Silver Spoon - 4. Chapter 4

Ed could have gone anywhere in the country to med school, but he chose Columbia, so he could remain in New York and live at home. He even did his residency at St. Vincent’s in downtown Manhattan. In time he became a board certified oncologist, and practiced in New York. He developed innovative new procedures in seeking to cure cancer, and his reputation brought him patients from around the globe.

******

One morning, before entering his examination room to greet his first patient of the day, Ed removed the patient’s chart from a wall tray hanging outside the door. The patient was from out of town, and Ed had not seen him before. He needed to read his medical history, and familiarize himself with his treatment to date. When he opened the chart, Ed staggered against the wall. The patient was his father, Lars Rose.

He returned to his office and buzzed his nurse. “Please tell the patient in Room #1 that I will be delayed, but I’ll be with him in a few minutes.” He sat at his desk, and his mind took him back to a time when he was only eleven years old.

His mother had died of cancer several months earlier. That afternoon the school bus let him off as usual, and he ran to the house to change and see what chores his father had for him. As he entered through the front door, he heard his sister crying and begging her father to stop. Ellen was thirteen at the time. The crying was coming from her bedroom. Ed rushed in to witness his father slapping her around.

“Cunt,” he yelled, “you can’t even make a decent sandwich.”

The boy tried to pull his father off his sister, but he was drunk and crazed. Ed was no match for his burly father. He threw Ed against the wall, and Ed lost consciousness. He awakened to sharp blows to his face and body. His father was now beating him up. “I’ll teach you to lay your hands on me,” the drunken man said, and he unloaded yet another barrage against his son.

Of course, after he sobered up, he begged both of his children to forgive him. They were too young to strike out on their own, so they remained at home, and an uneasy peace prevailed. Whenever Lars got drunk, the children tried to disappear, but when he caught them, he would beat them After he sobered up, he would beg them to forgive him, and the uneasy peace would be restored. A few years later, when Ed came out to him, the peace was broken for good.

Ed steeled himself and entered the examination room. The man that was his big farmer father was now a shriveled old man. The effects of the cancer had taken its toll. He was with a woman near forty years old, who was still very attractive. It was his sister, Ellen, of course. They did not seem to recognize him, and just in case they were wondering, Ed said, “We have the same name I see.”

“I had a brother who was named Edwin as well, but he’s dead,” Ellen said.

Ed was shocked. Apparently Lars had told Ellen that he was dead. Ed’s male nurse entered the room, and asked Ellen politely to leave while Dr. Rose examined her father.

Jed Bergen handed the doctor a disk and said, “Here are Mr. Rose’s X-Rays.” He put the disk in the computer and Ed examined them carefully. They showed every angle of Lars’s diseased kidneys.

Then Ed examined his father’s MRI report. The cancer had not spread and seemed to be in the kidneys only.

“I’m afraid the kidneys are too far gone for any kind of radical treatment except surgery,” Ed said clinically and rather coldly. “Do you think your daughter would be willing to donate a kidney to you if she is a match? It’s your only option, and if you don’t remove both diseased kidneys very quickly, you will probably die in three months or so.”

Lars hung his head. “I had hoped that one of your new treatments might help me.”

“You should have come to me months ago. It’s too late now.”

“I can tell you that we have already determined that my daughter is not a match.”
“The waiting list for a kidney is too long for you to depend on getting one from the kidney bank. Also your age is against you. Do you have any other relatives who might be a match?”

“My daughter thinks my son is dead, but I threw the dirty faggot out of my house years ago, and I don’t know if he’s dead or alive. At any rate I wouldn’t know how to reach him.”
Ed arched his back and gritted his teeth. “How would you feel about it if we found him, and he was a match?”

“I wouldn’t want his kidney anyway. It’s probably loaded with the HIV virus.”

Ed excused himself and left the room. He clenched his fists and got hold of his emotions before returning.

“I’ll see what I can do about finding a compatible kidney. Where are you staying while you are in town?”

“At a run down hotel on B Avenue in lower Manhattan.”

“Does your daughter have to return to Minnesota? Does she have a family?”

“No, she never married. She takes care of me.”
“That surprises me. She’s a very attractive woman.”

“Something happened to her in her childhood, and she shies away from men.”

Ed began to cry inside, but he didn’t let his father see his pain. He took down the name of the hotel where they were staying, and rushed to his office. He re-examined his father’s medical records, and determined that he himself was a good match, and a promising kidney donor.

He sent Ellen and Lars away with a promise that he would be in touch if he could find a match. He had his receptionist cancel as many of his patients for the day as she could reach. He was able to shorten his office hours, and he rushed home to Johnny. He found his soul mate sitting in the library at his computer, working on his latest novel. It was about a big city oncologist. Ed was advising him on technical matters.

Ed fell into Johnny’s arms. “Kiss me and hug me,” he pleaded. “I need you so badly at the moment.”

“You don’t have to beg me to kiss you. What the hell has happened?”

Ed filled Johnny in on the events of the day. “What should I do?” he pleaded with Johnny, knowing full well that Johnny could not advise him. The enigma was all his.

After a long silence, Johnny said. “You don’t owe the bastard a kidney after what he did to you and your sister. Besides he might reject it, and die anyhow.”

“I know, but my sister needs psychiatric help. I want to be able to help her.”

“I think you should sleep on it. I know you’ll make the right decision. In the meantime I know just what you need to relax you.”
“I’m not in the mood to make love.”
“Actually I was thinking about a gin and tonic.” They both broke out laughing, and Ed did indeed relax.

It seems that Ed was in the mood in the morning, and he and Johnny made love from about 5 AM to 7 AM. Ed made his decision in the shower.

As soon as he got to his office, he called the hotel where his sister and father were staying. He was relieved when Ellen answered. It was she he wanted to talk to.

“Ellen, this is Dr. Rose. I think I have a donor for your father. I have a full load of patients today, but could you come into my office about 5 PM. They’ll all be gone by then.”

“Did I hear right? Did you say that you had a kidney donor for my father?”
“Yes, you heard right.”

“God bless you, doctor. We are all packed and ready to go back to Minnesota, but we’ll be there.”

When the last patient left, Ellen and Lars had been waiting about fifteen minutes. Jed told Ellen that the doctor wanted to see her alone before he saw her father.

“What for?” the surly old man spat between his teeth. “Does he want to play with her titties or something?”

“There’s no need for that kind of talk here,” the nurse lectured him. “I have a good mind to tell the doctor what you said, and ask him not to treat you.”
“Sorry,” Lars mumbled.

Ed made sure that Ellen was comfortably seated and then he sat down behind his desk. He clasped his hands and searched for the right words. Nothing came to him so he said simply, “Ellen, your brother Edwin is not dead. I’m your brother.”

Ellen clasped her hand to her mouth to keep from screaming out loud. She jumped up and Ed stood also. They embraced long and hard, and Ed kept kissing her on her forehead.

“Why, why?” she asked, unable to ask more.

“I told Dad that I was gay, and he kicked me out of the house. He warned me not to try to contact him or you again, or he would harm you. I was young and scared. I obeyed him as I always had.”

Ellen looked around his office at all the certificates on Ed’s wall.

“You’ve done well, Edwin. I am so proud of you.”

“Ellen, darling, I want to donate a kidney to Dad.”

“How can you even consider it, after all he has done to you?”

“You and he are the only family I have. It’s the least I can do. In the meantime, I want you to move into my home, and I want to arrange therapy for you. You need to forget all the horrible things he did to you, and put it behind you. I have.”

“I don’t know. I’m very confused. I’ll have to think about it, but first things, first. Are we going to tell him?”

“At first, I thought that I’d let him think that the donor was anonymous, but I can’t let you stay in that sleazy hotel. I want you home with me. In that case he would have to know.”

“This is all too much for me. I don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes.”

“I guess so.”
“Who is taking care of the farm while you are away?”
“Oh, Edwin, we lost the farm years ago. I’ve been supporting both of us on my salary as a librarian. Now even the library may close. The young people today have the internet to do research, and if they do read, they read on IPads and Kindles and other digital devices of that sort. I should be thinking about retraining myself.”

“There’s plenty of time to talk about that. Anyway, I don’t want you to worry about finances. Shall we call him in now?”

The nurse brought Lars into the office and sat him down in a chair next to Ellen.

“I hear you have a kidney for me,” he said curtly. “I have no insurance and I can’t pay for anything, so you might as well send me home.”

Ed held his temper. He took a deep breath and said, “Listen to me, you miserable old man. I’m your son, Edwin, and I’m giving you a kidney. I have more money than you ever dreamed of. From now on you do what I tell you. Your life is in my hands now. I’m taking over and issuing the orders, and you’ll do as I tell you. If I have to, I’ll get a court order appointing me your medical surrogate. I’ve scheduled our surgery for next Thursday at Columbia Presbyterian. Dr. Farber is the best surgeon in New York, and he’s going to operate on you while his associate operates on me.”

Lars was silent. He stared long and hard at Ed.

"Yes, I can see know. You are Edwin. You got AIDS"

“Shut up, you stupid old man,” Ellen yelled.

Lars shut up.

“I’ve sent my chauffer to check you out of that flea trap you’re in. He’ll bring all your belongings to my home, and my maid is setting up two rooms for you. We’ll go now. I have a cab waiting downstairs, and dinner waiting at home. I don’t want to keep Johnny wondering where we are.”

“Who is Johnny?” Lars asked.

“He’s my partner, old man, my life partner. Get used to it.”

******

The surgeries went well, and once the cancer was out of him, Lars was a changed man. He recognized the sacrifice his son had made for him, and he acknowledged it to Ed so many times that Ed had to beg him to stop thanking him. Johnny charmed Lars the moment they met, and the two men bonded as well as could be expected.

Ellen began therapy, and she was able to get a job at the main branch of the New York Public library. Johnny and Ed were heavy supporters of the library, and Johnny made a few phone calls. Of course, nobody said anything about that to Ellen.

After a few weeks of therapy at the doctor’s office, coupled with occupational therapy at the library, Ellen was happy and relaxed. It was an added bonus that she didn’t have to worry about her father or about their finances. One of her co-workers asked her to go to a basketball game with him, and she gladly accepted.

Both she and Lars began to talk about getting a place of their own, and it was Johnny who said that it was nonsense. The house was large enough for all of them. He just wouldn’t hear of it, and they finally relented. Things got even better when Ellen announced that she was moving in with her new friend, and that they would be getting married in the spring.

Ed wanted to make a big wedding, but Ellen insisted that they were both too old for that stuff, and they planned to elope. She finally agreed to a small family reception, when they got back from their honeymoon.