FF #34
It was either a pill or a piece of candy, but whatever it was it was not going to work. Since chemo, I'd been through these "blind tests a dozen times and my cancer just kept growing...I was going to die. The doctors knew it, my wife knew it and I most certainly knew it.
Once, we were fairly well-off but the only thing I did right was to place enough money in irrevocable trusts to see the kids through college. Otherwise, we are now broke.
I used to scoff at "Socialized Medicine"; now I realize what a blessing it would have been to be under such a system. We would not have lost our house, my wife's income could have seen us through this (no matter what the outcome) and she would not have to drive herself to a worrisome grave worrying about our children and how the next illness would be handled.
So it's now up to me. The false hope is gone, the bills keep coming in, and the pain is constant throughout my whole body. Only I can do what has to be done. My life insurance is substantial and will provide for my family and I have planned this very carefully:
The screw I twisted into my rear tire is slowing working its way through the tread as I speed down the road, as I knew it would (after all, I am a race car driver) and when it blows I can control the car until I see the tree I've picked (a substantial old oak)...ah yes, there it is, a half mile ahead. I turn the steering wheel slightly back and forth...just so...and the rear tire blows. I jam the accelerator and put the car into a controled skid at ninety miles an hour and slide--driver's door sideways-- into the tree.............
Once, we were fairly well-off but the only thing I did right was to place enough money in irrevocable trusts to see the kids through college. Otherwise, we are now broke.
I used to scoff at "Socialized Medicine"; now I realize what a blessing it would have been to be under such a system. We would not have lost our house, my wife's income could have seen us through this (no matter what the outcome) and she would not have to drive herself to a worrisome grave worrying about our children and how the next illness would be handled.
So it's now up to me. The false hope is gone, the bills keep coming in, and the pain is constant throughout my whole body. Only I can do what has to be done. My life insurance is substantial and will provide for my family and I have planned this very carefully:
The screw I twisted into my rear tire is slowing working its way through the tread as I speed down the road, as I knew it would (after all, I am a race car driver) and when it blows I can control the car until I see the tree I've picked (a substantial old oak)...ah yes, there it is, a half mile ahead. I turn the steering wheel slightly back and forth...just so...and the rear tire blows. I jam the accelerator and put the car into a controled skid at ninety miles an hour and slide--driver's door sideways-- into the tree.............
posted by porchwise at 9:19 AM
6 Comments:
Good stuff Robert and unfortunately, a scenario that far too many people have had to contemplate.
That took me from oh to oh! at an alarming speed. Excellent.
Short, bittersweet and right to the point ... from 0 to 90
its amazing how much about them you managed to fit into so short a space... nice.
tragic realism.
perfect for monday afternoon reading.
nice work.
walk good.
A good comment on the very wide cracks in our healthcare system.
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