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"You'll be happy to know Melodie is no longer suffering fro sickness But she's tired nant with you"

I bit down onafter I kneith child "It's a strange kind of summer, Jory I can't say I really care for Joel He see but criticize Cindy She can do nothing right in Joel's eyes, or in Bart's I'm

thinking it would be a good idea to send Cindy off to a summer camp until school starts in the fall You don't think Cindy is

, do you?"

No answer

I tried not to sigh, or look at hiht hold of his li a dead fish "Jory, they're going to keep on feeding you intravenously," I warned "And if you still refuse to eat, they will put tubes in other veins, and use other methods to keep you alive, even if we have to eventually put you on everystubborn and come back to us"

He didn't blink, or speak

"All right, Jory I've been easy on you up until now--but I've had enough!" My tone turned harsh "I love you too much to see you lie there and will yourself to die So you don't care about anything, anymore, do you?

"So you're crippled and you'll have to sit in a wheelchair until you can e crutches, if you ever have thatsorry for yourself, and wondering how you can go on Others have done it Others have made lives for themselves, and been in worse condition than you are So you tell yourself what others do doesn't count when it's your body, and your life--and ht It doesn't matter what others do, if you want to think selfishly

"Tell ht that, too, at first I don't like to see you lying there so still, Jory It breaks my heart, your father's heart, and Cindy is beside herself orry Bart is so concerned he can't bear to co there so withdrawn And what do you think you're doing to Melodie? She's carrying your child, Jory She's crying all day long She's changing into a different person because she hears us talking about your lack of response and your stubborn inability to accept what can't be changed We're sorry, terribly sorry you've lost the use of your legs--but what can any of us do but make the best out of a miserable situation? Jory, co to stand back and watch you kill yourself We love you We don't give a damn if you can't dance and can't walk, we just want you alive, where we can see you, talk to you Speak to us, Jory Say so Speak to Melodie when she comes Respond when she touches youor you'll lose Melodie and your child She loves you, you know that But no woman can live on love when the object of her love turns away and rejects her She doesn't coive us"

During this long, i for so a ht lips twitch

Encouraged, I went on "Melodie's parents have called and suggested that she return to the she can't do anything more for you? Jory, please, please, don't do this to all of us, to yourself You have so ive the world You're more than just a dancer, don't you know that? When you have talent it's only one branch on a tree full of un to explore the other branches Who knows just what youmy life, and when I couldn't dance, I didn't knohat to do withwith Melodie in our family room I'd stiffen inside and try to shut out theand then I'd crash to earth and cry But when I started writing, I stopped thinking about dancing Jory, you'll find so, I know you will"

For the first tiain, Jory turned his head That alone filled me with breathless joy

He"Mel is thinking about going to her parents?" he asked in a hoarse voice

Hope struggled to survive within me I didn't knohat Melodie would do now, even if he did coht, and so seldom was I adequate I'd failed with Julian, failed with Carrie Please, God, don't let me fail with Jory