Author Anon

“Did no one feel the need to apprise me of the situation at home?” Tracy asks of her family.

“Your mother didn’t want you to know,” William says.

“Didn’t want me to know.  And you fell in with her wishes?”

“She’s been very sick and we didn’t want to do anything to upset her,” he replies.

Dr. Steele interrupts the family meeting.  “Julia is sleeping right now.  The nurses will be here around the clock to help.  She has some morphine for the pain and something to ease her anxiety and any nausea she may have.  She may be incoherent at times.”

“How much time does she have, Doctor?” asks Tracy.

“We can never really predict and I’m sorry to say I don’t have as much experience in this as the nurses, but Ruby tells me it looks like twenty-four to forty-eight hours.  I will check on her again later today.”

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Tracy goes up to see Julia, who is waking up slowly.  “How do you feel, mom?”

“It’s so good to see you, Tracy,” Julia says.

“Why didn’t you send for me earlier?  You know I’d come right away.”

“I know that, but I wanted you to continue with your work.  We have to keep the company going.”

“The company will keep going.  That was never an issue.  You come before that.”

“I want you to take over from me.  You’re the only one who can do that.  But you need to focus on your goal.”

“Mom, no one can be like you.  But I think sometimes focusing just on business can cause problems at home.  Look at all of us.  I don’t want to have a family someday that is as dysfunctional as we are.  I want to be able to find success at home as well as at work.”

“Promise me you will pull them all together.  Promise me to carry on and not let anything disrupt this family or business.”

“I promise you, I’ll do all I can.”

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“I understand Julia Golde is on her deathbed,” says Frank to Amanda.

“Dad, she’s my patient and I cannot discuss her case with you.”

“I understand, honey.  But it is common knowledge isn’t it?”

“I don’t know.  Is it?”

“It’s not like you’re telling us something personal that is a family secret.”

“Look, when you decided to move here, you didn’t consult me.  So please don’t consult me now about anything related to my work.  If the Golde family want anything released, you get it from them.”

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Later, Amanda returns to check on Julia.

“She’s been going in and out,” says Nurse Ruby.  “She’s hallucinating a little, but she’s comfortable.  The social worker has been talking to the family, making sure they are doing okay.”

“Is the morphine making her hallucinate?”

“No, you’ll see more of this in time.  She’s near the end, that’s all.”

As Amanda leaves the house, Michael approaches her.  “I understand that your family owns the Brighton News.  Since I’m now on the hospital legal team, I just wanted to remind you that no information should be released to them without the family’s consent.

“Don’t worry.  I’ll leave all sensational news items to your family.”

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Filed under: All That Glitters