I stopped up at Jennifer's on my way home.  Her mother seemed afraid to let me in.
    

    "Is that Ben?"  Jennifer asked.

 

    "Yes."

 

    "Please ask him in."

 

    Her mother seemed hesitant.  Jennifer was really sick and her mother didn't want to expose me to anything, but I wasn't about to go away.

 

    "Hey," I said and tried to sound as cheerful as I could.  She looked like hell.  "How we doing?"

 

    "Awful.  I was up all night, puking and I haven't been able to hold anything down, all day."

 

    "Not good.  Sounds like a stomach virus, to me."

 

    "I hope that's all it is."

 

    "Well, what else could it be?"

 

    "AIDS.  If I have AIDS, I'm going to find that bastard Eddie and-"

 

    "Hey!"  Her mother cut in.

 

    "Why would you have AIDS?"  I asked.

 

    "Did I ever tell you why I stopped working?"

 

    "No.  I think you stopped working when our on again off again relationship was in the off position."

 

    "I was in the Pediatrics Ward.  I was making my rounds.  I leaned over this little boy's crib when I felt something prick my leg.  It was a needle.  Some **** lazy **** Doctor-"

 

    "Jennifer!"  Her mother yelled.  I guess she didn't care too much for the language.

 

    "I don't care!"  Jennifer yelled back.  "He should go to hell and die!"

 

    "Doesn't he have to die first?"  I asked.

 

    From the look on Jennifer's face, I guess she wasn't in the

mood for my warped sense of humor.

 

    "He didn't throw the needle out," she said.  "He just looped it through the mattress.  He was so **** lazy, he couldn't walk across the room and dispose of the damn thing.  So he threaded it through the mattress and I walked right smack into it."

 

    I didn't know this had happened.  I didn't know what to say.  AIDS had just begun to filter out of the gay community and into the heterosexual community and its method of transmission seemed to be slightly more numerous than initially thought.  Of course, it was pretty stupid to think that a virus, which fed on the human body, would limit itself to gays.

 

    "They gave you and the baby an AIDS test," her mother said.

 

    "They gave you an AIDS test?"

 

    "Yes."

 

    "And?"

 

    "It was negative, but the tests aren't a hundred per cent."

 

    "What about the baby?"

 

    "His was negative, too."

 

    "Well, then, it's probably not AIDS.  Are you going to the Doctor?"

 

    "We're taking her over tomorrow morning?"   Her mother said.

 

    "Okay, then; you'll have another test and I'm sure it'll come back negative, too."

 

    A veil of silence fell over the room.

 

    "Will you stay and play Scrabble with me?"

 

    I didn't see how I could say, no.  We played four games.  I even managed to win one.

    The next day, I went to work and Jennifer went to the doctor.  I called her during my lunch hour, but nobody was home.  I called an hour later and still didn't get an answer.  I started calling at half hour intervals and nobody picked up the phone until 3:30 in the afternoon.  I couldn't believe they had been gone for so long.  Her appointment was at eight in the morning.

 

    Jennifer answered the phone.

 

    "Hi," I said.  "What the hell happened?  I've been calling since noon."

 

    "They sent me to the hospital for the AIDS test and then we had to go to the pharmacy.  She put me on antibiotics.  She thinks I've got some kind of flu.  I couldn't drive this morning.  So, it's been a day of calling and waiting for Car Service.  I kept throwing up all day.  I can't stand this."

 

    "People get sick and people get better.  You're going to get better.  You just have to ride the sick through."

 

    "I know," she said, but sounded so down.

 

    "Is there anything I can bring you?  I leave here in a little bit."

 

    "No."

 

    "You're sure?"

 

    "I don't know.  Do you feel like watching some movies?"

 

    "Yeah.  I'll go home, have dinner and then go rent some movies."

 

    "Thank you, Ben.  You're a true friend."

    I ended up with the first 'Indiana Jones' and Belushi's 'Continental Divide,' but we didn't make it through the first movie.  We never put on the second.  About a half hour into Indy, Jennifer was off to the bathroom.  She was vomiting again.  It had reached the`point where she didn't even have anything to bring up anymore, but she was vomiting again.  It left her really drained.  Her mother helped her back into bed and we tried to go on with the movie, but before it ended she was into the bathroom, again.

 

    I really felt for her.  Losing my guts is my least favorite thing in life.  You can give me anything else, but that and believe me; I know the wide spectrum of ills I'm asking for.  I had food poisoning, once and it was a Pepto week and I still think it's better than throwing up.

 

    We never finished the movie.  Jennifer really felt awful.  I thought it was best if I went home and she tried to get some sleep.  I left and called from work the following day.  Last night had been her worst night, yet.  It made me think of the time she told me she was dying of cancer.  I uttered a quiet prayer of forgiveness to the fickle finger of fate.