[ WP ] You are the soul of Henrietta Lacks , tied to the purgatory of countless cell cultures

HELLO HENRIETTA 
 
 `` Hello, Death'' 
 
 The pair greeted each other across a small, dimly lit room, reminiscent of an early century sitting room. In a high-backed chair by the drape-covered window, a thin, proud, but sickly looking woman put aside her crocheting. 
 
 `` I would make you tea, but the pain...'' 
 
 DO N'T STAND. IT IS UNNECESSARY. 
 
 `` All the same, I made a pot this morning. You could turn the stove back on.'' 
 
 I DO N'T HAVE MUCH TIME TODAY. 
 
 Henrietta grimaced for just a moment, a spasm of pain crossing her face. A gentle face, with a number of smile lines, which was covered in infinitesimal cracks, as though she might come apart at any minute. All of her exposed skin, in fact, showed the same signs, giving the impression not unlike that of a hideously complex jigsaw puzzle. 
 
 `` I understand. I do wish you would visit more often...'' 
 
 She paused, idly picking at the thigh of her skirt, ``... it gets quite lonely, you know.'' 
 
 I KNOW. 
 
 `` Would you like to sit? ``, she said, indicating the low, deep, comfortable looking chair beside her which made for a cheery mismatch with the more formal seat she was occupying. 
 
 NOT RIGHT NOW, I NEED TO LEAVE SOON. BUT FIRST - 
 
 `` I know, I know. The offer. The ever present offer.'' 
 
 IT IS AN OPPORTUNITY - 
 
 `` - to move on. I know. Death, you've said the same thing to me, daily, for decades.'' 
 
 HAS IT BEEN THAT LONG? 
 
 `` At least. It's easy to lose track of time here.'' 
 
 THE OFFER STANDS. COME WITH ME AND I CAN SHOW YOU WHAT IS NEXT. 
 
 `` You know I ca n't... I wo n't. They need me here; ever since there was *enough* of me here that I could pull myself together I have sensed that.'' 
 
 WHO NEEDS YOU? THERE IS NO ONE ELSE HERE. 
 
 `` The one's that are still alive, still suffering back on... back where I came from.'' 
 
 SUFFERING IS LIFE. ONLY THE DEAD DO NOT SUFFER. 
 
 `` Yet I'm somewhere in between; not fully alive, not fully dead.'' 
 
 YES. 
 
 `` That's alright, I can keep busy. I ca n't leave yet. I do n't quite understand how, but I'm helping. Somehow. I'm helping ease the suffering.'' 
 
 YOU ARE SUFFERING. 
 
 `` Yes. That's the problem with not quite being dead enough, is n't it? I feel pain, I feel... incomplete.'' 
 
 YOU ARE MORE THAN YOU KNOW. 
 
 `` I'm not sure about that. I'm just me; I knit, I read, I get bored. I sleep. I eat. Sometimes I drink tea.'' 
 
 MORE THAN SOME. 
 
 `` Less than I would like. I do n't breathe, you know? I do n't think I have a heartbeat. That's the worst. The silence, when it gets dark and I lie in the bed. It's so quiet.'' 
 
 BREATHING IS OVERRATED. 
 
 `` Easy for you to say. I've seen some of what's under your cloak there. Some would say skin and bones, but it's mostly just bones, is n't it?'' 
 
 YES. MOST REFUSE TO SEE. 
 
 `` I'm getting used to you. I think that makes it easier, somehow. I can focus on you more now than I was able to before.'' 
 
 MAYBE. YET YOU REFUSE TO JOIN ME. 
 
 `` It just does n't feel right. There's something keeping me here. Keeping me connected.'' 
 
 THERE IS. 
 
 `` And can you fix that? Can you take me if you wanted?'' 
 
 Most people, if they somehow were able to be in that room, would not have noticed, but Death shifted his feet uneasily. Henrietta noticed. `` I see.'' 
 
 I HAVE N'T TRIED. IT SEEMS LIKE A MORE DIFFICULT TASK THAN MOST. 
 
 `` That's alright. I do n't really want to leave anyway. It's not my time yet.'' 
 
 Death reached into his robes, producing an hourglass that was n't there before. This hourglass had always confused him. For a while, it was very normal, the grains of sand slipping lower in the right time, the proper time that matched Henrietta's life. Right before it ran out, however, it stopped. A few grains remained stuck on the side of the glass. Death could tap the glass, flip it over, stare at it and *will* them to move, but nothing would budge them. Then, after a while, they started *multiplying*. More and more and more. The top of the hourglass was practically full of sand, dwarfing the small pile in the bottom. In some ways it was brimming with life. He had never seen anything like it. 
 
 YOU MAY BE RIGHT. 
 
 `` I think I am.'' 
 
 I SHOULD BE GOING. THESE DAYS ARE BUSY. 
 
 `` That's ok. You'll come by tomorrow, wo n't you?'' 
 
 YES. IT IS MY JOB. 
 
 `` I look forward to it. Goodbye Death.'' 
 
 GOODBYE, HENRIETTA
