The Final Moment

He coughed.  What followed was an almost vibrating-like sound.

The noise was unsettling but I knew what it meant.

He was shivering.

I reached up and pulled the blanket up to his chin.

"Thanks," he said, "it's the least you could do after last March."

"Really?  You're dying and all you can do is brag about that again?"

Chewy managed a smile.  "You almost won the pool...your pool...because of my help."  His voice was raspy.

"I know you think you helped me.  But I would have made most of those picks anyway.  I'm always chasing the underdog.  Gonzaga..."

He interrupted.  "Hey, let me have my moment."

"Sorry"  I paused.  "Can I ask you a question?"

"I have a feeling that even if I said no, you would ask anyway."

"That's funny."  Even in his final moments, he was going down swinging.  "Seriously though, why did you always try to one-up me?  Why was it always you against me?"

What came next sounded like a wheezing chuckle--his subsequent coughing fit confirmed it.  At this point, he could barley whisper.

"Are you kidding me?  I was trying to make you better," he took a second to gather his breath, "you were never more alive than when I challenged you.  I never tried to hurt you.  I only wanted to make you stronger.  Most of all, I wanted you to have fun."

"Well, you failed because I have no pool wins to show for it."

Chewy sighed.  "You humans are all the same.  You judge your success by wins and losses.  Your whole lives are one big competition.  Life isn't about the result.  If it was, then we would all fail because we all die--and I can't think of a worse result than death."

Good point.  As I thought about that last word, I could feel myself choking up.  I could barely manage a feeble "thank you".

"For what?"

This was a lot harder than I ever imagined.

"For the good times.  For making life more bearable.  Most of all, for being my friend."

"It was a good run, wasn't it?" he whispered.

And then Chewy, breath laboring, closed his eyes and said, "You know none of this is real, right?

Tears welled up in my eyes.  "I know," I said, "but let me have my moment."

He smiled.

And I closed my eyes.  I took a deep breath.  Tears were streaming down my face because I knew that when I opened them again, I would find...

There was no one there.