A huge sob rose in her throat.
“I want you to shut your eyes, Ethel, and concentrate on your breathing and . . .”
More sobs.
“I’m going to step away now and get all this under way,” I said. “Just keep breathing slowly. And the scan will be finished before you—”
“I don’t want to die.”
This last statement came out as a whisper. Though I’d heard, over the years, other patients utter this, the sight of this sad, frightened woman had me biting down on my lip and fighting tears, and yet again silently appalled at this newfound vulnerability. Fortunately Ethel had her eyes firmly shut, so she couldn’t see my distress. I hurried into the technical room. I reached for the microphone and asked Ethel to remain very still. I set the scan in motion. In the seconds before the first images appeared on the screen I snapped my eyes shut, opening them again to see . . .
Cancer. Spiculated in shape. And from what I could discern, already metastasized into the other lung and the lympathic system.
Half an hour later Dr. Harrild confirmed what I’d seen.
“Stage Four,” he said quietly. We both knew what that meant, especially with this sort of tumor in the lungs. Two to three months at best. As cancer deaths go, this one was never less than horrible.
“Where is she right now?” Dr. Harrild asked.
“She insisted on going back to work,” I said, remembering how she told me she had to hurry back after the scan because the school lunch she’d be serving started at midday, and “with all the cutbacks happening now I don’t want to give my boss an excuse to fire me.”
Recalling this I felt myself getting shaky again.
“You okay, Laura?” Dr. Harrild asked me, clearly studying me with care. Immediately I wiped my eyes and let the facade of steely detachment snap into place again.
“Fine,” I said, hearing the enforced crispness in my voice.
“Well,” he said, “at least the little girl’s news was good.”
“Yes, there’s that.”
“All in a day’s work, eh?”
“Yes,” I said quietly. “All in a day’s work.”
DOUGLAS KENNEDY is an internationally renowned and bestselling author of ten novels have been translated in 22 countries. His most recent, The Moment, became a #1 bestseller in France, as did his earlier book, Leaving the World. His upcoming novel, Five Days, will be published by Atria Books in April 2013.
Kennedy was awarded the French decoration, The Chevalier de l‘Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2007. In November 2009, he received the first “Grand Prix du Figaro,” awarded by the newspaper Le Figaro.
Kennedy has two children, Max and Amelia, and divides his time between London, Paris, Berlin, Montreal, and Maine.
Atria Books/Simon & Schuster Author Page
http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Douglas-Kennedy/1292019
Author’s Website
Douglas Kennedynovelist.com
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Also by Douglas Kennedy
FICTION
The Moment
Leaving the World
Temptation
The Woman in the Fifth
The Big Picture
The Dead Heart
The Job
The Pursuit of Happiness
State of the Union
A Special Relationship
NON-FICTION
Chasing Mammon
In God’s Country
Beyond the Pyramids
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The Douglas Kennedy Collection #2 Page 126
