Louella Breaks the News

Once her father was settled in his hospital room awaiting tests, Louella headed back to the family rowhouse overlooking Patterson Park to gather some of his things. She crept along in her venerable dark green Miata. Oh my God! she thought. Suppose somebody runs a red light and hits me? Suppose I'm distracted by all this and cause an accident? She felt like smacking herself to stop the panic. It's only a few blocks, she told herself. Get a grip! People get cancer every day—it's no big deal! Hot tears came and she batted them away.

Finally she got back to the house, eased into a parking space only three doors down, and went up the white marble steps and unlocked the door. There was her older sister Candy, lounging in front of the TV in her underwear, eating a bowl of cereal. "Hi, Lou," she said, not taking her eyes off the screen. "Where's dad? You guys were gone for a long while—I was beginning to get worried."

Louella resisted her usual impulse to be sarcastic. "He's been admitted to Hopkins," she blurted. "They think he might have bladder cancer."

"You're kidding me, right?" said Candy, finally looking at Louella. "He's been fine—never sick a day. It's probably nothing. You're such a worrier!"

"Well, it would be great if you were right," said Louella, "but it has to be checked. I've come to get together all Dad's meds, and make lists of his usual doctors, stuff like that. Can you help me out?"

"You kidding me? We might share the house, but I never go near Dad's things. You go ahead and do it—you're better at organizing than I am, you know that."

And you're better at running away from responsibility, thought Louella, who surprised herself by snapping,"You know, Candy, I can't do everything, and I don't want to do everything. You live here for free, and he's your father too, and I have to go back to work on Monday, so you're going to have to pull your weight on this."

Candy's blue eyes grew wide with shock. "All right, all right. Don't have a cow. I'll help. Just tell me what to do. I've never seen you this way before. You going through the change or something?"

"This has nothing to do with that," retorted Louella. "I'm just not going to handle this alone. This sounds like it could be really hard, and you know how squeamish I am."

"I'm squeamish too! Remember how I always got Mom to change Mason's diapers?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember. You really took advantage of Mom. She was a softie and you knew it. But this time one of us might have to help Dad change his diapers or empty his bags of urine, and I don't want that person to be me. You're here most of the time and I'm not, so the way I see it, this is going to be more on you than on me."

"I can't believe this!" said Candy, adding a little too quickly, "I think I must've forgotten to tell you that I've been thinking about moving to San Diego."

"Oh no, you don't!" said Louella. "You're staying right here and you're going to take primary responsibility, and that's that." She said it as forcefully as she could, but deep down she felt fear.

TO BE CONTINUED.