Life Ain't Always Beautiful

Chapter Seven: Let's Get Somethin' Straight

"Dr. Anders, am I goin' to die?"

The question came as soon as the doctor entered the room, which quite startled him. "Mrs. Duke, if you go through surgery and survive, you have over forty-percent chance of living afterwards."

"Oh my God," Ali moaned, putting a palm to her forehead whilie Luke held the other one.

"What kinda surgery are we talkin' about here, doc?" Luke asked for her.

"The cancer is so wide-spread, that I would suggest going through laser surgery to remove as much as we can and then we could discuss the possibility of radiation or chemotherapy."

"Laser surgery, what's that?"

"Basically what happens is that while you are under the effects of anesthesia, the laser is precisely focused on the cancerous cells and well---to put it bluntly, the laser heats up the cells like a sort of microwave and the cells "burst", so to speak. If we are unable to remove all or a majority of the cells, we may have to look towards alternative procedures---the chemo or radiation therapy or maybe even a lobectomy if necessary."

"You're goin' to cut out my lungs!"

"Honey, calm down, that's only a last resort. What are the risks of this laser surgery?"

"There's the possibility that she would feel pain, more likely than not. There's also the risk of infection, some bleeding, scarring, discoloration of the skin, things to that nature. I would most likely suggest radiation therapy if the surgery does not remove all the cancerous cells. Cancer cells multiply faster than the other cells and are more at risk from radiation, so the healthy cells of your body are less at risk, except for hair and skin. Should you have to go through with the therapy, you would experience hair loss, some redness or lesions of the skin. The therapy shrinks the remaining cancer cells so that they can not cause any further damage to your lungs."

"I can't believe this is happening to me," Ali sighed. "I'm gonna look like a freak when this is all over."

"A healthy freak, though," Luke said, giving her a kiss on the side of her head.

"When can we start all of this?"

"Dr. Moncrief will be in charge of the surgery, a good well-respected colleague of mine. He has nothing planned for next week if you should choose to go through with surgery."

"What do ya say?" Luke asked Ali. "It's your choice."

She shrugged. "What choice do I have?"

While Uncle Luke an' Aunt Ali went to "run errands", we were all still in school. Afterwards, Jesse an' Lizzy had to come to my house until they got back from their "errands". Why do adults always refer to important matters that require bein' gone for a while as "runnin' errands" anyways? Jesse's got it in his head that they went to see a marriage counselor. Lizzy's completely clueless to everything goin' on, but I have just about had it with bein' in the dark. So I decided I would approach the one person I KNEW had no secrets of his own to hide.

"Daddy?"

Bo looked up from the evening news that he was watching on the television and faced his daughter who was looking at him from the doorway. "What's wrong, punkin?"

Chelsea went to go sit by him. "Daddy, I'm a young adult. I think I have a right to know what's goin' on in this family."

Bo starting laughing. "Chelsea, what're you talkin' about? There's no deep dark secrets."

"You know what I'm talkin' about," she insisted. "It's completely obvious. Aunt Ali's sick an' won't tell anyone, Rachel said she saw some chick kissin' Uncle Luke, Uncle Rosco's got somethin' wrong with him, an'---"

"WHAT? That girl kissed LUKE?"

Chelsea blinked. "You didn't know about that?"

Wow, I always thought they had this freaky psychic twin thing goin' on. Like they knew what the other was doin' at all times or whatever.

"I don't believe that guy, he let that bimbo do that? Oh, I'm gonna have to have a word with that boy," Bo stated, getting off the couch to grab the keys to his car.

"Daddy, he's just gonna ask how you found out about it! Then Rachel an' Jesse'll get in trouble for spyin'!"

"Wait, Jesse saw this?" Bo asked. "No wonder he was so quiet the other day, he thinks his dad's cheatin' on his mom!"

"Yeah, an' while we're on the subject, what is wrong with Aunt Ali? She's got to have somethin' wrong with her, she's sick."

"I don't know, baby, but I guarantee I'm gonna get me some answers when I talk to a certain cousin of mine."

Yeah, he'll get some answers all right. Not that he'll share them with me, but I think maybe I can drag them outta 'im.

Luke was a little surprised to hear Bo banging on his front door. When the dark-haired cousin answered the door, Bo grabbed his collar and drug him out onto the porch and closed the door.

"Bo, what on earth?"

"What is wrong with you?" Bo hissed. "Have ya lost your mind?"

"What're ya talkin' about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talkin' about, Luke!" he spat out. "I just heard about you an' that pretty Isabella lady havin' a little smoochy-smoochy."

Luke's eyes bugged out. "WHAT? Who told you---"

"It don't matter WHO, it's the fact that I heard it in the first place."

"Bo, I swear, I didn't encourage her. She kissed me. That's it."

Bo released his grip on his cousin's collar and started to relax. "Just as long as ya didn't plan it."

"Of course not! Ya think I would deliberately put myself in a situation that would be considered cheatin' on my wife? NO! I don't know what happened to cause that. Yeah, she's real pretty an' nice, but that's as far as it goes."

"A kiss goes a long way."

"Dang it, Bo, I didn't ask her to do it! She must've thought I was comin' onto her by bein' nice an' thought it was . . . well, a hint I guess. Look, don't tell anyone, I don't want some rumor goin' around. It would kill us."

Bo noticed the distant look in his cousin's eyes. "Luke, Chelsea said she thinks somethin's wrong with Ali. I didn't know what to tell her 'cause I didn't know myself. Is there anything goin' on?"

Luke sighed. "Well," he started off, running a hand through his hair. "Bo, I don't think Ali really wants anyone to know, but I have a feeling that everyone's gonna find out sooner or later anyways, so----she's got lung cancer."

The fact nearly knocked Bo off his feet. "Oh my God," he said, putting a hand to his mouth. "Oh my God, Luke."

"I know, I thought the same thing. I just found out not too long ago myself."

"Do the kids know?"

"Not yet."

"Jesus. What're y'all gonna do?"

"The doctor said surgery, then afterwards maybe radiation therapy and hopefully not a lobectomy."

"Holy smokes, I can't believe this," Bo admitted, wiping his brow.

"Look, don't tell anybody okay. You're the only other one that knows besides the doctor. I'll let Ali tell anyone else if she wants to."

"She can't expect to go to a hospital an' have surgery without anyone findin' out. Especially the kids, they'll notice that she's gone. Ya reckon she'd tell Eve?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know, cousin. They seem to be gettin' along all right though, so she might let her in on it if they get alone together. How long are Eve an' Rosco stayin' anyway?"

"I guess the usual two weeks that they usually stay. Maybe longer, Chelsea said somethin' about Rosco bein' sick lately."

"Yeah, Lizzy said the same thing Monday at dinner."

Bo just shook his head. "Everyone's just gettin' sick ain't they? I don't know if I could handle anybody else in this family dyin'. We went through enough of that thirteen years ago."

Luke remembered Bo's wife Rachel's death along with their Uncle Jesse's that had been the beginning of a reign of terror aimed at the family. "Neither could I, Bo. Neither could I."