In the Other Life

Before the 20-sided di would be cast, before a decision of character would be made, something else was happening in the Other Life. Leonidas A. Carlton had fallen very ill quite suddenly on Super Bowl Sunday evening. After much stubborn protesting and arguing, he allowed himself to be taken by the medics. Shortly after that, he lay in an induced coma in the Middle Earth ER, the ICU was at capacity. His children, Victor, Tara and Ralph kept vigil through the night, along with his wife of 145 years, Vess. She complained about how cold the waiting room was and asked Ralph to go home and get her a sweater and a prayer book. It was now midnight, Middle Earth Standard Time (MEST). Leonidas had made many a valiant come-back from cancer and other great battles. Soon he would swap his clumsy wheel chair for a smooth chariot ride into the Big Darkness.

His lungs had aspirated and filled with infected liquid. As Leonidas lay there with tubes inserted in every part of his body, his organs were rapidly dying. One by one his heart, lungs, and kidneys played out of synch as if they were a drunken band in the Mummer's Parade, accordions and string instruments playing out of time in the wrong key. Then the music stopped, section by section. The only thing that was keeping him alive was his breathing tube.

At 8:20 pm MEST, the ER doctors called the family in, children, grand children, and wives. They were told that, Leonidas did not have long in this world. They had to decide to let him expire with or without assistance. They chose to take him off the machines. The grand children took it the hardest, it was very difficult to explain what they all had areed upon.

At 11:30 pm, Vess put her prayer book down, stood up from her chair, she cleared her throat and stood over her husband. She shook him by his shoulder and said "If you feel you must go, please go now." Then she kissed him. She used to say that to everyone before long road trips, but that was used in the context of going to the bathroom. She was asking her husband to move on. By 11:45 pm he was pronounced dead.

The last thing Leonidas said to his grandson Hkai was "Don't forget your lunch money, it's on the counter!" Hkai wished his grandfather had better words. His brother Hkorei creid himself to sleep. Their cousin Nkhei, said she missed Papa and refused to eat. Events in the Other Life had turned like a wicked Noreaster. Only Karl didn't know it yet.