“Topher, can you show us to his room?” Joey asked.
Once Topher composed himself, he led his friends into the Sunny Skies Care Center and down the hall to room 828. All it took was one look at the actor and everything Topher had just said was confirmed. Even with a heads-up of what they were walking into, the others couldn’t contain their emotions as well as Topher managed to.
“You don’t have to feel that sorry for me,” Cash said. “I’m on enough morphine to stop a herd of elephants. Things could be worse.”
“Why didn’t you tell us you were sick?” Mo asked.
The actor laughed. “No offense,” he said, “but you aren’t the easiest bunch to break bad news to. By the way, I’m so sorry for spilling all your secrets like I did. Just because I’m dying doesn’t give me the right to be a dick. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
Given the new circumstances, none of them had it in their hearts to hold anything against him. It was like a magic eraser had wiped away all their grudges and hard feelings toward the actor.
“I think I speak for everyone when I say you have our forgiveness in spades,” Joey said. “It pissed us off for a while, but it only brought us closer together. So we really should be thanking you.”
“It’s not like anything you said was a lie,” Topher said. “Unlike the things people have been saying about you. Everyone’s got it all wrong—when are you going to break the news to them?”
“Not until I’m gone,” Cash said with a sly smile. “Which is really a shame because I’d love nothing more than to see the looks on all those asswipes’ faces when they find out they’ve been chastising a guy with cancer. It’s going to be a crow buffet! Enjoy it for me.”
“Why don’t you want to see it for yourself?” Sam asked.
The actor let out a long sigh. “It would just create an even bigger frenzy than there’s already been,” he said. “My life has always been so crazy, so loud, and so busy. For once, I just want everything to be quiet. Besides, when the whole world is tarnishing your name, that’s how you learn who your true friends are. You guys are all I need.”
Mo could barely get the words past her tears. “Is there anything we can do for you?”
She had to ask it even though they all knew there was nothing anyone could do. However, Cash did have a very important request for them and he was grateful he had the opportunity to ask it.
“Yes, you can make me a promise,” the actor said. “Promise me you won’t waste the rest of your lives pleasing other people, because if you do, you’ll wake up one day and realize you’ve never really lived. Trust me, you don’t want to learn that lesson the way I did.”
Topher, Joey, Sam, and Mo gave the actor their word and it was the greatest gift they could have given him.
“Good,” Cash said with a light chuckle. “Then my mission is now complete.”
The Downers Grove gang were determined to stay by Cash’s side until the very end. They called home and told their families they’d be returning a few days later than expected. All they said was that they had met a new friend on the road who was sick in the hospital and they were going to stay with him until he could leave. None of them felt an ounce of guilt about the claim because, just like Cash taught them, there was a difference between telling a lie and not giving the whole truth. It was a blessing that none of their parents took issue with it, because not even a meteor impact could get them to leave the actor.
As the week went on, Cash’s health rapidly declined more and more each day. By Thursday the actor had lost feeling in his legs and feet. By Friday, the numbness had spread to his arms and hands. By Saturday he stopped eating and drinking water. By Sunday the actor stopped talking and opening his eyes. Then on Monday, July 10, Cash Carter took his final breath and peacefully passed away in a very quiet room surrounded by new friends. The actor had had so little control over his life, but his death was exactly how he wanted it to be.
From that day forward, when Topher, Joey, Sam, or Mo thought about Cash, they never imagined his character from television or the sick man in the hospice bed. Instead, the group pictured the actor behind the wheel of a sleek and shiny Porsche 550 Spyder, cruising down an open highway of the afterlife, pranking, peer pressuring, and corrupting every naive angel he found along the way. That was the Cash Carter no one else got to see, and that was the Cash Carter they would miss forever.
Chapter Twenty-Three
TRUSTS