弗兰克·德雷恩

人一上了年纪，脾气就会变得有点儿古怪。而Paul笔下这位88岁的弗兰克老人，不愿与家人亲近，独立生活，过着孤僻而平静的生活。直到有一天，偶尔的一次身体检查彻底改变了他的生活……

Frank Delany had lived on his own ever since his wife had died.He was the oldest of four siblings1, and all four were still alive when Frank was eighty-eight years old.

He was a crank2, always complaining.When his sons and daughters called to see him, he wondered what was bringing them.Had they got their eye on his money?Did they think he was too old to look after himself?And if they didn’t call, if several weeks passed without his seeing them, he was angrier still.Had they forgotten about him?Had they forgotten all he had done for them?

If one of the family members invited him out for a meal he usually said no.If he invited anyone out for a meal and they said no, complained about them for weeks afterwards.

He hated to have someone else doing things for him.He did his own shopping.He cooked his own meals.He drove his own car.If anything broke in the house, he fixed it himself.It was this ability to do things for himself that gave life its relish.Every morning he woke up and remembered that he had reached the age of eighty-eight years without losing the ability to do all the things he wanted to do.

Elderly people go through two stages of vanity3 in respect of other people’s estimation of their age.In the first stage they love people to think they are younger than they are.In the second stage, they want people to think they are older than they are so that they marvel at how they can be in such good shape at such an advanced age.Frank Delany was in this second stage.He told people he was “about ninety,” and there was nothing he loved more than when he heard someone overestimating the figure:“Amazing, isn’t it, that he can be so sharp at ninety-two.”

A wave of shock spread around the family when Frank had to go to hospital for tests.He had never been in hospital before.An even bigger shock wave went around when the test results came back and he was diagnosed with cancer in several of his organs.That was on a Monday afternoon.He was scheduled to have a session of chemotherapy4 on the Thursday.His family gathered around his bedside on Monday evening.It had all happened so quickly.Frank had always been so healthy.They didn’t know what to say.Anything they might say would have only annoyed him.

His youngest sister Irene annoyed him most.She said nothing, only looked steadily at him.All the memories of childhood came into her mind as she observed the figure of her older brother, pale and thin, only a shadow of his former self, lying on the bed in a state of weakness.As the memories flooded in, the tears welled up in her eyes, and she suddenly blurted forth in loud, uncontrolled weeping.

Frank was so annoyed with her that he turned around in his bed and pretended to sleep.They knew he was not sleeping and they also knew that he was angry and wanted them to leave, so they quietly slipped away, one by one.

Irene arrived later than the others on the following evening, Tuesday.

“What got into the woman, breaking out in tears like that?” Frank complained to the others before Irene arrived.“Does she think I’m dead already?Does she think there is no hope for me?”

When Irene did arrive she went through the exact same process.She didn’t say a word to anyone.She only looked at the pale and thin figure of Frank as he lay weakly on his bed.Again, after five minutes, she could control herself no longer.The memories came flooding back again, and with them the tears poured forth in a torrent.

She saw nothing amiss in this.It felt completely natural to her.In fact, she thought that this was the perfect way for a sister to respond in this sad and painful situation.So, when Frank turned over and pretended to go to sleep again, it didn’t even occur to her that he might be angry with her.

On the next evening, Wednesday, all the family members gathered around his bed again.His chemotherapy session was to take place on the following morning.This time, the consultant came to the bed to speak with the family.

“We will give him only one session,” he explained, “because at his age the procedure is very hard on the system.There is a risk that the heart or one of the other organs will fail.”

“What are his chances of recovery?”Frank’s brother asked.The consultant hesitated in answering.

“At his age, about five percent,” he eventually replied.

The family gasped in unison.Only five percent?

“In that case,” Frank’s eldest son asked, “would it be better not to have the procedure at all?What would the outlook be if you didn’t do it?”

“Without the procedure,” the consultant replied unhesitatingly, “he would last no more than two months.”

Oh, in that case better do it.The consultant left.Frank’s brother and his eldest son sat down and put their hands to their foreheads, and sobbed quietly.The other family members also began sobbing.Irene, again, exploded in loud tears, but this time Frank did not show annoyance.He also sobbed quietly.It was indeed sad.His family were all so faithful.They were all there for him in his hour of need.Yet he was almost certainly going to have to leave them, whether he liked it or not.The priest later came and gave him the last rites, and he lay back down peacefully.He was ready for whatever would happen.

For a full week after the chemotherapy session, Frank was in great pain.His family came each evening but he was too weak and sick to talk to them, and they had to leave feeling dissatisfied.Everyone expected the worst.

By the end of the second week things were different.He was sitting up in bed now.He had had further tests to monitor progress, and the results had come back that day.

When the family members had all assembled around his bed, astonished to see him sitting up and looking so cheerful, he held out his hand and asked his son to pass up the clipboard on the table at the end of the bed.

“There it is,” he pointed to the latest entry in his record and read out:“post therapy results all negative.No remaining symptoms.Patient to continue taking antiviral and antitumour med.Discharge in two days.Recommend two-week house rest, then return to normal.”

Frank never again complained about his family members.When any of them invited him out to a meal, he accepted, ordered the best food on the menu, and thoroughly enjoyed eating it.

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