A last phone call from my Cousin

By: Marjorie


I have to admit that I don't recount this story very often, and it's basically because I'm afraid that the story is too odd to believe, people will think I'm crazy, but my story is 100% true. My older cousin John was more like a surrogate father to me than a cousin, my Mother and he were of only a couple years difference in age. I visited with him in Ohio one summer, only for a week or so and I could tell his health was heading for a downturn. We kept in touch on the telephone for the next year and a half and during that time he was diagnosed with late stage terminal cancer. One morning around 5am my telephone rang, (it was one of my crazy friends back east who forgot about the time difference between California and Virginia - she thought it was later than it actually was), I could barely move, it felt like someone had been draining the blood from my body, my mind was foggy and I could barely talk, I told her I'd call her when I woke up later, and hung up the phone. I fell immediately back to sleep by closing my eyes, and into my sleep I dreamt that the telephone rang, and on the other end of the line was my cousin John! The conversation went like this, "Hi John, how are you?", "Oh, I'm feeling wonderful, just fantastic." He sounded like he had just hit the lottery, the most cheerful and happy I had ever heard him speak in my entire life, very animated tone of voice, and very clearly speaking - not sluggish or sickly as he had sounded on the phone. I then tried to carry on a little bit of a conversation with him, but he cut off my speech and he said, "Don't worry about me, I'm very happy and I'm doing great", I then said, "Oh that's great John." Then he said he had to go and we said goodbye, love you, and hung up the phone. Around 9:20 a.m. my real telephone rang and woke me from my sleep. It was my mother calling to say that John had died, and I asked her "When? I just talked to him!". She said it happened around 8:37 a.m. (that would have been 5:37 a.m. California time). It was then that I realized he called me in my dream, we spoke for a short moment, and at the same time he was passing away. It made me feel very special to know that he thought so highly of me that he chose me as his last person to speak to. I'm teary eyed as I recount this story for you, this was a very emotional moment for me and it still feels as if it just happened yesterday.