Chapter 1: A Gift is Given

Dwight Dorset, known as “D” or “Big D” by the people who knew him, was dying! The tumor in his brain was cancerous and had not been operable, it didn’t even slow down when he was treated with radiation, chemo was like water to it, though the rest of the body became much weaker. Before lapsing into a coma, he had told his son that he was the man of the house now, that he should take care of his mother and sister. He told him to study hard and go to college and do great things, to be better than he had been! A few hours later he had become unconscious and that was a blessing, he would no longer feel the pressure in his head as the extremely fast growing cancer placed more and more pressure on his entire brain.

The family watched silently with tears falling freely as their rock, their Daddy, their friend, slowly succumbed to his awful disease. He was a very large man, six nine, two hundred sixty pounds, but in the last month he had lost over one hundred and eighty pounds. He had been a farmer but only part time with only eight hundred and forty five acres. He had a full time job as a machinist in town at a factory that made farm implements. He had been an excellent machinist and made good money.

Jimmy, his son, was kneeling at his bedside, holding his father’s hand as the heartbeat of his father slowed. He felt his pulse in his hand and heard the beeping of the monitor. They were not a church going religious family, but as farmers they had a deep and abiding faith in his glory, they helped grow the plants that fed the world! They watched the miracle of life sprout from the ground and grow, ultimately producing copies of itself in abundance. You cannot watch that happen and not come to the conclusion that a higher power had to have guided its creation!

Jimmy prayed as he had never prayed before! He prayed for his father to find everlasting peace, and he prayed for some method of catching tumors such as his father had, so that some other family would not have to go through what they had been going through for the last five weeks. He prayed that his merciful God would bring forth into the world an ability to find those cancers and heal them!

Jimmy hadn’t been asking to be given that power, only that someone should discover a way to do it. But suddenly he felt a warmth envelop his brain, but it wasn’t heat or a fever, it was a presence. A soft loving voice without sound said to him,

“I cannot save your father, but I’ll give you what you asked for so that you may save others! Use your new powers wisely!”

Then it was gone as if it had been a dream, a remembered dream. But just then his father’s heartbeat stopped and the shrill sound of the monitor cut through him like a knife. His father was dead! His dad had signed a DNR order, they would not try and resuscitate him.

He stood and hugged his mother and sister and they cried at their loss, but they were glad that his ordeal, his pain, was gone and that his soul was in a better place!

His dad had made all the arrangements for his internment, he was to be cremated and his ashes scattered over the fields that he and that his father and grandfather had tended for over a hundred and thirty years. Let his ashes nourish that ground and continue his legacy as part of the soil itself. He had arranged a wake at the VFW Post so all his friends and family could say goodbye.

For the family, this time was a period of numbness, like the world had stopped and they were just observing it, not actively participating in it. But life goes on and things had to be done, the wheat was almost ready to harvest. The combine needed to be serviced as well as the trucks they used to haul the grain. The tractor was in good shape but the grain cart needed a tire fixed and a rusted brace needed paint.

So the family pulled together to accomplish those things and more. Jimmy already knew how to drive the combine, his mom had always driven the trucks to the grain elevator. His sister, Rachel, was going to have to learn to drive the tractor with the grain cart. She had never done that before, she had just turned fourteen. So Jimmy taught her, taking several days, even practicing with the combine to work out spacing and communication. Everything had been serviced and repaired, the wheat was ready. It was a good thing that their mom was a teacher and had the time off to help.

Jimmy had been so busy, working fourteen hour days to get ready for harvest, that he had completely forgotten about his experience at his father’s deathbed. So what happened was a complete shock when it started!

Before we get into that, let’s talk about who Jimmy is...

Jimmy was tall at six feet one inch and still growing, he was slender but strong. He was smart and popular. He had just finished his sophomore year and would be a Junior the next school session. He had a steady girlfriend, a redhead named Ginger Rogers, she was a month younger than himself. They got along very well, they would make out in the backseat of his Chevy truck. But was limited to kissing only, Ginger and her family were Catholics. He had cupped her breast one night, she had slapped him and told him to take her home! She didn’t speak to him for a week, but he was able to apologize and she forgave him.

As far as hobbies and interests, Jimmy loved to read, he liked photography, he was very good with his hands and had loved helping his father rebuild the old combine, and tractor they had bought, along with the semi truck and trailer, and the grain cart. He could weld using MIG, TIG, Stick and an acetylene torch. He was almost as good as his father on a mill or metal lathe. He was also an excellent woodworker. He took Technology Education courses and could program CNC machines, and robotic arms. As well as integrate them into a manufacturing cell.