A Tragic Love Story In a relatively short period of time, Tom had experienced some fundamental changes in his life. Three years earlier he had so much to be thankful for. Sarah, his wife of 25 years, was an exceptional woman whom he adored. His two talented daughters, born a year apart, were enrolled in prestigious universities. He had excellent income from his work as an attorney, and he was in good health. It all began with a headache, severe muscle pain, and chills which appeared to be a case of the flu. After the symptoms had persisted for several weeks, Tom went to a medical specialist who diagnosed the problem as a rare immune disorder for which there was no treatment and significant improvement was unlikely. Tom found it difficult to inform his law partners that he would be leaving the practice, but the severity of the symptoms left him no alternative. They were understanding and guaranteed him that he would continue to receive income from the firm. Tom was relieved that the illness would not result in financial problems. The impact it had on the rest of his life was very serious. The constant pain and the fact that he could no longer live the active life that he had become accustomed to left him in a state of deep despair. Sarah felt a sense of frustration when she was unable to help Tom come to terms with his illness. In the winter following the diagnosis, she suggested to Tom that it would be good for them to get away and spend some time in Florida. She arranged to rent a beach house for a month. Tom had been skeptical about the trip, but after just a few days in the warm, Florida sunshine Sarah noticed that his mood had improved. Before the end of the month Tom was so much better that Sarah decided a permanent move to Florida was something to consider. Working with a realtor she found a very nice house for sale. It took some time before she was able to convince Tom that they should buy it. Three months later they were settled in their new home. The results of the change turned out to be better than Sarah could have imagined. At her insistence, Tom became involved in activities he could enjoy. He took regular walks on the beach and occasionally did some fishing. He seemed to regain some of his former enthusiasm for life. There were setbacks, but with Sarah�s support and encouragement he was able to get through the difficult times. It was a little over a year after the move when Sarah was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She died eight months later. Tom decided that without Sarah�s love life was utterly meaningless. After living in a state of despair for several months, he decided to end his misery by committing suicide. He considered the usual methods, a gunshot, poison, hanging, and carbon monoxide. These were unacceptable because his daughters would know that he took his own life. A car accident was a possibility, but he was concerned that it might not result in a fatal injury. One day, it occurred to Tom that there was a bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway on a quiet country road. He went to the bridge and concluded that there was no way a person falling from it could survive. He reasoned that a motorist who was forced to stop on the bridge with car trouble might accidentally fall over the low concrete barrier at the edge of the road. By the time he had arrived back as this house, Tom had developed what he judged to be a fool proof plan and began making preparations. He punctured a tire on his SUV by driving over a nail and replaced it with the spare. He put the flat tire in the back of the SUV along with his fishing tackle, a travel bag containing clothes suitable for spending a few days away from home, a tooth brush and a razor. Tom planned to go to the bridge early on Sunday morning when there would be little traffic and park at a spot directly over a road that bordered the Intracoastal Waterway. He would jack up the SUV and put the flat tire on the pavement. When a body was found below the bridge it would appear that the driver had fallen while changing a tire. On Saturday Tom called his daughters and told them he would be leaving the following morning to spend a few days with a friend. They were going to do some fishing on his new boat. He said he had just finished putting his fishing tackle and a travel bag in the SUV. Tom arrived at the bridge at dawn. He got out of the SUV and was about to remove the flat tire when he noticed what a beautiful morning it was. It reminded him of how Sarah enjoyed seeing the sunrise. She said it was more beautiful than the sunset because it came at the beginning of the day rather than the end. That brought to mind the way she had clung to life while suffering so much in the last days before she died. Now he was planning to end his own life voluntarily. Sarah would have been shocked and deeply disappointed that he would consider such a thing. At that moment, Tom came to the realization that even though Sarah was no longer with him, her love continued to be a basic part of his life. Then he thought about his daughters having to deal with his death so soon after loosing their mother. Tom walked over to the concrete barrier and looked down at the spot where he would have landed after jumping. He felt he had just awakened from a nightmare and wondered what had possessed him when he planned to commit suicide. It was a time of rebirth. He was thankful to be alive. Tom�s thoughts were interrupted when a rusty pickup truck pulled up pulled up behind the SUV. He thought it was nice that someone would stop to help a motorist with a problem. The driver walked over to Tom swinging a length of heavy iron pipe he had taken out of the back of the pickup and told him to hand over his credit cards and money. Tom hesitated and then reached for the cell phone on his belt. The driver responded by hitting Tom with the pipe. The force of the blow knocked him back and he ended up with the upper part of his body hanging over the edge of the concrete barrier. He made a desperate, but unsuccessful, attempt to keep from falling. Before leaving the scene, the driver of the pickup took the fishing tackle and travel bag out of the SUV. A man fishing on the Intracoastal Waterway discovered a body and called the Sheriff�s Department. As soon as an identification was made the sheriff went to Tom�s house. When he found no one there he talked with a neighbor and learned that Tom lived alone and had two daughters, Beth and Amy, who visited him regularly. Back at the Department the sheriff was able to get the phone numbers of the daughters from Tom�s cell phone. He called Beth first and reported what had happened. She wanted to be the one to tell her sister. Beth and Amy arrived at the sheriff�s office late the next afternoon emotionally and physically exhausted. The sheriff wanted to avoid dealing with questions. He said, �I�m very sorry about your loss. I can imagine what a difficult time it is for you. Your father�s body is in a funeral home just a short distance from here. Turn left when you leave the parking lot. It�s on the corner at the first traffic light.� �Over the phone you only told us that Dad died from a fall,� Beth said. �We would like to know more details.� �Your father was found under a bridge over the intracoastal waterway. His SUV was parked at the spot from where he had fallen.� �That sounds like a very unusual accident. Do you know how happened?� Beth asked. The sheriff could see no way to soften the blow. �Your father�s death had been recorded as a suicide.� Beth responded immediately. �That couldn�t be. Dad would never take his own life.� �Of course not,� Amy said. �The day before he died Dad called and told us he was leaving in the morning to spend some time with a friend and do some fishing. He said he had already put his fishing tackle and a travel bag in the SUV.� �The only thing we found in the SUV was a flat tire that your father had not gotten around to having repaired. Was there any indication that he had been depressed lately?� The sisters looked at each other and then Beth said, �Our mother died a few months ago of cancer. She suffered a great deal. It was devastating for Dad. He and Mom were very close.� �Did your father have any health problems?� Beth seemed to fighting back the tears. Amy answered. �Several years ago Dad became very sick and had to stop working. He never fully recovered.� After a long pause Amy said, �I guess that�s all you can tell us. We better go to the funeral home.� The sheriff nodded. �Let me know if I can help in any way. You know where you can reach me.� �We appreciate that very much,� Amy said as they got up to leave. Beth managed to nod in agreement. She had begun to cry. Shortly after the sisters left a deputy stopped at the door of the Sheriff�s office. �I met two girls leaving the building. They looked like they were pretty upset. Relatives of the suicide? �Daughters. And you were right about them being upset. Nice girls that any normal father would be proud of. Theirs was a selfish, cowardly bastard. He didn�t think about them when he decided to commit suicide. What makes it even worse is that their mother died recently. At least he could have come up with a plan that made it look like an accident.�
Copyright © 2008 Richard Kelly |