Exceptional A dying man finds love from nature Love from Annie by Aussie This Sentence Starts The Story contest entry

There was a knock on the door. I sat up in my hospital bed wondering about the results of my tests. Dr Trace stood at the bottom of my bed, chart in hand. The look on his face gave me no hope. "I'm sorry Charlie, the results of your brain tumors are not good. The second tumor has grown and the chemo isn't working. I think you need to prepare for the worst, you have battled for months, and the cancer has won." "How long Doc? I tried to smile, but it didn't work. "It's hard to say Charlie but less than a year, six months perhaps. Of course, we will monitor your progress and keep you comfortable." I looked into his compassionate eyes and told him "I have some living to do." I packed my clothes and dressed to go home. "Charlie, I meant we would care for you in palliative care here in the hospital." "No, thanks Doc. While I'm able I will live to the best of my health plan." I walked out the doors of the hospital on a beautiful spring day. George, my brother met me and took me home. We lived just outside the city where I often sat beside the trickling stream that meandered through the forest. My mood swings were of course, all over the place. I felt free from the dreadful chemotherapy. I was scared about the future and didn't want pity from family or friends. Nature was always my healer. I focused on the forest and with my binoculars, watched the animals living their lives on the edge of insanity. The city buzzed with humans, cars, and city dweller's garbage. There was a splash in the stream and I saw a platypus climb over rocks and dive for food. The next day I went into the city and bought waders, boots, and a close-up lens for my camera. Every day I sat beside the stream and watched the antics of the platypus, suddenly, she shuffled up the bank and kept coming closer to where I sat. I held my breath, not wanting to spook her. "Hello, my name is Charlie and I will call you Annie." I grinned. My headaches were bearable, when Annie repeated her visits my heart swelled with love for this beautiful animal. Three days passed with no sight of Annie. I began to worry if she had been injured. I enlisted the help of my brother George and we both waded upstream, thinking that would be the way Annie would go. The stream was polluted with human waste in the form of plastic bags, tins, bottles, used diapers, etc. How Annie could live in this mess was beyond my comprehension. George and I couldn't find her in the stream so we kept walking until we came across a huge, concrete, stormwater, tunnel. The walls were covered with graffiti. No Annie. When we returned home, George suggested we have a clean-up of the stream before the storms came. He put flyers out and we ended up with around ten caring people who were horrified at the stream's pollution. They had no idea the precious platypus made it their home. A day after we had pulled the junk out of the water, Annie appeared. She wouldn't come to me because another platypus male was following her. Then, a huge male followed both of them. A vicious fight ensued. Males have a poison spur on their rear legs. I called the small male Ronnie, and boy, did he give the big male a thrashing. He rolled that pretender over and over, finally digging his spur into its fur. Slowly the big male pulled himself over the rocks. The spur injects poison that causes paralysis. Of course, he would not live. Quietly, I sat on the bank of the stream and watched Ronnie playing with Annie. After a while, she gave in and mated with him. After Ronnie and Annie had mated, she dug her claws into the riverbank. Annie fell back into the water twice, then she found what she was looking for. A nice, leafy hole hidden by rocks. She used her claws and flippers to dig a place to lay her eggs. Platypus don't have teats, the young suck the fur. A few weeks went by and two babies peeked out of the burrow. She fed them until finally, they were on their own. Once the babies were no longer reliant on their mother's milk they made their way to the stream to search for insect larvae, freshwater shrimps, worms, and yabbies. Three months had passed and Dr Trace wanted to see how I was going. After putting me through all the tests, he came to tell me what he had found. This time, he was smiling. "Well, Charlie, I don't believe this prognosis." He waved the report around. "Tell me what you have in the results please." My hopes were high. "Charlie, the tests show the second tumor gone and the other one has shrunk! What health plan did you use?" "I told you I had my plan and that was to bond with nature. I've been watching the platypi in the creek these past months. Made a friend with the female I called Annie and watched her babies born. Nature is a wonderful healer, better than drugs. Annie now snuggles on my lap. We have a clean-up squad monitoring the river for human rubbish and the stream is clean and healthy, just like me." Recognized Author Notes Contest Entry for this sentence starts the story. Platypus are native to Australia and live on the east coast. Their numbers have dwindled to 300,000. I was disgusted to see online, the sales of their fur for shoes, etc. Their bills are like rubber, having no teeth they shake their bills looking for food. Their front legs have flippers for swimming and claws for climbing. A placid animal that is being preyed upon for its luxurious, waterproof fur. "If it moves, shoot it, if it doesn't, hunt it down." Our precious platypus is just another money spinner for fur! Grrr.

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