CHAPTER EIGHT
(chapter title – Life Support)

Two months later, Kaitlin, Roger and Mark were sitting in the first Life Support meeting of the month. Kaitlin anxiously looked around – Mark seemed to be the youngest in the group – there was an older woman; a man who seemed to be the same age as Roger; a young girl with blond hair and a teenage boy with red hair. Paul, the 'leader' of the group, walked towards the group and smiled.

"Good morning everyone. Have a seat." Paul indicated to two empty chairs – one on his right and the other next to that. Roger sat in the seat next to Paul while Kaitlin and Mark sat in the chair next to Roger. The blond haired girl looked over at Mark as Kaitlin sat down next to her and put Mark on her lap.

"Why don't we go around and introduce ourselves." Paul suggested, indicating to Roger to start.

"Roger."

"Kaitlin, my son Mark."

"Sabrina."

"Doug."

"Helen."

"Matt."

"And I'm Paul. Welcome to Life Support everyone. Some of us have been here before." He smiled at Roger. "And some of us are newcomers. Why don't we go around and tell each other a little bit about ourselves." He motioned for Roger to start.

"Well, I'm Roger Davis – this is my wife, Kaitlin and our two-month-old son, Marcus – or Mark…" he then went on to talk about how he got AIDS and that both his wife and son had it, too. The others listened intently to Roger's words. Soon, it was Kaitlin's turn to talk.

"Um, hi. I'm Kaitlin Davis and this is my son, Mark. We were diagnosed with HIV two months ago. Both of us have been taking our AZT everyday and every night, so yeah. I work in a recording studio – that's actually how I met Roger." She smiled briefly at him. "I have a daughter from a previous marriage. She doesn't have HIV, but both Roger and I have warned her about it. Roger's daughter, Sara, was actually born with HIV and CP." Pause. "That's basically it about us." Kaitlin turned to the girl sitting next to her and adjusted Mark's position on her lap.

"Where's Sara?" Kaitlin mouthed to Roger.

"Friend's house." Roger mouthed back. Kaitlin nodded and listened to the other people explain about how they got AIDS or HIV.

"Thank you all for sharing." Paul told the group as soon as everyone finished talking.

"Um, Paul. I went to the doctor's yesterday and I found out that my T-cells are low." The boy called Matt announced.

"How did that make you feel, Matt?" Paul questioned.

"Scared."

"How are you feeling today?" Paul inquired.

"Okay, I guess."

"Is that all?" Paul asked.

"Yeah."

"Then why choose fear?"

"I'm a New Yorker, fear's my life, dude." That made everyone laugh. Then Matt's expression turned serious. He gazed at Paul, his brown eyes staring into Paul's blue ones.

"I find some of what you teach suspect, because I find myself relying on intellect, but I try to open up to what I don't know." Matt said.

"Because reason said I should have died a long time ago." Roger, Helen and Doug sang.

"There's only us, there's only this. Forget regret or life is yours to miss. No other road, no other way, no day but today." Everyone sang, standing up and holding hands. Kaitlin put Mark on her chair as she took Roger's hand and Sabrina's hand. Everyone smiled and headed home. Paul told them that they would start meeting on the first Monday of each month. Everyone nodded and exited the building, Roger and Kaitlin walking hand in hand.

"I love you." Roger whispered in Kaitlin's ear.

"I love you, too." Kaitlin whispered back.