Chapter One
Steven Found himself in a middle-class life. Finally paying off his college loans he and his wife Joanne were ready to start having children. They had been saving for the past several years now and reaching their early thirty’s Joanne’s clock began to tick at a feverish pace. Since they met they had always wanted children. It had been the driving force in their life from the beginning. They had come from nothing, however climbed tooth and nail to reach a respectable life together. A respectable life however had a hefty price tag coming from the bottom. They had been in severe debt, but now saw a light at the end of the tunnel.
Trouble began when Steven received news that he had prostate cancer. He sat awestruck as the doctor continued to talk on. He was urged to begin treatment immediately as his prognosis did not look optimistic. He asked if he could still have children if he under went treatment. The doctor hesitated before telling Steven that he would never be able to have children.
Steven step foot out of the building. The world around him felt smaller, nonexistent. He didn’t know what to feel. He walked to his car robotically as he felt that was expected of him. He sat down in the driver’s seat, started the car, and grabbed the wheel. He didn’t know where to go or what to do. Thoughts rushed in as a tidal wave hitting a wall. He decided to sit at the bar until he figured out a plan. Steven had never been one to sit at a bar but this time somehow felt right. He set off down the road, face emotionless in a state of suspended animation until he could reach his destination. Walking in he scouted the empty bar stool he intended to devise his great escape on. He slumped into the stool and a mild depression. Ordering a beer and a water he began to unpack his mind at the counter. Confusion, gave way to anger, anger to acceptance. He felt cheated out of his time, only to remind himself it wasn’t guaranteed. All that hard work and saving, wasted. Even if he did recover, and able to pay his impending medical bills, he may never have children. He felt as if half a man. Unable to provide his loving wife with the children they so desperately wanted, to continue his line, to pass on something to the next generation. If they had children now he would likely die anyway. Leaving his wife, a single mother and a child without a father. Steven felt crushed under the weight of an unfair future. He paid his tab and left, leaving an unfinished beer and plan. On his way home he struggled to grasp at the courage needed to sit his wife down and tell her. As he watched the guard rail disappear from the edge of the highway he considered running off the road and into a tree. As he pulled into his driveway the front door seemed to move away from him as he approached. There was no running from this.
