A Heartbeat Away by Harry Kraus Page B

you?”
    â€œYou’ll think I’m preaching.”
    â€œIt’s never stopped you before.”
    â€œFor God so loved the world,” Charlotte began.
    Something quickened within Tori. She picked up the refrain. “That he gave his only begotten Son.”
    They continued together in unison. “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
    â€œJohn 3:16,” Tori whispered.
    â€œI wasn’t sure you knew it.”
    She shrugged. “I seem to know it now.” She hesitated. “By heart.”
    â€œYou didn’t memorize it. You left my home rebellious and stubborn, never once doing the memory verses I suggested. You just couldn’t get past God allowing your mother to die.”
    Tori sipped her coffee. “Phin thinks God used my mother’s death to get me to follow a path into medicine.”
    â€œWhat do you think?”
    â€œI think you two are ganging up on me.”
    Charlotte laughed, her soprano heh-heh-heh staccato in the air like footsteps bounding down happy stairs.
    â€œCan I serve soup today?”
    â€œYou gonna tell me what you think about my theory?”
    â€œIt’s a nice verse, Charlotte.”
    â€œIt’s truth.”
    Tori sighed. “Can I serve soup?”
    â€œSure.”
    â€œHow’s Manny?”
    â€œHe hasn’t been by in a few weeks. We can go by his place and take him some soup once the kitchen closes.”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œHe’s dying, Tori.”
    â€œExactly why I don’t want to see him.”
    â€œFor a physician, you certainly seem to be spooked by death.”
    â€œDeath is the enemy. I spend all of my time trying to keep my patients out of the grim reaper’s bony fingers.”
    â€œSometimes death doesn’t have to be the enemy. Manny has been hurting. Death means the arms of Jesus and relief.” She put her hands on her ample hips. “Have you ever been with a person at their moment of death?”
    She cleared her throat. “No.”
    â€œBeing a good surgeon isn’t just a technical adventure, you know.”
    Tori waved her off. “Okay, I get it.” She hesitated. “What would I do?”
    â€œJust be there. Offer your presence.”
    Tori stayed quiet and sipped at the warm cup in her hands. When she spoke again, it was as if words were echoing across time from her childhood. Instinctively, they fell from her lips.
    She began quietly, “For God so loved the world …”

13
    That afternoon, with the aroma of chili still clinging to her clothes, Tori reluctantly rode along with Charlotte to visit Manny Benson.
    Tori had first known Manny as a patron of the soup kitchen. She was a teenager when she first started hanging out there, listening to his stories of survival. As a Vietnam vet, Manny never quite fit in after his return from the jungle. He couldn’t seem to keep a job, fighting nightmares and posttraumatic stress. Then, in a blow that would have leveled most men, Manny suffered yet another devastating loss: his wife in an apartment fire. After that, he never seemed to find his footing. But that didn’t stop a young Tori Taylor from admiring his grit. Eventually, after living on the street for the best part of a decade, he became a local celebrity of sorts when a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter did a series on Manny’s life, digging up several heroic reports where Manny had put himself in harm’s way to save a fellow soldier. Here he was, recipient of a Purple Heart and surviving yet again in a jungle of sorts in downtown Richmond. He found part-time work as a maintenance man in a tobacco warehouse and found motivation to stick it out because they let him roll his own cigars. He had finally escaped the streets, but if truth be told, he always felt a little claustrophobic indoors and would favor a park bench to a couch if given the option.
    Two years ago, Manny