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“I hate doctors,” he said, frowning “I still don’t see e need to do this So what if I’s? Hate to break it to you, but that’s what happens when you get old”

“Huhtly “Maybe there’s a medicine that will help”

He snorted, shaking his head, but he shoved the rest of his toast in his et his meds

• • •

The forms were more complicated than I’d realized

We started working on theht thirty, and an hour later we still weren’t finished In addition to the basic history, there’d been a behavioral questionnaire for me to fill out, and one for hi his prescriptions, thank God

“What’s this for?” I asked, holding up a bottle

“Blood pressure,” he said I wrote it down and then reached for another, feeling vaguely guilty that I hadn’t gone through these before He’d always been such a private person about his health, though

That and you were in denial, my common sense pointed out

Yeah, you got me on that one

“Be right back,” Dad said “Need some water”

“Sounds good—grab a glass forfor the last bottle Amitriptyline I wrote down the nae My ly

Huh

I thought I’d cleared all her stuff out Weird I started to set it down, then noticed soe The date was from just last month

What the hell?

“Dad!” I shouted

“Yeah?”

“C’mere I found this bottle and it doesn’t make any sense”

He alass down in front of me I held out the little bottle to him, and he frowned

“Don’t worry about that one That’s your mother’s”

“It’s dated fro refills? And I don’t recognize the pharmacy name, either”

He sighed, then shook his head “It’s e, Tinker Bell”

“Dad, I’hter—I love you You never have to be eether, okay? But I really need to knohat’s going on here It could be important”

He sighed heavily and sat down

“It’s hard to ad a rough time that last year And then when the baby died”