Tulips For Little Elise

Tulips For Little Elise - Part 2 (MJJ Imagine No. 23)

You suddenly feel silence all around you and realize it's not October 1981 and you're not in a park. It's October 1996 and you're in Tunis, Tunisia. Your memory of meeting Michael, being chased by his fans to a different parking lot, and thankfully finding his bodyguards there waiting for him, has collided with Michael's HIStory Tour and the chanting from the crowd. But something's wrong. The silence you feel is the lack of Michael's voice. He's not singing. You realize he hasn't been singing. You peek out from the shadows and see him struggling. You search your mind for some idea of what song he was singing. "I'll Be There" comes to mind. You know he misses singing with his brothers and that always comes through at the end of this song, but tonight it's different. You watch him. His emotions have completely overtaken him. He's on his knees bent over. He can't continue. You see him motion for a towel so you quickly grab one and bring it to him yourself. He takes it and looks at you. Time feels like it stops. You see the pain in his eyes. You see the pain in his face. In that moment, it hits you. Tonight this is not about missing his brothers. Tonight this is about the song and a little girl. All you want to do is kneel down next to him and hold him. He's hurting. He's upset with himself and singing this song brought it all to the forefront. Tonight he's experiencing raw emotional pain he's been holding in all week.

Six months ago Make-A-Wish contacted Michael and told him about a little girl in Amsterdam who wanted just one letter or one phone call from him. This 12-year-old girl knew Michael was preparing for a world tour and she also knew Amsterdam was on the tour list. She just wanted a letter or phone call because she knew he'd be busy with business and rehearsals so she didn't want to bother him for a visit. So he called her that day. During their talk, he found out that she was in an orphanage and that she had leukemia. He also learned that her parents and sister died in a terrible car crash a couple months prior and though she had a few relatives, no one wanted to take her in because she was sick. This completely broke his heart. He's called that little girl every day since.

One week ago today, Michael called her early in the morning to tell her he was getting ready to leave to go spend all day with her. He also told her she'd be his personal guest at his show that night. She was so excited that she broke down crying. Michael stayed on the phone with her until her tears of happiness stopped running. He told her he loved her like he did each time before they hung up and like always, she told him, "I love you more." He hung up happy every time because she used his own words on him.

On his way to the orphanage, he told his driver to stop at a flower shop. He wanted to get a few dozen tulips for little Elise in yellow, pink and purple - her favorite flower and favorite colors. His driver wanted to go in on his behalf but Michael insisted he wanted to pick them out himself. So he did but he was spotted and chaos ensued. What should have been a quick fifteen or twenty minute stop turned into roughly an hour.

When Michael arrived at the orphanage, he was given bad news. Elise was rushed to the hospital. He had his driver take him to the hospital. You were also notified so you could meet him there. When he arrived, he insisted on being taken to Elise where he watched the doctors and nurses try to revive her. He heard them tell her, "Come back to us, Elise. We were told Michael Jackson is on his way to have lunch with you. You need to come back to us, sweetheart. You need to come back for Mr. Jackson." A few minutes later they pronounced her dead. They had been trying to revive her for a little over an hour but she wasn't responsive to anything they tried.

The tulips fell from Michael's hands and he cried out, "No!" The doctors and nurses turned around. When they saw him, they backed away from the bed. Michael slowly walked toward Elise. You watched as he climbed onto the bed and picked up her lifeless body, cradling her against him. He cried and kissed her head. One of the doctors walked over to them and Michael gently held her while the doctor removed the oxygen mask and intubation tube from her. When he was done, Michael hugged her and kissed her little face over and over while stroking her hair. He told her he was sorry, sorry for not being there with her; sorry he was so late. You cried with him as you continued to watch him sit there holding her and crying for the next hour until they came to take her away. He didn't want to let her go. He had four days before his next performance and had made arrangements to fly back to the United States with her and admit her to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital where she would get the most advanced treatment and the orphanage wouldn't have to worry about the cost. That's why he waited until his last day in Amsterdam to see her. The following day, he made and paid for her funeral arrangements including arrangements for tulips in her favorite colors to be planted around her year round. She was buried next to her parents and sister. He made sure of that. She died alone; she was not going to be buried alone.