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.
Back in Orlando, Justin had checked in all his
bags except for the small one that contained John's
walkman and some papers and stuff he had wanted
to read on the plane. The nurse from the hospital
had insisted that Justin should take the CD walkman
with him as it would only get appropriated from
the hospital if he'd have left it there. After
reading through the papers he had brought, Justin
put on the headphones and hit play. Justin sighed
sadly as he heard the CD cue up to his voice singing
part of the melancholy refrain from "God
Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You."
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 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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