Hell Is A Lonely Place

he was 65, his wife was 66, had

Alzheimer's disease.

he had cancer of the

mouth.

there were

operations, radiation

treatments

which decayed the bones in his

jaw

which then had to be

wired.

daily he put his wife in

rubber diapers

like a

baby.

unable to drive in his

condition

he had to take a taxi to

the medical

center,

had difficulty speaking,

had to

write the directions

down.

on his last visit

they informed him

there would be another

operation: a bit more

left

cheek and a bit more

tongue.

when he returned

he changed his wife's

diapers

put on the tv

dinners, watched the

evening news

then went to the bedroom, got the

gun, put it to her

temple, fired.

she fell to the

left, he sat upon the

couch

put the gun into his

mouth, pulled the

trigger.

the shots didn't arouse

the neighbors.

later

the burning tv dinners

did.

somebody arrived, pushed

the door open, saw

it.

soon

the police arrived and

went through their

routine, found

some items:

a closed savings

account and

a checkbook with a

balance of

$1.14

suicide, they

deduced.

in three weeks

there were two

new tenants:

a computer engineer

named

Ross

and his wife

Anatana

who studied

ballet.

they looked like another

upwardly mobile

pair.