A decision needs to be made

Once at their home, ensconced in upper middle-class luxury, Walt & Barbara Dee met quietly in their bedroom."I just don't know about this treatment, Walt. It seems... untested." Barbara spoke her reservations.

"True, but what choice do we have?" Walt answered, "You heard the doctor: Any other form of treatment wouldn't have near the chances of eradicating the tumor and chemotherapy might even kill me before the tumor does.

"Oh, honey, I wish this wasn't happening to us." Barbara tried to console her husband.

A still quiet filled the room as the weight of the situation and decision registered with each of them.

They'd been married 23 years now. Not all of it was good times, but the marriage was solid and had produced three young women, Adrienne 26, Vicky 21, and Chloe 18 years old and one son, John who was 22 years old.

Adrienne was in her junior year at college studying for a Masters in biology, John was a senior at a different college studying for a business degree, Vicky was the free spirit of the family who was a barista at a coffee shop by day and an aspiring singer/songwriter by night... when she could line up gigs, and Chloe, because of when she was born toward the end of the school calendar year, was finishing up her senior year at Ellison High School, and was deciding between two or three colleges.

Walt asked, "Do you want to call them, or should I?"

Barbara replied, "You do it. You seem to have your emotions much more in check, and I'll just turn into a blubbering fool."

Walt opened the calendar on the desktop all-in-one computer in the living room and put together the Zoom invite for the top of the next hour, entitled it, "Emergency Family Meeting," and sent the invite on its way to Adrienne, John, and Vicky.

With any luck, he'd catch Adrienne in her apartment she shared with another Masters candidate, and although he knew she'd be strong, he hoped her roommate would be there to provide solace and support. This was going to be a hard phone call.

Likewise, he hoped the email would find both John and Vicky reachable and available on such short notice.

Walt knew that Chloe was upstairs, supposedly doing her homework and after he'd seen that all three of his other children had R.S.V.P.'d the invite as a "Yes," he waited until about 5 minutes before the meeting was set to start before asking Barbara to come downstairs.

"Barbara," he asked, "Please bring Chloe downstairs to hear this. I'd like to tell all the children at the same time, if possible."

Barbara respected the request and stood up, then began the slow climb up the stairs to the hallway connecting the bedrooms to stop at Chloe's bedroom door. Lightly knocking, she waited until Chloe came to the door.

"What do you need, Mom?" Chloe asked.

Barbara explained that her father wanted her to be present for a sort of "family meeting," and although puzzled at the request, opened her bedroom door fully and joined her mother in descending the stairs to the family living room.

Walt began the Zoom meeting and saw that Adrienne had beat him to joining, and John, and Vicky followed quickly on her coattails. In the brief time in between Adrienne explained and asked what this meeting was about. Walt calmly explained that once Barbara rejoined him in the living room with Chloe, all would be revealed.

"Daddy?" Vicky asked, expressing concern, "What's this about?"

"I'll explain in a minute, pumpkin," Walt answered, careful to remain strong and composed. Using the nickname he'd given her decades previous came naturally as if it were her real, legal name.

"Hi, Adrienne! John, Vicky!" Chloe called out to her older siblings as she entered the living room and saw them in each square on the monitor. Neither Walt or Barbara admonished her because she was just doing what sisters do: Greeting their siblings after a long absence."

"Hey, squirt," came the automatic reply, complete with the nickname. "How are ya?"

"I'm okay," Chloe attempted to continue the conversation, "I'm just wondering what's up."

That was Walt's cue to start the meeting.

"Kids, your mother and I have some very hard news that we have to break to you tonight, and I wish to God that I didn't."

They could almost hear the level of attention go up 1,000% on the other side of the meeting.

"My primary care doctor noticed some facial and motor ticks that I picked up, and he recommended a visit to an oncologist. Since then we've been doing several series of tests, and seeking out second opinions, but they all come back saying that I have a large tumor in my brain that somehow, miraculously, has seemed to not have traveled to any other parts of my body, so there's a little bit of good news in all this."

As soon as Walt had said the word "tumor" all four women gasped and began to cry.

John just said, "Whoa!"

Walt waited until the shock died down and mostly ignored the questions flying from all angles.

Chloe, cheeks wet from instantaneous tears, hugged her Daddy tightly around his neck from behind him.

"Now, it can't be removed by conventional surgery and massive chemotherapy would probably not make a dent in this thing. Left untreated, doctors give me no longer than two months to live, maybe three."

Hearing that, the tears and the crying increased exponentially.

"However..." Walt interjected, "However, my oncologist has a procedure that is still pretty experimental that involves both chemotherapy and gene therapy that he feels might work. It might give me more time, or it could even cure me, but he cautioned that I shouldn't get too optimistic about it. And there is a possibility that I might not wake up from this 2 week coma they'll be putting me under."

"So, your mother and I have decided that even though it's a 'Hail Mary,' if it has a chance to give me more time with you kids and your mother, then it's worth taking a chance."

None of the children had been silent while their father delivered the horrible news. Cries of "Dad!" and "Daddy!" had threatened to derail the meeting and the girls were experiencing the full shock and disbelief he and their mother had experienced only days early. Walt wisely gave them all time to process the news and waited until a lull came in the wailing.

"Adrienne we'll arrange for you to take a leave of absence from your studies and we'd like you to be here no later than this coming Monday, when the doctors will be putting me into an induced coma. I've made arrangements for there to be a ticket in your name and you can take whatever flight is most convenient for you. I've also deposited an additional $500 in your checking account, so you can afford to take a Lyft or an Uber home if none of us are available to pick you up at the airport."

"I'll start packing now!" Adrienne announced, "And I'll be there on the earliest flight!"

"Pumpkin," Walt consoled, "Take some time to process what you've heard, then come back when you can. I cannot wait to hug and kiss you."

"I am going to fucking smother you with hugs and kisses when I get home, and I am never, ever letting you go."

Barbara caught herself before she admonished her daughter with, "Language!" but didn't, because it wasn't where care should be placed right then. Each member of the family knew the sentiment of the statement, and they let her have a weak moment of letting her inner censor let one slip through.

By this point, Chloe was balling her eyes out and tightened her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shirt and dripping makeup and tears. She made it hard for Walt to speak to her older siblings, and eventually unwittingly sitting in his lap like she did when she was little.

"Now, Kitten," Walt instinctively used the nickname he'd given his little daughter many years ago, "I'm going to be pulling you out of school for at least a couple of weeks. I want you to be strong and go to your classes tomorrow to say goodbye to your friends and make arrangements to keep up with your work."

"No!" she exclaimed, "I wanna say here with you!"

"Kitten, I'll still be here tomorrow and for several more days, and since you're a senior, unless by a miracle you're able to keep up with your studies while all this is going on, you'll likely never see many of them again, since they'll be headed off to college in the Fall. And you might have to re-do your Senior year. I'm sorry to do that you, Chloe."

It was a rare occasion that Walt didn't refer to either of his daughters by their nickname, yet no one really noticed since it mattered not.

"John..." Walt started.

"I'm on it, Dad. I'm emailing my professors now and I'll be there in the morning." John took command."

Hearing her son's plans, Barbara knew how long of a drive home ahead faced him, and pleaded, "Please don't drive it all in one stretch. Stop at least once to eat something, walk around a bit, whatever. I don't want anything to happen to you on the way home. The surgery isn't until Monday."

"Don't worry, Mom," John calmed his mother, "I'll be safe. I've driven that trip several times now. I'm good."

Together, the family cried and both virtually and physically held each other tight. The meeting went on another 20 minutes before Walt brought it to a close. Walt almost lost it when Adrienne cried out, "I don't want to hang up!"

But she did, and her roommate had come into her bedroom and cried with Adrienne as she attempted to explain her Dad's diagnosis through the tears, and the two slept in the same bed that night, as the two young women had formed a deep friendship bordering on being sisters, themselves. Back at the house, Walt, Barbara and Vicky, and Chloe cried themselves out, and Chloe won the argument to sleep in their bed that night. After changing into presentable pajamas and much hugging, the three nestled into the California king-size bed and drifted off to sleep, worn out from the day's events.