Ecclesiastes: A Fictional Narrative

He reached to his end table for the dog-eared Bible that lay there. He always kept it within easy reach. It had held the answers to so many of his quandaries over the years ever since his deacon father had given it to him those many decades ago. He flipped it open, found and reread the passages that had been the foundation of his argument with her. He needed their reassurance from her arguments. Her’s had come mainly from the frame of reference of her nurse and philosophical training. They’d made some inroads into his fundamentalist views. He paged Exodus 20:13 and Matthew 19:18. He reverently closed the book after reading Ecclesiastes 8:8, “There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; …show more content…
She saw his ashen face, down-turned mouth, slumped shoulders and knew it wasn’t good news. “What’s wrong, honey?” “The doc said there’s something wrong with my labs. He wants to do more tests.” He stood statue-like in the front hall alcove staring at himself in the mirror; as if evaluating his vulnerability. She moved to him, and, as best she could, encircled his huge frame in her arms. “Oh, it’s probably just a fluke. I’m sure the extra tests are just a precaution.” “No, I don’t think so. He looked especially concerned when he looked at my family history and saw that my mother, two aunts and an uncle all died of cancer.” “Well, that doesn’t mean it’s a certainty. We’ll hope and pray for the best.” She said this but it was without conviction—unconvinced by her own words.They fretted and held their breaths for two tortuous weeks awaiting the results. It was on a Friday morning they got the call. “John, I have your test results. I’d like you and Mary to come in this afternoon at 1:30 so I can go over them with you.” John only managed a mumbled “OK” before he punched the phone off and let it slide from his hand to the counter