whatever hospital
expenses are outstanding. Just give me the paperwork
and I'll fill it all out."
The nurse looked at Justin and shook her head in wonder.
"Why?"
Justin shrugged as if the answer was blindingly obvious.
"He gave me a gift."
"What gift did he give you?"
Justin looked at the nurse. "He showed me that
it's not the amount of time you spend with people you
love, it doesn't matter if it's one day, one week, or
one year....it's what you do together in the time you
are given to make it memorable. That's the best gift
I've ever been given."
A tear fell down the nurse's face and she nodded. "I
understand. I'll go get that paperwork all set up for
you to fill out. I'll get you the number of a good funeral
home as well."
Justin nodded and followed her out of the room to get
everything straightened away.
Justin had called the airlines and luckily got a seat
on the early morning flight out to Tennessee. As the
plane landed in Tennessee, Justin smiled at the idea
of seeing and spending time with his family.
Justin had spoken with the stewardess and she readily
agreed that she would have him off the plane before
everyone else, so that he would stand less of a chance
of being noticed and causing an incident. As the plane
slowed to a stop, the stewardess tapped him lightly
on the shoulder and he unbuckled his belt and followed
her to the hatch of the plane. Justin thanked her, disembarked
and quickly made his way up the ramp.
Justin's mother, Lynn, and his kid brother, Jonathan,
were waiting at the top of the concourse for him. Justin
emerged and smiled as he walked over to them. Jonathan
yelped as he saw Justin and ran up to him and jumped
into his arms.
"Hey L'il' Lake
" Justin laughed and
hugged his brother.
Justin smiled as his mother came up and hugged him.
"Hi Mom
Merry Christmas. Sorry I missed my
flight yesterday
I had
something really important
to do."
Lynn smiled and nodded and then they headed over to
the baggage claim area. After about 50 minutes of waiting
around for his luggage, Justin walked over to the airport
baggage claim office and inquired as to the whereabouts
of his bags.
The clerk looked up with a guilt-ridden frown on her
face.
"Um
.Mr. Timberlake? I'm sorry, sir, but
the luggage for that flight hadn't been loaded onto
that plane. It was accidentally loaded onto a plane
going to Mexico
at least that's what we think."
Justin let out a long and loud sigh. "Mexico?!?"
The young woman nodded timidly, "We believe so,
sir. What I can do is have you fill out a claim form
with your name and address, and if they show up, we
can deliver them to you."
"But those were all my Christmas presents, lady!"
The young woman sighed, "I really am sorry. We
have a skeleton crew of almost all new people working
on Christmas day and they must have just misplaced them
accidentally
I am really sorry that they messed
up your holidays."
Justin was about to lose his temper when he realized
that she truly was sorry and that getting angry and
yelling at her was not going to help the situation.
Justin nodded and turned around and made his way back
to his family.
"They lost all my bags," Justin said as he
flopped down on the bench and hung his head.
Lynn turned to face her son and put her hand on his
shoulder. "Aww
Justin
I'm sorry. Good
thing you still have a lot of clothes at the house.
Let's just go home, honey."
Justin followed his mother and brother into the house,
his head still hung in sadness as he plopped down on
the sofa in the living room. Justin looked up as Jonathan
ran over to him holding a gift.
"Here Justin
this is for you. This is MY
present to you."
Justin looked up and tried to smile as he took the
package from his little brother. Justin opened the package
and smiled at the baby blue knit sweater that was contained
within.
"Wow Jon
It's awesome!"
Jonathan looked over at Justin for a minute and Justin
sighed and patted the empty space on the sofa beside
him, coaxing Jonathan to get up and sit beside him.
"Jon
All the presents I brought for you and
everyone else were in my bags that the airport lost.
I'm sorry that I ruined your Christmas."
Jonathan looked up at Justin and shrugged. "No,
you didn't. I got what I wanted."
Justin looked down at his little brother, puzzling
over what gift he had gotten. "You did?!?"
Jonathan smiled brightly. "I'm getting to spend
Christmas with you. That's what I asked Santa for this
Christmas."
Justin's eyes began to well up with tears as he looked
at his little brother's happy face and remembered the
gift John that had given him the previous day. Justin
nodded as he heard John's words in his mind once again.
"You gave me time
time to sit and talk
time
to make memories
that's the best Christmas present
in the world"
Justin grabbed his brother into a hug and the two spent
the day together, laughing, talking and making memories
that both would cherish for the rest of their lives.
The End
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