The Waiting Room

I had been sitting in the oncology waiting room for four hours when a woman sat down beside me. She was maybe seventy, small, with white hair and a paperback she never opened. She didn't ask me anything. She just sat close enough that I could feel the warmth of her and after a while she put her hand over mine and said, "You are going to be alright." Then they called my name. When I came out an hour later she was gone. The receptionist said no one matching that description had signed in that day. My results came back clear. I think about her every single day.