ALZHEIMER

No matter how hard he tries to ignore her and pretend as if she doesn't exist, the fact that he is her husband and the father of her only child can and will never change. Jessie stand and walks straight to her daughter's room. She knocks on the door gently and after some seconds, Linda opens up.

"What do you want again, this late hour? What do you want to say?" Linda nags.

"I need to talk to you on something very important." Jessie whispers.

"Not now please, I need to sleep, my head is aching." Linda says and is about to bang the door on her mom.

"It is about your father!" Jessie utters a little bit loud to halt her daughter from banging the door.

"What?" Linda asks and holds the door, not banging it anymore. "What did you just say? What happened to my father?"

"I think something bis wrong with him." Jessie sighs. "Please let me in and let us discuss about it."

Linda frowns and says. "Is this some kind of trick to make me listen to you?"

"No Linda." Jessie says with a bit of sincerity. "I promise this is all about your father, he is in a very crucial condition."

"Alright." Linda let go of the door and allows her mom in her room. She sits on her bed resting both elbows on her thighs.

"Won't you offer me a sit?" Jessie asks.

"Must I offer you one before you sit?" Linda asks bluntly not looking at her mom.

It doesn't look like she is going to be offered a sit anyways, so Jessie sits on a wooden chair opposite Linda. "I will sit here."

Linda looks at her mom and says. "So tell me, what is wrong with my father?"

"Your father did something very strange today when he came back from work."

"What was that?" Linda asks with a slight frown on her face.

"First, he came earlier than usual. Second, he sat on the couch in the sitting room with me and answered all the questions I asked-"

"Seriously?" Linda asks and laughs. "You don't expect me to believe that, do you?"

"I know it's so hard to believe but you have listen to me first." Jessie whispers.

"So, you are trying to say my father did all that? For what reason?"

"Yes." Jessie nods. "There was a reason for that, and that is where i am driving at. So please just listen to me." She pleads.

"Fine." Linda surrenders.

"I asked him why he came back from work that early, and he told me he is very tired. So I said, he should go upstairs to sleep and he called me Alex." Jessie stops for a while and continues. "I walked closer to him to confirm what I heard, he looked at me, smiled and still referred to me as Alex."

"Are you being serious?" Linda asks.

"Yes." Jessie nods.

"And what happened when he woke up?" Linda asks again.

"He went back to his normal self of ignoring and pretending I do not exist."

Linda opens her eyes wide in shock and disbelief. "So it wasn't a mistake." She murmurs to herself.

"What are you talking about?" Jessie asks.

"Two days ago, he asked Maria who she was that he couldn't remember her." Linda whispers almost crying. "I thought he was just playing around so I didn't say anything about it."

"Linda." Jessie calls calmly sounding very sad and unhappy. "I think your father has Alzheimer."

"Oh no!" Linda covers her mouth with both hands and cries out.

"How did this happen? How did this happen to him of all people?" Jessie asks herself with tears in her eyes too.

"What do you think we should do now?" Linda asks sobbing.

"He has to stop working first." Jessie whispers. "But how can we make him stop?"

"Just talk to him about it."

"He wouldn't listen to me , and you know that." Jessie goes silent for a while. "He mustn't treat any patients again, what if he is operating on a patient and forgets what to do, what if he prescribes the wrong drugs for a patient?"

"Why are you worried about that now? You should be worried about his well being before caring or thinking of your patients." Linda says annoyingly.

"Linda, how do you think we can make him stop work?"

"I think we should just let him know his condition, that is the best way out of this situation."

"Do you think he will believe us?" Jessie asks again.

Linda shakes her head slowly. "No, I don't think he would believe us."

Jessie closes her eyes in disappointment. "The only way is to make him aware of his condition, medically."

"How do you plan on doin that?"

"I don't know. Maybe we could tell him to run some tests."

"He might think we set that all up to make him stop work." Linda whispers. "We have to make him stun the tests himself and finds out about his condition on his own."

"So how do we go about it now?" Jessie asks already sounding very frustrated.

The room goes silent for about a minute. Both of them think of what to come up with and do, they have to act very fast before something terrible happens.

"I think I have an idea." Linda says breaking the silence.

"Let me hear it."

"Why don't you instruct all doctors in your hospital to run a full medical check up on themselves. My father won't be an exemption, you know." Linda whispers.

"Okay, so he can know and be aware of his health condition that way." Jessie nods. "But when should this test take place?"

"As early as tomorrow!" Linda says loudly. "Again, no doctor should attend to any patient except he is medically cleared."

"Yes, that means your father will have no choice than to return home and start taking medical treatments." Jessie agrees.

"I hope nothing bad happens before then, what if he forgets to drive and gets into an accident?" Linda asks.

"It won't happen." Jessie whispers with fear.