The Wrong Envelope

Jill saw the red Royal Mail van pulling away from outside of her house through the lounge window. Fear tightened her stomach as the adrenaline pumped. She went into the hallway to pick up the mail by the front door. There was a brown envelope. She had been waiting, dreading the day when this envelope arrived. The news inside would affect the rest of her life.

With shaking hands, she picked up the envelope. It looked like an ordinary envelope. No one would guess the gravity of the contents. Hands shaking, heart fluttering, Jill started to open the envelope. Fearing the worst, she pulled out the contents, a single folded sheet and a booklet. Jill unfolded the letter and started to read, scanning until she got to the words she had been dreading. “I’m sorry to tell you, Ms Robinson, but the tests are conclusive you do have an inoperable brain tumour.”

Jill’s eyes filled with tears, making further reading impossible. "That’s not fair" she cried, "I‘m only 27-years old. What about the children I haven’t had? What about the husband I haven’t got? My life is over before it has begun. I haven't the time to do the things I want to do."

The tears continued to stream down her face dripping from her chin. She sunk into the armchair, her heart was pounding wildly. She tried to calm herself and read the letter again. There must be a mistake? Please God, let there be a mistake! Recently, her headaches had started to decrease. It was bliss, being able to work longer without getting those awful blinding headaches. She re-read the letter but the message remained unchanged. She was going to die.

She became aware of the telephone ringing in the hallway. She struggled out of the chair and answered it.

“Hello, Jill Robinson?” Said the kindly sounding woman on the other end.

"Yes, yes it is, but before you start I'm not interested in buying any...”

The woman interrupted her “Jill, I’m calling from Dr O'Connor's surgery. I’m afraid there’s been a terrible mistake. Your results have come back, we sent you the wrong envelope. Your results are negative Jill, you haven’t got a brain tumour”.