Allen paused for a moment to find enough composure to tell Charles
and Cupid what had been going on.
"Well," Allen began, "when I got back from Chicago, I came back with
possible bad news."
"Is that why you had been acting so anti-social?" Charles asked.
"Partly, Allen said, but a lot of it had to do with not being in a
relationship at this point in my life."
"So what's the bad news you came home with?" Cupid asked.
"I found out that my moms stopped teaching about five months ago
because she's gotten sick."
"When you say sick," Charles asked with concern, "do you mean life
threatening sick or go back to work in a few weeks type of sick?"
"I would like to think that it's the kind of sick that will have her back
teaching in a few weeks, but I don't know. I'm waiting for my father to
call as we speak."
"Is it a cold or something like that?" Cupid asked.
"I wish it were that simple. They think it's breast cancer. The doctors
have told my parents that they may be able to catch it before it spreads
any further, but they were only fifty percent sure of that."
"Well what happens if they don't stop it from spreading," Cupid
asked?
"I don't want to think about that option at this point," Allen said with
a deep sigh.
As conversation persisted, Mary called on the intercom to inform Allen
that he had a call holding. Allen excused himself from the conversation
and attended to the call.
"Hey Pop, I've been waiting for your call for days, how's Mom and
what's the word on her condition?"
Allen listened to his father explain the situation while Cupid and
Charles looked on. Their demeanor changing with every passing second.
Allen's facial expression changing with every detail from his father. After
a short stint of silence, Allen told his father before hanging up that good
or bad, it was finally a relief to hear something. Allen took a deep breath
as Cupid and Charles waited for the news.
"So what's the word Jones?" Cupid asked in a low tone.
Allen fought off his emotions and delivered the news.
"My pops said that the doctors were not able to stop the cancer from
spreading with the pills. He said they told him to prepare for the worst
and pray for the best. He also said that she could begin chemotherapy
as early as tomorrow, which in their opinion has a twenty-five percent
chance of sending the cancer into remission."
"Why are they just now starting chemotherapy?" Cupid asked.
"I don't know."
"Jones, I have an even better question," Charles said.
"What's that?"
"Why are you just now telling us all this?"
"At first I felt like I could handle it. Then I started looking at how my
life was and me not being in a relationship was a concern to me. Then
when I mentioned it the last time we watched the game, I got a negative
response from all of you. That basically let me know that I was on my
own."