"You're not the usual priest," the man lying in the hospital bed remarked.
"No, I'm not," the priest confirmed mysteriously. "Interesting... Your name is Aiden, which is Gaelic for little fire, and yet you are a fire fighter."
"I never thought to look at what my name meant," Aiden shrugged.
"You are a hero," the priest stated.
Aiden shook his head. "No, I'm just a man who does a job."
The priest smirked. "Humble too. Here... take this card. If anyone deserves to have a wish granted, it's you."
Aiden studied the card carefully for a minute, but then looked up in confusion. The priest was gone!
"What the...?" He focused on the card once more. "The bearer of this card is entitled to one wish; anything their heart desires so long as it harms none. Call to redeem."
There was nothing else on the card, though Aiden inspected it thoroughly just in case. He set the card on his stomach, and closed his eyes as he rested his head on the pillow.
"Deserves a wish, huh? How so? I'm only 30 years old and I'm already dying of cancer. To tell the truth, I'm pathetic... I've never even found a woman to get serious about and start a family."
His doctor chose just that moment to enter the room. "If you're going to talk to yourself about future goals, please try to refrain from verbally abusing yourself. It really does help to keep a positive attitude."
"So you all keep saying, but it hasn't helped so far," Aiden grumbled.
"Sure it has," his doctor insisted with a smile. "You're not dead yet."
"Yeah, okay," Aiden agreed without conviction just to get him to change the subject.
He sighed, put on his detached doctor persona, and got to the point of his visit. "I'm sorry to tell you this but despite all the tests we've run and treatments we've tried, the prognosis is the same. You don't have very long to live. I'd say you'd be lucky to last another 2 weeks."
Aiden nodded morosely, accepting his fate. In situations like this, it's really too bad that the doctor couldn't just give him something to let him go quietly now and prevent all the pain and suffering of the next two weeks. The doctor left him alone with his thoughts.
"Some firefighter!" Aiden scoffed. "I'm so frail right now that I couldn't even lift the hose to turn it on and extinguish the fire!"
He remembered the card, and examined it once more. "Ah... what the hell." Dialing the number took about 10 seconds, and then he waited for someone to answer.
"Wishline, Serla speaking. What's your heart's desire?"
Aiden scoffed again. "A future, love, a family. What the hell? If I'm going to die soon, at least let me get laid one last time."
"Got it," Serla stated. "One of our Goddesses will be with you in just a few moments. Thanks for calling Wishline!"
The line disconnected and Aiden stared at the phone in his hand. "So much for having my wish granted," he muttered, and then hung it up.
The door opened and a woman walked in. "Good evening, my name is Rohana. I'm here to grant your wish."
Aiden let his eyes carefully and thoroughly roam up and down Rohana's body. She was wearing something that looked like an older style of nurse's uniform – back when they wore short skirts – but it was hot pink, and revealed almost as much as it covered. Her breasts and hips seemed to strain against the fabric and called out to Aiden oh so enticingly.
"I must be dreaming!" He muttered to himself.
"No dream," Rohana assured him. "Let's see... We'll want privacy, so..." A moment later, the room changed. It now looked like they were in a fairly high class hotel room. Aiden was laying on a bed that was softer than anything he remembered sleeping on before in his life!
