It took a while for Cheryl to calm herself after arriving home to see Dave and her daughters in the living room waiting for her. Unbeknownst to her, Jerry was upstairs in an incoherent state, staring blindly at the ceiling. Once she noticed that no one else was panicking, she relaxed and asked Dave why he was there. He let her know that her husband had cut his visit short and was in their bedroom.
Instead of rushing upstairs to see for herself how her husband was, she asked Dave, “Why didn’t you call me to let me know that Jerry was coming home a day early?”
“In the confusion of it all, I simply forgot, and then when I finally remembered to let you know, your phone passed my message on to your voicemail.”
Cheryl still made no move toward the stairs, but instead said to Dave, “Knowing that Jerry wouldn’t be home until tomorrow, I took the night off and went to dinner with a friend. I turned my phone off when we arrived at the restaurant. I seldom look at my voicemail.”
“It was my fault, Cheryl,” Dave answered apologetically. “I thought it would be helpful if I picked him up for you, but then... I’m sorry, I screwed up.”
Sharon then spoke up. “Remember, Mom, I asked you if Jen and I could have some friends over for a get-together. Mr. Brunhaufer arrived here with Dad shortly after everyone arrived. Two of the boys helped Dad up to bed, and I asked everyone to leave soon after he came. Mike and Dan thought Dad was drunk, but Mr. Brunhaufer explained to Jen and me that Dad has been sick, and then told us that Dad was so sick that he was most likely going to die of his illness. Did you know about this, Mom? If so, why didn’t you tell us?”
Instead of answering Sharon’s question, Cheryl turned toward Dave and shouted, “You told them everything?”
Dave responded, “I told them the truth about their father. He has a disease and most likely has only a short time to live.”
Cheryl realized from Dave’s disclosure that he had not mentioned the possible heritable consequences of the disease, so she backed off any challenge, faced her daughters, and said, “I should have told you both, but there didn’t seem to be any right time to bring up the subject. I hope that your father will still have time to personally tell you the seriousness of his illness, since we agreed that it was best that we wait until his illness became more obvious.”
“So, you can see now, Mom... you missed that opportunity,” said Sharon sarcastically.
“I don’t know that any time would have been the right time,” answered Cheryl with a sigh.
Dave redirected the discussion by updating Cheryl on Jerry’s visit to Oregon. “Just so you know, Laura’s decided to take on the challenge of writing Jerry’s story.”
“What story?” asked Sharon.
Cheryl looked over to Dave with concern, and then attempted to answer Sharon’s question without fully disclosing the reason. “Your father’s disease is rare, and Ms. Hillenbrand is a famous author and has written two best sellers that were turned into movies.”
Dave stepped into the discussion, offering a more definitive synopsis. “Laura hasn’t written a book in 15 years,” he said. “Since she has a disease that shares similarities with symptoms of your father’s, she believes, as we do, that his story might encourage further research that may prolong the lives of those with illnesses similar to theirs.”
“What makes Dad’s disease so special?” questioned Sharon.
“It’s very, very rare,” offered Cheryl. “And we all hope that scientists will find a cure for it, if and when they become more aware of it.”
“How rare is it?” asked Jen.
“In your Dad’s case, only 1000 people in the world suffer from it, so, it’s that rare.”
“Could scientists save Dad’s life if they find a cure?” continued Jen.
“No, but if they create a vaccine for it, or modify a gene to stop it from harming people, other people in the future may be saved by it. And that would make your dad a hero.”
“So all of the doctors, at this moment, agree that there’s nothing that can be done to save Dad’s life. Correct?” questioned Sharon.
Dave took over the answering from Cheryl. “It will no doubt take many years for researchers to develop a drug for a disease that only presents itself after it’s inflicted severe damage to the thalamus, the region of the brain that is the control center. Scientists first need to find a method of diagnosing the disease prior to the development of symptoms.”
“And Dad didn’t know he had it until he couldn’t sleep?” asked Sharon.
Dave answered, “The doctors thought he might have had another problem, but then they used a machine that showed that his brain had already been affected by the disease.”
“That’s awful,” said Jen. “There must be something we can do to help him.”
“You can be kind to your father, and tell him you love him,” said Cheryl.
“There are still times that he is able to hear you, and he’ll cherish the kind words and know that you care,” added Dave.
“I‘m going upstairs to see how he is,” said Cheryl. “I’ll call down if he’s responsive enough to talk with you. And, Dave, you should be getting home now. You’ve done enough for now. Thank you for driving Jerry home. We can talk later.”
Dave looked at his watch and nodded. “Yes, I should be going. Please call if you need anything, Cheryl.”
As soon as Dave left the house, Sharon called to her mother, who was on her way upstairs, and confronted her.
“When did you find out that Dad was sick?”
“Just a few days ago,” Cheryl answered.
“And why didn’t you choose to tell us?”
“I didn’t want to upset you.”
“But he’s not just sick, Mom. He’s dying!”
“I thought he’d be able to tell you himself. I didn’t think he’d be this bad... this soon.”
“We knew something was wrong. At least, I did,” said Sharon. “It might have been caused by his job, or maybe you had something to do with it. Speaking of that, where were you tonight?”
“That’s none of your business... but I was with Mrs. Wister.”
“Does she know that Dad’s going to die?”
“We spoke about that, along with other things.”
“Other things! My God, Mom. Dad’s going to die and you talk to Mrs. Wister and not to us, your daughters! Do you think we’re that fragile? And now we had to learn about his diagnosis from Mr. Brunhaufer.”
“As I said, I wanted your dad to talk with you about it. I didn’t think it was my place...” continued Cheryl.
“And tonight, Jen and I have been laughing and carrying on with friends here at the house, while you were out chatting and having a nice dinner with your closest friend. Why didn’t you go to Oregon with Dad to help him and make sure he was able to travel?”
Jen began sobbing again as she watched her father walking carefully down the steps, holding onto the banister with both hands. Cheryl turned as he released his hold with his right hand and waved it in his wife’s direction.
“It’s my fault,” Jerry said feebly. “It’s not your mother’s.”
They all watched him shuffle from the bottom of the stairs into the living room.
“I was the one who didn’t want your mother to tell you. But it seems I waited too long.”
Both girls rushed forward and put their arms around him. Jerry smiled weakly as he looked toward Cheryl, hoping she’d come to his side with the girls, but she remained rigidly in place.
Jerry asked Sharon to help him get seated, and both girls walked beside him, propping him up as he settled into his reading chair. Some of the color came back into his face as he adjusted his position and crossed his legs.
“I shouldn’t have gone on that trip, but I thought I’d be okay,” he stated emphatically. “Your mother tried to talk me out of it,” he lied. “But I was determined to go, before I reached the point when I wouldn’t be able to travel.”
“Why now, Dad?” asked Sharon, as if not totally convinced by the version of the story that she had been told by her mother.
“I believed I had to personally meet Ms. Hillenbrand, who Dave and I hoped might write a convincing story about my illness. The purpose would be to assist with expenses for you and your mom.”
“And you’re sure doctors can’t help you?” asked Sharon.
“Unfortunately, they have no way yet of knowing that I was stricken with it until they saw the PET scan, and once they saw that an area of my brain was dying, they knew they had no way to reverse the damage. I didn’t want to tell you girls about my condition until after I met with Ms. Hillenbrand and was assured that she’d take on the project. But I started to feel weaker after I arrived at her house, and by the next day I knew I had to return early since I was clearly non-responsive. I swore your mother to secrecy because I didn’t want you both to be needlessly worried. If I could have kept it from her I would have, but I needed her help. I’m sure it was painful for her to hide the news from you.”
Sharon looked toward her mother, who, despite being quiet, was dressed nicely, with her hair recently trimmed and her face fully made up. “You don’t look all that upset, Mom. There’s got to be more to this story.”
Jerry again defended his wife. “She had to pretend everything was the same as usual. It’s all my fault.”
Jen reached around the back of Jerry’s chair and hugged her father. She told him that she loved him, and Sharon followed suit. Cheryl remained still, having no idea of what to do or say, before finally walking over to Jerry and kissing him lightly on his forehead.
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