Act Naturally

Two Days

YEAR: 1975

"I can't believe this," I cried as we drove home. "Richie how are ye not upset!" He just sighed and continued driving. "Richie!"
"I'm thinkin!"
"About what?"
"About what we're gonna do..."
"We can't do anythin! I'm gonna die and there's nothin we can do to stop it!"
"There's this doctor in America-"
"Richie I don't want to hear it..."
"She's one of the best in the world...I'm gonna book a flight and we're gonna go. End of discussion."
"Richie-"
"End of discussion!"
"Fine..." I sniffled.

I silently cried as we drove home. Once we pulled into the driveway I sat there and fixed my make up so the kids would think nothing was wrong.

We did a rather good job not bringing anything up. After we put the kids to sleep we began talking in the living room.

"So I booked a flight...we leave in four days,"
"I'm sorry..." I mumbled.
"Why are ye sorry? It's not yer fault ye got cancer,"
"I did something bad..."
"What?" I pursed my lips and picked at my finger nails. "Ye knew...didn't ye?" his eyes became glassy.
"Yeah," I cried.
"And when were ye gonna tell me!"
"I don't know..."
"That's how yer mum died! You'd think you'd be smarter!"
"Don't talk about my mum! She did what she thought was right!"
"Yeah because her hiding the fact that she had cancer was the right thing to do! Lucy, do ye realize what yer idiocy is costing us?"
"Don't call me an idiot!" I cried into my hands. "And I know! I'm a horrible person...it's all my fault my kids are gonna grow up without a mother." I looked to Ringo and sighed. "Richie, when I die-"
"Stop sayin that..." his voice broke.
"Please remarry," I pleaded.
"What...Lucy I-I can't do that..."
"Please Richie! They need a mother! My dad never remarried and look what happened...I'm a pessimistic, bitter, tight ass with a shitty personality..."
"Yer a realist darling," he tried to make me smile.
"Shut up," I dried my eyes. "Please...promise me you'll remarry..."
"I promise," he gave me a tight hug as I cried into the crook of his neck.
"Mum..." Zak whispered.
"Zak!" I jumped. "Wh-What are ye doin? I thought I told ye to go to bed..."
"I heard yellin...mum...are ye dyin?" I pursed my lips and shook my head no as I tear rolled down my cheek.
"No honey...mummy's gonna be just fine," I lied.
"Yer lying!" he cried.
"Zak...I'm sorry," I cried.
"I don't want ye to die mum," he ran into me and hugged my legs.
"I don't wanna die either," I fell to me knees and gave him a tight hug.
"Mum," Jason walked into the living room. "What's goin on?"
"Mums gonna die," Zak cried.
"What?" he gasped as he dropped his stuffed animal. "No!"
"I'm sorry baby," he joined the hug.
"Don't worry boys, we're going to America and yer mother's gonna be all better,"
"No I'm not," I cried, "don't get their hopes up," I hugged them even tighter. "I love ye boys so much,"
"We love ye too."

***

"Alright be good for yer grandmother," Ringo said as he dropped them off at his mums house.
"We will," they all said.
"We'll see ye guys soon," he kissed their foreheads. They looked to the car, where I close to passing out, and waved; I waved back.

***

After a 15 hour flight to California I was ready to pass out. That night all I did was sleep. But unfortunately my slumber was disturbed by a concerned Ringo.

"Come on...we gotta get to yer appointment,"
"Okay," I sighed.
"Do ye need help gettin up?"
"No, I got it," I mumbled.

I got up and put on a rather simple outfit; I put on a sun dress and slip on shoes. We got a cab to take us to the do to the doctors office; we got there a few minutes before my appointment.

"Mrs. Starkey," she smiled, "please come with me,"
"Okay..." Ringo and I got up and followed her into her office.
"My name is Dr. Pret and I will be your doctor while you're here. Now I have read your transcript and it says that you have terminal breast and liver cancer...is that correct?"
"Yes," I whispered.
"Okay...would you mind if we ran a few tests, just so we can see what we're working with?"
"Go ahead,"

She took me into another room and ran all of her tests. About an hour later she came back into her office with the results.

"Mrs. Starkey...you said that you have breast and liver cancer, correct?"
"Yes and it's terminal,"
"Well...I'm going through your results and your liver appears to be fine,"
"What..."
"Yeah, look." She put an x-ray of my liver and breast up on a projector. "This is your liver," she pointed to the image on the right, "it looks relatively healthy. Mrs. Starkey, have you ever smoked?"
"I did when I was younger,"
"When did you stop?"
"When I got pregnant with my first kid,"
"Ye stopped smokin before Zak," Ringo whispered to me. I glared at him and waited for him to figure it out. "What?"
"What happened in 1964 darling?"
"Ye got pregnant...right...never mind,"
"Anyway," Dr. Pret continued, "your breast appears to be the only thing with cancer and that can be fixed like that," she snapped her fingers.
"Wait...so it's-"
"Not terminal, that is correct," she smiled. "With maybe a month of chemo then a simple surgery you can be as good as new,"
"Oh my god!" I cupped my mouth and cried.
"I still don't understand why your doctor back home said you have terminal liver cancer. It just doesn't make sense. Why would he deliberately want to hurt you?" she twisted her face.
"Oh my god," I sighed.
"What?" Ringo asked.
"My doctor is Ellie's brother..."
"So?"
"He's probably still pissed at me for upsetting Ellie god knows how many years ago," I cried.
"I'm sorry for asking...but who's Ellie?" Dr. Pret intruded.
"My friend," I rolled my eyes.
"Okay, if it were me, I'd sue the fuck outta her brother," she smirked.
"Ye would?" Ringo asked.
"Of course! Listen, if you play your cards right you can get a lot of money outta this bastard," her smile grew wider. "Maybe even get him sent to jail," she whispered. "Anyway," she cleared her throat, "we can start your treatment in two days."