The Fourth Day of November

by Mark Campbell

“What do you mean by that?”

  Ronnie placed his hand on my back. “Let’s sit down and talk just the four of us.”

  “I have to admit, you still make a good cup of tea Hyacinth. If you look in the cupboard behind you, there's something in there the three of you may like.”

  She opened the cupboard and quickly found the pack of McVite's Jamaican ginger cake. In a playful manner, she asked who wanted some, first cutting herself a slice.

  I was in no mood for food. The trio made remarks regarding my sudden weight loss. I had not eaten for days. They tried to get me to put a little something in my stomach. They were more than steadfast in there approach. So was I.

  Eventually dropping the subject, we got down to business.

  “Alistair, you cannot hide away in the house like this. You’ll go out of your mind. Everyone needs somebody to chat with. God only knows, we can't imagine how hard things must be. We all loved Lee, and miss her. Don’t do this anymore.” Hyacinth was clearly worried for my well being.

  Emma and Ellen went back to work and had asked Anne Marie, uncles Peter and Ronnie and aunt Hyacinth to check on their father. They daily feared I would go off the deep end. Only if they knew the 9mm that was kept upstairs locked in the draw for protection almost sealed my fate at my own hands more than once.

  “Alistair, are you listening or daydreaming?” Hyacinth placed her hand on top of mine, wanting my response to her earlier question.

  “I'm sorry. What where you asking?” All three looked at each other, as if saying he's here but his mind is elsewhere.

  If that was the case, they where correct in there assumption. Transfixed in past events, I was chasing rainbows like the song by Blue Magic. I felt a connection to those lyrics. There was no one who could take the place of my wife. The ups and downs were getting me down for sure. How long could I keep this up, I asked myself.

  “I'm not sure what you guy's want me to say. I lost my best friend and she is never coming back. This house, the bikes, cars and the money, I would relinquish all just to have my wife here again. Do you know what true love is?” Lately it was hard to get two words out of me. Now there was a need for dialogue.

  “All my life, I've wanted someone to love and to hold. That person was Lee. Now that she's gone, my will to live has died inside.” Peter tried to interject my flow of words; then precipitously, he understood my need to continue the conversation without interruption.

  “Day by day, caring for Lee at her bedside took a massive toll on me. Seeing her waste away and become totally dependent on me was hard. She died twice in my arms. All her doctors said her organs where starting to shut down the last time she came through. Do you know what she said to me? She said, ‘Alistair honey, I know this is hard for you, knowing we promised one would not go without the other. Sometimes life doesn’t work out that way, I'm begging you I cannot watch you suffer anymore. Let me go.’”

  Tears streamed from the eyes of the troika, as well as mine.

  “All I'm suggesting is that you give me time to deal with my angst. That’s all I ask. You all are very good friends and always there when needed. Nobody can replace friends like the three of you, even at a time like this. Your support means everything.”

  No wanting to, they yielded to my request and allowed me grieve privately.

  Ellen G White once wrote:

  “God takes men as they are...They are not chosen because they are perfect, but notwithstanding their imperfections, that through the knowledge and practice of the truth, through the grace of Christ, they may become transformed into his image.”

  December 2014

  In any case, things wouldn’t stop there. Fearing the worst, Emma and Ellen returned home worried.

  “Dad? Are you there, dad?” called Emma as she walked through the house with Ellen.

  “Where do you think he is?”

  “Shhh, wait a minute.” said Emma walking towards the sound of music coming from the small room know as Memories. Both girls sighed with relief after seeing me sleeping in my favorite chair.

  “Dad? Dad, wake up.”

  “Don’t go Lee. Please, I need you.”

  “Dad!” yelled Emma in response to my calling out in my sleep. “It's me and sis.” Emma woke me from my slumber.

  I was shocked to see both women standing there. With blurry vision, I rubbed my eyes vigorously. “When did you and Ellen get here?”

  “Never mind that.” said Emma. They both opened the curtains and windows.

  “How long have you been stuck in here? Look at you? You’re wasting away. You look dreadful, like a homeless person. And when is the last time you had a shave and haircut? Come on dad, get up. I'm not going to watch my father succumb to this.” demanded Emma trying to pull me up from the seat.

  “I'm fine girls. You both worry too much.”

  “If mum was here, do you think she would let you do this to yourself?”

  Looking like a pitiful puppy, I listened to my daughters.

  “Okay, if you don’t wont to get up, maybe you’ll adhere to Anne Marie.” Emma took her phone out of her case and began punching a sequence of numbers. In a matter of seconds, she ended the call on her smartphone.

  “You’re in for it mister.” Both Emma and Ellen spoke to me as if they where telling a young lad off.

  “What do you mean, I'm in for it?”

  “You'll see soon enough.”

  Footsteps coming from the creaking stairs gave away whoever was approaching. The door opened and Anne Marie walked in.

  “Oh bloody hell! It's you!” I thanked God it wasn't grandma and grandpa Chang.

  “Girls, will you give your father and I a little privacy?”

  “Gladly.” they said smiling closing the door behind them.

  “Now Mister, what’s the problem? I hear you’re living like a recluse.”

  “It's nobody’s bloody business how I live. I pay my own bills around here.”

  “That may be so, but family and friends are worried sick about you. And quite frankly, I can see why. You look bloody dreadful. You must’ve lost twenty pounds or more.” Ann Marie caught me off guard with that one, but nothing topped what followed when I refused to get up to shower and shave.

  “You get up right now, shower and shave, or else Alistair Scott!”

  I shot her a look, and the five-foot-three woman stormed out muttering something under her breath. I couldn’t careless at that point. That was until she burst into the room holding a pail. With all her might, she tossed ice cold water, followed by her pulling me up by the scuff of my shirt collar.

  “Now, you listen to me. Ever since I've known you, you've been a rock for others. Now it's my turn to do the same for you.”

  “I don’t need your pity!” I reacted scornfully hoping Ann Marie would leave me alone.

  “Pity is for someone who's deserving of it. You have no right to sit around feeling sorry for yourself. You had the perfect wife. She loved and cared for you. She did everything a good woman should do for her husband. Many people spend a lifetime never having that. You have been blessed living and loving each other for many wonderful years. How I wished that could have been auspicious in that way. Instead, I end up with liars and cheats. Only if you knew how much I love you.” Ann Marie tried to recant what she said even trying to make it seem like it was said by mistakenly.

  “I'm going to call your barber, James Nelson. Go take a shower. I'll let you know when he comes. In the meantime, Emma, Ellen and I will be downstairs making supper.”

  I wasn't sure what bloody happened there. I found myself lost for words.

  ---

  “Wow, look at you dad!” Emma said noticing my cleaned-up appearance. I was wearing a black polo shirt, khakis and brown brogue shoes.

  “Looking rather dishy there dad.” Ellen added her flavor to the mix, elbowing her mother warranting her opinion. Ann Marie answered with a slight shyness prompting a response from the girls. Their brains started to work over time.

&nbs
p; “I'll get supper ready.” Ellen gave her mother a hand while Emma drilled me for information.

  “What went on upstairs?”

  “That’s none of your business young lady.”

  “I'm sure we will find out soon enough.”

  “What are the two of you whispering about?”

  “If you must know, your mother was kind enough to douse me with a bucket of water.”

  Both Emma and Ellen reciprocated. “No way!”

  Ann Marie replied. “Yes, he was being stubborn. That was the only way to get him to listen to me.”

  We sat there at the table eating and chin-wagging about old times.

  Epilogue

  To date, everywhere we go you'll see women wearing pink ribbons in an effort to support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Her story is a remarkable one. Today, she still fights from beyond the grave for women all over the world. Her story is compelling, to say the least. Her gallantry has inspired so many women. Since Susan Komen took the lead in helping to find a cure for breast cancer in 1982, with only $200, 30 years later the foundation has invested more than $1.3 billion dollars to help breast cancer patients around the world. To top it off the organization has saved 2.9 million lives.

  Sir Winston Churchill once said: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal it is the courage to continue that counts.”

  Fifteen months after my wife’s passing, I struggled with depression. I give thanks to a loving God and family that has helped me through my difficult times. I must say, there are days that I struggle to get out of bed, but I arise because the will to give up does not dwell within me. Many women and men out there believe in a cure for breast cancer.

  Emma and Ellen still work for the FBI. Hyacinth was recently espoused to Mark Swanson in her hometown of Bristol, Wiltshire. Peter and Ronnie are currently working on a billion-dollar project for AI in Afghanistan. Anne Marie is now CEO for the Lee Scott Breast Cancer Foundation. We hold a memorial service for my wife’s passing annually. The Lee Ella Scott legacy lives on in each of us.

  Final Thoughts

  This book is dedicated to the women who died valiantly fighting breast cancer to the bitter end. I would like to add those who are survivors that won’t go quietly in the night. Please keep your aspirations high, and know that strength comes in numbers. Together we can beat this. That’s the power of believing.

  “To take a bite of a fruit and leave it this means it will perish but if we take the time to finish what we once started not only will it satisfy hearts it will also satisfy our minds.”

  -Mark Campbell

  About The Author

  Mark Campbell was born in Chippenham on September 1, 1968 and was raised in Trowbridge Wiltshire, England, with his three sisters Monica, Claudette and Diane to Olive and Merton Campbell. There, he attended Newtown Junior School and proceeded to Clarendon High School. He then worked at Peter Whites Ceramic Tile Co.

  Presently, he resides in the United States with his dog Ollie. He is finishing his coursework as Pharmacy Technician. Mark has a passion for writing and believes that he needs to share this gift and talent with others. His writing is inspired by God and his concern for humanity.