"How was your day, dear?" his wife asked as he bent to kiss her hello.
"Fine hun," he said quickly, trying to look cheerful.
She smiled and started up the engine of their small Chevy. He stared at his hands, saying nothing. Ever so often cupping them to his mouth to stifle a cough.
She did not know...
He choked back tears that yearned to be free. The doctor had called him at work to give him test results.
"I am sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, sir. But, you have turned up positive for lung cancer and it is too late to hinder its development. I am sorry, but we only give you a few more years to live...it would be good of you to make all the necessary arrangements..." and here, he had hung up the phone.
The man looked at his wife. How beautiful she looked. How sure and unafraid. He could not tell her...he could not hurt her...not yet...he needed time...
"Jimmy took his first step today...and Sam's come down with the flu...Bill has a soccer game on Thursday..."
"We will have to go..." he said, as he was seized with a terrible fit of coughing.