Juniper Blue (NaNoWriMo2023; manxman)

Chapter 24

A/N This chapter is long and I bet there are inconsistencies. Thanks for your patience.

Juniper

Rabbi Benowitz walked with his hands in the pockets of his black overcoat. I'd forgotten my coat at home and only packed a hoodie. I didn't think Brooklyn would be as chilly as Maine in early December, but that's not to say it didn't get cold. I would have preferred to take a taxi or an Uber to the house, but I kept my mouth shut, just relieved the rabbi was taking me to Gabriel. I walked beside him down the street on the way to the Benowitz house. I didn't expect Rabbi Benowitz to keep talking.

"Gabriel has poor coping skills. He avoids confrontation, and he's a hypochondriac sometimes. To be honest with you, I don't know how he managed to become a physician. He's smart, that's why. Too smart for his own good sometimes. And communication is his weakest trait. I suppose we all have weaknesses. He can be very difficult to talk to... unapproachable."

"He tells me I talk too much."

Rabbi Benowitz chuckled. "It's better to talk too much than not to talk at all."

I had to agree that Gabriel could be unapproachable sometimes. When things were bothering him, he'd shut down. I assumed that had to do with the losers he dated who always put their needs first, ignoring Gabriel's.

"Can I ask you something, Rabbi?" I didn't wait for him to respond, asking the question, anyway. "What exactly is Huntington's disease?"

"It's a progressive, neurological disease, similar to Parkinson's. It causes dementia, tremors, and all sorts of mobility issues. Ada--Gabriel's mother--uses a walker, but she forgets to use it. She forgets a lot of things. People with the disease can become depressed and psychotic. Many are diagnosed in their forties, but some are diagnosed much later. I think Gabriel's preparing for death. Can you believe that? At thirty-six, he thinks he's gonna die tomorrow. I've been thinking that maybe he doesn't want you to be his caregiver. It's no walk in the park, let me tell you. If I didn't have Ruth and others in our community, I don't know what I'd do."

"That's not his decision to make," I said. "Is it terminal?"

"Well, it's progressive, so I suppose it is. The life expectancy is between ten to twenty-five years from onset of symptoms. Gabriel has no symptoms whatsoever. Maybe you can talk some sense into him. You seem very sensible. He's not going to die tomorrow unless he's involved in some kind of tragic accident."

I noticed a lot of houses on the street had no driveways and were either attached to each other or close together. I lived out in the middle of nowhere, so I wasn't used to densely populated neighborhoods. I followed Rabbi Benowitz up the stairs of a detached townhouse. He stopped before opening the door.

"I'll let you speak with Gabriel, talk some sense into him, and then you can go. Forgive me, but I cannot accept..." He paused, perhaps rethinking his statement, or reconsidering what he was about to say. "You seem like a nice boy. Gabriel picked a good one this time."

This time?

"I promise I won't stay long. Thank you for taking me to him."

"Yeah," he sighed.

The front door opened into a wide-open living room. One older woman dozed on a recliner and another woman curled up on the couch reading a book. Judging by the walker beside the chair, I concluded that the woman dozing was Gabriel's mother. The other woman peered up from her book as Rabbi Benowitz hung up his overcoat in a nearby closet.

"We have a visitor," he said. "Juniper, this is Ruth Cohen, Gabriel's aunt, and his mother, Ada, who's over there, sleeping in the chair."

"Nice to meet you," I said to Ruth.