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eBook Category: Family/Relationships/Mainstream
eBook Description: TRILOGY: Snippets From Three Lives is a collection of 2 short stories and 1 novella from various authors. First Flight by Raymond Villarreal. A New Beginning by Bernadette Franklin. The Emigrant (Novella) by Maria Giusto.

eBook Publisher: 4 Points Press Publishing Company/4 Points Press Publishing Company, Published: 2001
Fictionwise Release Date: October 2003

Available eBook Formats:
All formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
Microsoft Reader ISBN: 159118018X

Chapter One

The Return of the Emigrant

The harsh, cold, dark days of mid November 1989 did not strike the norm that year. Silence and darkness prevailed and not even the neon lit marquees of nearby Reno could break the black of night. The stillness that fell on Sparks, Nevada was startling. Left over from the first storm of the winter season was the constant falling of light, swirling, barely audible snow, which slowly obscured the dimly lit streetlights. The stillness, after the eerie quiet of the previous days, enhanced their strained nerves, his wife's and his son's, and, if possible, the drawn-out silence made their strain even worse, if not unbearable. From what Frank could remember, he had been lying prone in his bed for days. He'd gotten so that even when he moved slightly he could not feel anything: neither the bed, nor the sheets, nor the pillows, nor the blankets. But he could feel the internal pain that ravaged his body and stayed behind as his constant companion.

Frank had voluntarily stopped taking his medication six months before. It was his choice and he had told no one. It was his secret. A secret he felt entitled to keep from his wife, Mary, and his son, Harry. His last operation, which was performed as an emergency procedure, was not a last ditch effort to save his life. On the contrary, it was a procedure done to make him more comfortable for the short time that he had left. He was dying then, he was dying now and he knew it. He had prostrate cancer that had metastasized and, within one short month of his initial diagnosis, it had run rampant throughout his body like a blitzkrieg bent on total destruction. Now, at every juncture of his wracked body, his pain was excruciating beyond human endurance but he had a rescuer. She was the Sweet Lady of Mercy and her name was Morphine. The doctor had promised him that she would help to make his way easier--much easier. But, despite that, would it be easy? Would it be a smooth journey? He didn't know. He had not been that way before. But, to him, walking his journey the way he was, seemingly on hot nails and jagged glass would make his walk in oblivion resemble a walk through the grassy knolls of the town park.

But his body was tired now, very tired. He could feel his near breathless lungs creeping sideways to choke off his panting heart, which was tiring rapidly from its struggle to keep him alive. Adding adversely to his body and mind's battle to survive was his new intolerance to the chemotherapy, his ever-present nausea and his profound depression. The last few months, more especially the past few days were hard for him. They seemed to pass like an eternity making him feel as though he had lived his whole life in mind and body racking torment. It tested his ability to endure. He was trying to be brave, as brave as his conscience mind could allow him to be. His every waking moment, spent in hand-to-hand battle with his ever-present pain, seemed to possess the thousand teeth of the swamp alligators. Silently he endured it all, as if that would miraculously prevent the inevitable from happening.