Story Excerpt: Eyes Wide Opened (David C. Russell)

Hello Grafted In Readers,

Today is Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in my corner of blog-land.

I am happy to see a build-up in visitors to our blog, Grafted In And On The Journey. Thank you for stopping by and if this is your first time, indeed welcome!

I am avocationally a writer who enjoys creating short stories. It has been my pleasure to be featured in the periodical "New Authors Journal for the past few quarterly issues.

You may find this title at Amazon.com in print, for sale across North America.

Google, "New Authors Journal, Amazon, Fall 2024.".

This story excerpt is part one and is about a gentleman, middle-aged, dealing with the loss of his wife to cancer.

Part Two, to be featured in the Winter issue, is the way this man comes back to once again enjoying life as best he can.

I share the story excerpt with you:

 

Hank Winthrop had been a widow for almost one year. At the passing of his wife of nearly twenty-eight years, name Jocelyn, There were several “almost” in his current life. He was: almost ready to retire from the salt company in St. Clair, Michigan; almost ready to relocate; almost married twenty-eight years; almost certain his wife would beat her diagnosis of skin cancer; almost certain they would live to a ripe age and die of natural causes.

This Spring day, he found himself keeping watch in his wife’s hospital room. It had become second home to him and his wife whose skin cancer waged battle with fierce determination. The middle-aged Doctor, short in stature, from the Czech Republic by birth, looked at the couple as he delivered the unwanted pronouncement.

“Hank, we have done everything we can to treat your wife’s condition,” the doctor said in a neutral tone of voice.

“So then, if you have done everything – she’s going to be wholesome again?” Hank asked. The doctor rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth before giving an answer.

“Hank, the answer is not that simple. In fact, she will assuredly succumb to the cancer over the next several weeks.”

“You medical professionals are all alike. Perhaps you would have been better served to be a Uber driver, sports official, clerk, not a damned doctor.”

If you wish to sample more of my stories, visit:

https://www.spillwords.com/author/davidcrussell

Meantime, Happy Fall or Spring, depending on your place of residence in the world. Summer did hang on until the very end as our temperatures were close to 85 degrees F on Saturday here in my corner of blog-land. Today, they are considerably more mild, to my liking, low seventies.

Meantime, may the presence of Yahweh be with us evermore.

Mellow Rock

David C. Russell, Author