Shadyvale

Excerpt taken from the Last 16 paragraphs of Chapter One

J.P., for the last two days, had been deep in thought about the events he had endured as a young boy, and had been constantly re-living the memories of the incredible suffering that his mother, brother and father had experienced. Those memories were almost too painful to bear. But he was now forced to confront all of those experiences, and they came flooding back, like a tidal wave, into his head. The day before he and Nola took the trip to visit with Fred and Abbie, J.P. had gone to the nearest town to see the doctor about a nagging cough.
Dr. Clarence Taylor, a rather distinguished-looking man, perhaps in his mid-to-late 50s, sat at his big, well-worn oaken desk, holding his glasses in his hand. He tried to be as compassionate as possible, clearly searching for the right words to say as he confronted J.P., but felt it necessary to be direct. “Jim, you are at great risk of contracting the same disease that took your family from you. Your parents were both in their 40’s when they died, and you just turned 40. Consumption is, as you know, a deadly disease. Jim, you have a choice to make, and it won’t be an easy choice.”
“What choice do I have?” snapped J.P., rather dejectedly. “It doesn’t seem as if I have any choice at all!”
“Well,” replied Dr. Taylor thoughtfully, trying to remain calm, “you do have a choice, but it will likely be the most difficult choice you have ever had to make. “ After a brief pause, Dr. Taylor leaned forward and continued, “Whatever you choose, there will be great risk, and there is no guarantee that either choice will be successful.”
The doctor’s words were like a sharp knife that pierced deep into J.P.’s soul, and opened up a myriad of questions that, for a moment, drowned out anything the doctor said.
“Am I going to die?” he thought to himself. “Who will take care of my family? How will my children survive?”
“I hate this disease!” J. P. shouted. He didn’t intend to utter that out loud, but it just gushed forth, as if he were condemning the disease to its forever and final eradication from the face of the Earth. But while J.P. was exposing his great turmoil, he thought he heard the doctor’s voice again, but it was drowned out by his own outburst of emotion.
“What did you say, Dr. Taylor?”
As the doctor repeated what he has just said, J.P. was immediately relieved, frightened, and confused.
“You do have a choice, Jim,” Dr. Taylor responded. “It won’t be an easy choice, but it is one that you must seriously consider. You can no longer live in this climate. If you hope to have any chance of surviving this horrible disease, you must move to a drier climate.”
And there it was! That was what was bothering J.P. He knew that he would have to leave his home on the prairie – the place that he built with his own hands; the place where he had made a comfortable living for many years; the place where his wife was happy; the place where his children were born; the place where he and his wife had formed many life-long friendships; the place that he dearly loved. “Where would we go?” he thought to himself. “What would we do?”
Through all of J.P.’s confusion, one of Dr. Taylor’s phrases kept sneaking into his thoughts - a phrase that was impossible to ignore: “If you HOPE to have any chance . . .”
“Hope! Hope? Can I allow myself to have hope?”
As J. P. turned to leave the doctor’s office, Dr. Taylor handed him an envelope, and said, “Take this with you, Jim. This might be very helpful to you in the days to come.”
With his mind full of random thoughts and emotions, J. P. responded with a contrived politeness, “Thank you,” and walked out the door.

Still sitting at the breakfast table, Jim Girdner opened up his heart and soul to his beloved wife, Nola. For a time that seemed like eternity itself, both J.P. and Nola sat, holding tightly to one another, their tears flowing freely down their cheeks and blending together as if to say, “No matter what happens from here on, for as long as we have, we are in this together!”