by Brinda Junkere

Created on: May 31, 2009   Last Updated: June 10, 2009

Chandra tiptoed quietly into the room. She shut the door softly behind her and moved noiselessly towards the bed. She looked down at the sleeping figure of her husband. It was mid morning but she did want to wake him since he had had another one of those sleepless nights. A few short months ago he would have been up before daybreak and would have accomplished almost a day's work before she would get up.

Chandra stared at the gaunt figure on the bed with the sunken cheeks and tears filled her eyes. A few short months ago he was a strong, healthy man with an athletic body. Now he hardly resembled the William she knew. In the fifteen years that she had known him William had never been sick. Every year, at her insistence, he promised to do a physical but he never did. He kept telling her that he was healthy and he even joked about living forever.

She remembered clearly the day their world fell apart. William had been feeling overly tired for weeks and he had a persistent flu. She had encouraged him to go to the doctor. Routine blood work had given an abnormal reading. William had to go in for further tests. The day the results came in, their lives changed forever. The news was that William had cancer. According to the diagnosis, he could not have surgery because of the position of the tumor. Surgery could mean his bleeding to death during the operation. William had to undergo a series of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. These somehow, seemed to make him sicker instead of better.

After these treatments the diagnosis was still grim. William tried to keep up his spirits but she knew he was worried about them. It was so hard for her then. She raged against a God who could be so cruel. She thought of all the terrible people out there who deserved to die and she wondered why William. He was the best husband and father that any woman could hope for. She thought it unfair and cruel of life to deal them this blow. Why would the fates take a father away from his teenage son and a loving husband away from his wife? They had loved with a passion that had never diminished through the years.

Chandra choked on her tears, fighting hard to keep from sobbing, fearing that William would awaken and see her crying. She did not want to upset him. They had met during her senior year at college. He was invited to give a lecture at the college that she attended. Chandra was sitting in the front row of the auditorium during his lecture. He was tall, handsome and intelligent.

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