Just Once by Karen Kingsbury EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author:Karen Kingsbury
- Language: English
- Genre: World War II Historical Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 6.5 MB
- Price: Free
OCTOBER 2, 1989
Red was the last color, the very last. That’s what Dr. Edmonds was saying.
Irvel Myers’s mind would splinter and fracture and fade under the burden of
Alzheimer’s, and she would forget the love that long ago caused her world to
stop and stare in awe. Irvel and Hank. In little time, she would no longer know
his face or his voice, or Hank himself, the one who had held her hand when she
said, “I do,” and who had stood beside her that rainy Wednesday morning in
Bloomington, Indiana, when she delivered their son.
Her brain would release to nothingness the name of that boy, the one she had
cherished for thirty-two years, and also the smell and feel of the wood and walls
and windows of the house where her life had taken shape for the past four
decades, and it would do something else. It would erase entirely her years as a spy
for the Oce of Strategic Services.
But until the very end, it would remember the color red.
That’s what the doctor was saying.
Irvel Myers adjusted her sweater and tapped both feet on the oor beneath
the doctor’s desk. The tick of the clock on the wall was louder than before.
Deafening. The doctor stopped talking. For a long time, he didn’t say a word,
just stared at them. And Irvel wanted to scream. How could this be happening?
Her strong and glorious mind was dying? Through the years of ghting for her
life and her heart, Irvel could always count on three things.
God. Hank. And her mental acuity. Until now…
Tall, strong Hank released a guttural sound. Like someone had kicked him
below his ribs and he was still trying to gure out how to inhale. He tightened
his hold on Irvel’s hand and whispered his next words. “How… how long?”
It was the only question that mattered.
Dr. Edmonds looked down at Irvel’s le and after a beat he lifted his eyes.
“Since your rst exam, your degeneration has been happening at a rapid pace.”
Her first exam. Irvel blinked and stared out the window. Two months ago
today, Hank had brought her to this same oce. Irvel had been acting scattered.
That’s how Hank had described it. “You’re just a little scattered, my love.”
Setting dirty dishes in the refrigerator. Pulling into the driveway of the wrong
house. Calling Hank from a pay phone and asking if he remembered the name
of their favorite grocery store. “I know what I need to make chicken piccata.”
She had forced a nervous laugh. “But for the life of me, I can’t remember where
the store is.”
Now the doctor exhaled. He hesitated, as if the news was only real and true
and terrible if he spoke it out loud. Finally, his answer pushed its way through.
“By my estimation, you’ll need full-time care sometime in the next year, Mrs.
Myers.”
A year? The word hovered over her and screamed at her and consumed her in
a single instant. And as it had done all her life, Irvel’s mathematical brain
imagined that time in increments. Precious, passing, dissolving, disappearing
sections of time. Three-hundred and sixty-five days… fifty-two weeks… twelve
months.
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