Ana had been making dinner when her mother answered the phone and frantically rushed out the door, on her way to the hospital. Ana’s father had experienced a major heart attack, “the widow maker”, as it was more commonly called. He had been in the hospital for a week now, but it was okay; it was all going okay. Ana, her mother, little sister Carly, and her little brother Jack were making the trip to the hospital at least twice a day now, bringing their father good carryout instead of hospital food, and playing card games to try to pass the time for him. It had been a close call, the doctors said. A miracle was what they called it.  Ana was walking next to her mother through the narrow hallways, passing hospital rooms. Ana refrained from looking into the rooms, not wanting to be concerned with the sad stories of other patients.  She was more interested with the texts from her friends.
“Hey mom, I need you to drive me to Reese’s house by four for a movie.” Ana said.
“Well, it’s almost three now, and I believe that if we made the effort to drive out here, we will be staying for more than a couple minutes.” Ana’s mother stated.
“But mom, dad is literally fine, I’ve been looking forward to this and I really don't want to miss it.” Ana argued with more than a hint of annoyance.
“Ana, sweety, we can discuss this when it gets closer to four.” Ana’s mom hurried up ahead where Jack and Carly were being too loud for a hospital hallway. Ana arrived at the room her father was in. It was a small room, with neutral colored walls, tile flooring, and a small couch for visitors, but it was the cards that made it clear that the patient in it had people who loved him. Carly had collected dozens of handmade get well cards which were strewn out across the walls, as well as a couple balloons and about a dozen crayon drawings by Carly. Her siblings ran to their father, Carly gave him more cards she had carefully crafted, and Jack pulled up a table and began dealing out some playing cards. Ana greeted her father, then sat next to her mother on the couch. She began to flip through a automobile magazine someone had brought her father when she saw the time was 3:20.
“Hey... mom, can we think about going soon, maybe I could still get to the movie.” Ana asked.
“Why don’t you go get me a coffee, and we can go when you get back”, her mother proposed. Ana took the money and started on her way to the coffee shop. She turned the corner and then the coffee shop in the hospital was in the lobby in front of her. Ana heard the television on in a room she was about to pass and she glanced in. A lady who looked to be of the age 60 or so was sitting propped up on a hospital bed with an untouched hospital meal consisting of colorless meat and potatoes sitting on a table off to her side. Her face showed no expression, and the light of the television cast blue and green lights on her face. She was wearing a typical blue hospital gown, and she had short grey hair with some streaks of hazel. Her eyes were grave, and barely open. There was a window that gave sight of a parking lot with people getting out of cars coming to visit loved ones. It was a typical hospital room, except the walls were completely bare. There were no messy handmade get well cards, no flowers or balloons, no posters or decorations. It was as if there was no love. All that existed was the lady. Ana felt sad for the lady, like any other person walking by the room would, but she kept walking to get the coffee. She asked for a decaf with room for cream and looked down at the cooler which held an assortment of bottled drinks. The barista had rung up her coffee and she was about to pay when an image of the untouched hospital meal flashed through her mind. She reached into the cooler and grabbed a lemonade.
“I’ll take this too please.” Ana paid and took both of the drinks in the direction of the lady’s room. Ana thought for a second, then knocked on the door. The lady slowly turned her head in Ana’s direction.
“You’re too young to be a nurse, aren’t you?” The lady chuckled.
“I... I saw that you didn’t touch your meal and I thought that maybe you wanted something a little different.” Ana tried to hide her shyness.
“ I wouldn’t mind a bit of change.” A grin appeared on the lady’s face.
“Yea, it can be nice when you’ve been here for a while”, Ana said in hopes to keep the conversation going.
“Do you know someone here?” Asked the lady. Ana told her about her dad, and that he was going to be okay. The lady then began to tell Ana her story, how she had been diagnosed with lung cancer, but that no one had been there to hear, she was alone in her fight, as her family had slowly disappeared. Ana realized that the time was past 4:00, they had been talking for so long, but for a reason Ana could not explain, it hardly bothered her. She talked with the lady and laughed with her, watching as her smile grew bigger. A nurse came in to run some tests and Ana explained that her mom was probably wondering where she was. She left the room and turned back to wave goodbye. There sat the lady with a smile on her face, her bottle of lemonade almost empty. Something about the bright colors on the bottle made the room seem a little happier.