Mood:
don't askTopic: "Three Siblings" (4)
Bright's Disease, a certified non-killer in today's world, left a widow and six children amid the deepest economic disaster then known to mankind. Starvation was averted only when a prospective stepfather stepped forward, who required however, that the juvenile family unit would have to make its' own way through foster care. The widow had no choice.
Reuben died in the War. Lemuel was killed in a trainwreck. Dorothy died of a heart attack.
The three siblings remaining today were closer, more intimate, appreciative of their common suffering, and more likely to step forward in behalf of each other than any others ever known by Frodo. Their common devotion to one another was molded into the body politic of all who came in contact with these human proponents of the "Incredible Journey."
When Bilbo's father passed away, her sister Blanche, and her own second husband Don, he of the irrepressible good humor, retired to the desert land in which Bilbo now lived all alone. Blanche's first husband, Sam, had been wounded at Monte Cassino in Italy, and his wounds eventually caused his demise. After Don died, Bilbo found herself as perhaps being not so tragic a figure as Blanche, and the synaptic circuits found ways to avert such crisis determinations. Soon, Blanche would be cast as a thief, and one who was never grateful for all the good things that Bilbo had done in her behalf.
Turner, the youngest, lied about his age in order to join the USMC, and was struck by enemy fire on Okinawa, surviving to become the strongest, if not the penultimate most gentle, of all those present in Frodo's formative days. Turner became the victim of the increasing enmity between the aged sisters, and found himself the crux of all their frustrations.
Eventually, every family member, no matter how remote, found themselves being recruited onto one side or the other. Bilbo eventually divorced herself from Turner entirely, convinced that she, alone, had all wisdom, and Blanche sought refuge in the kindeness of strangers.
Blanche has now been diagnosed with Alzheimers. This increidbly beautiful, good-looking, party girl of generations past will soon not remember a single good time. It is not fair.
Bilbo has double pneumonia and congestive heart failure. She is in assisted living, and would rather die than go back into the hospital again.
Turner has had a pig's valve transplanted into his heart, and has had three additional surgeries in the past 60 days in order to achieve a state of assisted existence.
Those who began life as the closest, most interdependent, most loyal, because of the absence of any alternative, could legitimately be chronicled today on the same pages as space aliens or the offspring of cattle and monkeys.
Frodo would pay any price, suffer any burden, walk any distance in order to foster the terms that would define the legitimate end of days for those whom he does so admire. It will not be so, he knows, and Frodo would be disingenuous to expect anything different. Life is indeed a great gift, but it also comes at great cost; defying both logic and a true sense of empathy. No one ever told Frodo that days such as these would be easy, but it certainly would have helped if there had been something for him to read to prepare him for something so absolutely basic. Perhaps, dear reader, Frodo's words let you know that you are not alone, and that someone, in this case a mere Hobbit has, too, walked in your shoes.
