Donut - Stand – Bye

Maddie, remember our high school classmate Cherry Ann? Well, she passed away this week. Huh? What happened to her? Would you believe how unglamorous the way she died! After attending a late mass at the church near her house, she was standing outside a sloped section of the church grounds chatting with her sister when all of a sudden this brakeless Dunkin’ Donuts truck rammed into her. The lights went out instantly.

I was about to check out the donut store nearby when my high school classmate came out of nowhere and delivered me this piece of news. So naturally, I thought, did Cherry Ann enjoy all the donuts before she died? Did she really care about her figure or take care of her health so that she can live up to seventy? All of these, what for when she heard her last Mass and her life ended exactly a month after her 36th birthday? She didn’t die of eating donuts but instead got hit by a donut truck. Sometimes, I just donut understand.

So asa man siya gi haya? Didto ra pud sa kilid sa church where she died. I was amused at how simple her life story was.

On my way to my sister’s graduation dinner, I passed by the wake. True enough, Cherry Ann looked unglamorous in her white outfit, poorly done make up, unpolished nails clutching her rosary and even her newly stitched cleavage (the part where she got hit) was showing. I considered a career in cosmetic surgery and wondered if it covers dead people who still want to look glamorous for the last time.

Buanga ni Che-Ann uy! Nurse man unta to! Her sister couldn’t believe at how careless the truck driver was. I wondered what the connection was between Cherry Ann being a nurse and her death. Could nurses stop death in its tracks?

Earlier that day, the homily at the graduation mass was about nurses going abroad and how they conduct themselves in a foreign land. It sounded like a standard operating procedure for all nurses to go abroad. Ask anyone here if they encounter a Nursing student, most people automatically assume that after graduation, nurses go abroad. What about those who stay home?

Cherry Ann was a volunteer nurse at Saint Anthony’s Hospital somewhere in Cebu. I thought she went abroad and came back for a vacation. I guess she was destined not to go abroad because she kept on failing the CGFNS exams. Maybe she was not good enough to care for Americans but to those patients at Saint Anthony’s she’s their lifesaver. This nurse stayed home for good.

Someone asked if Dunkin’ Donuts helped pay for the funeral expenses. Maybe donate donuts at the wake? It was an accident and we cannot pinpoint on whose exactly to blame. You see, the truck wouldn’t start so the guys had to push it downhill to where Cherry Ann was invisibly standing. How would you feel if you were the driver and you didn’t even step on the accelerator? You’re just innocently holding the steering wheel and trying to step on the brakes (assuming they’re hydraulic) but they won’t work unless the engine is running.

And what about the innocent guys who offered to help push the truck downhill. You wonder why they were trying to push the truck downhill when it could have rolled down in neutral gear. No one is to blame here. The stage was set for Cherry Ann’s graduation from the school of Life. Her drama revolved around the one kilometer radius from where she lived and where she died.

I took a last look at Cherry Ann, smiled at her and said "Querida Mademoiselle! Is that a nurse outfit you’re wearing? Where’s your nurse cap? Panudlay sad intawon uy! I remember those times when you were just so noisy in school with that laughter of yours. Don’t let death stop you from being who you are. Now you can enter the States without a visa! Happy trip!" I looked up at St. Anthony’s statue on the wall and seem to understand Cherry Ann’s short and simple life. Made me think really hard about how glamorously I will die.

Some nurses donut end up going to the States after graduation. Some stand by and teach. Others bid goodbye and go straight to heaven.