Leo

Leo and Marilyn showed up at the hospital just as Mom and I were coming back from the cafeteria with our bland hospital food. We didn't even want to eat but it was a distraction, something to do while Dad was down in a procedural area. They were trying to tap some fluid off of his lungs for comfort.

We were coming off the elevator and there they were. I think we were both a bit crestfallen. We'd had so many visitors and just wanted a few minutes of quiet. But here we were. We went into this little silent meditation room with quilts on the walls and comfortable chairs. Marilyn is an old college friend of my Mom's. They lived together for a while after graduation and stayed close throughout the years. My memories of Marilyn are mostly of her long visits with us in the summer to get away from her husband, Leo. Somehow they prevailed.

We hugged and sat down and mom and I attempted to eat while explaining Dad's condition: cancer was everywhere, moving to comfort care. Mom was so polite, asking about the kids. Leo sat in the back, smug with his arms crossed. Not participating in the conversation but waiting. He was waiting for his moment. When it came, he crossed the room to sit near us and began to witness about how some shoulder injury was healed by the power of prayer. Folks, I don't object to any one's religion, do you. But I'm an oncology nurse and my dad was actively dying and from my experience, the lord can't fix metastatic melanoma just yet. I couldn't believe that I was sitting there listening to this bull shit. This visit by Leo was all about Leo, not about my Dad. I kept looking over at mom to gauge her reaction and she just kept looking at her food and questioning Leo about what exactly his intentions were. From what I could decipher from his ten minutes of bullshit was that he wanted was to attempt a fucking faith healing on my Dad. I was seeing white, hot rage. Mom was highly offended but was so polite. She told Leo that we didn't need a faith healing but instead requested continued prayer for dad's comfort. I was fucking rude and told him we weren't interested.

I saw them roll my dad back to the room so I had an excuse to leave.  I was so upset and crying, I just went to the end of the hallway and waited until they visited with dad a bit. I managed to walk back to give Marilyn a hug when they were leaving, didn't give Leo a glance. She was really apologetic and I told her how I felt. What I told her was that when family is suffering, you show up to be there, not to put on a goddamned show. Marilyn knew that, she's good people. But she's married to Leo and she lets him wear the pants. Her choice.

When they left, Mom and I kind of had a silent moment to catch our breath.  Puffing away on her e-cig, mom watched Marilyn and Leo walk in silence to their car and drive away. I joined her.  We were just like, "what the hell was that?" She said she was proud of me for speaking my mind. I said, "what an asshole." But I wasn't sure if I was talking about Leo or me.

Later that evening mom pulled out an envelope Marilyn handed mom before they left. In it was a really sweet letter and $1,000. Mom didn't need their money. So she handed it to me and my sister. We all had a good chuckle. Anytime we bought something with it we'd say "thanks Leo!"

Go piss up a rope, Leo.