ODDS OF LOVE : SEASON ELEVEN

Episode 62

Alfred sat on the padded seat of his walker and motioned his head towards the whiteboard mounted on the wall behind him in the classroom. One word was written.

CANCER.

The one word that wouldn't leave his head from the moment his mother had put it there. He kept replaying his earlier conversation with her over the phone before homeroom began. Replaying it and wanting it to change.

His mother had cancer. She was going to have surgery. She might die.

He had after the call been almost shell shocked and the first thing he had did was call Gerald. Unfortunately it went to voicemail and he needed to get back to work anyway.

" Today I want to assign you all an essay. Write about what that word you see means. Not just the dictionary meaning but go deeper. What does it mean to you? "

Kyle Samson smirked," Means death, man. "

Alfred flinched slightly at the word death.

Theodore shook his head and said," It doesn't have to always mean death. People recover from cancer all the time. "

" Yes ," Alan whispered softly from his seat beside Theodore. " I did. I had leukemia when I was younger. Seven. It went away. After treatment. I'm better now. I didn't die. To me it means.... renewal. Renewal of life. "

Theodore looked at his boyfriend with great love shining in his eyes.

Kyle looked at Alan with both anger and amusement. " That's all that woo woo new age thinking. Death is death. People need to stop being afraid of it. We all die. When it's your turn it's your turn. "

Alfred said gingerly," So for the rest of class I want you all to write a two page single space essay on what the illness cancer means to you. "

Maybe as he read them for grading purposes it would help him come to terms with the new realization that his mother had cancer at sixty six and might die.