Author's Note-  this is not exactly adult, but
I know more folks on dsx than I do dsfict (to which I'm no subscribed
anyway).  Don't ask me who the narrator is, nor who "she" is.  You'll
either decide as you read, or decide it doesn't matter. I know who they
are, but no matter what names you put in, the emotions remain the same.
You may find this a bit odd, because usually my stories reveal themselves
at the end.  This one doesn't.  For some of us this is a true story;
for the rest of you, you can still understand.

ONE SECOND MORE
by James Walkswithwind

	I wanted one second more.  Why can't they give me one second?  
It's all I ask.  I suppose I dont really need it, do I? What would I
do with one more second?
	Do you ever realise that sometimes there is just not another 
chance to say anything?  One second slips by and you have lost every
chance you might have ever had.  You should have taken your second yesterday,
you should have taken it last year.  What would you have said? What would
you have done?
	One second isn't very much time, but you can't imagine until you haven't
any what you can do with it.  How much can you say in one second? I love
you? I respect you? Have fun? Who are you? Hello my name is... One second.
One little second.
	If they gave her one more second I couldn't accept it-- so many before
me, who deserve the time.  So many before me praying for one more second,
thanking whoever listens that they've had the seconds they had before.
Oh god, that life could be measured in seconds...  are you grateful for
the seconds you have?  Are you grateful for the last second you took..
do you regret the last second you lost?  Did you notice? 	Lying there.
One second.  So fast, so sudden, until all I can 
think is one second.. might I have one second?  I need to prepare...
You can't tell  me this yet, I say.  I need time.. one second would be
enough.  Tell me you'll say it when one second has passed and I can be
ready for it, I can hear it, I can be stung and shocked but it'll be
ok because I'll have had one second more.  One more second not knowing,
one more second not thinking what I'd lost.  
	Instead I'm thinking that of all the people who are begging for one
second more, I fall so far behind. Insidious voices tell me I dont deserve
to need any seconds at all, I lost my chances when I didn't take them.
So many seconds passed..  
	But there were seconds.  We had seconds and we touched, and 
though I may not have made the second count they were there.  Seconds.
We touched, and now they're gone.  Seconds.  I could have asked so many
things...  
	I think of those who might ask for their second.  I know somehow their
need is greater-- but that doesn't change anything now.  You don't deserve
your second now is such a stupid phrase because it isn't true.  If I
had one more second I could say thank you.  Isn't that enough? 

They say she's going to die.  Lying in a coma, may not awaken, die even
so, they say...  seconds are lost.  So sudden..  I wasn't prepared. 

May I have one more second?

James Kythe Walkswithwind     
jkw@u.arizona.edu	                     Authorise Questions        gila@jbx.com