Chapter 1

Let me start out by giving you some background. Bob Stevens is a 67-year-old man who lost his wife of 48 years two years ago to cancer. Bob is 6 feet tall and weighs 380 lbs. He wasn’t always like this, only after the crippling arthritis hit his knees and hips. Before that, he was a slim 200 lbs. and very active. Then about the time he reached 55 he had to slow down due to arthritis. Not eating healthy and a lack of exercise lent to some of his weight gain. Then 2 years ago, Karen, his lovely wife, succumbed to cancer. By the time they diagnosed her, she had breast and cervical cancers and they gave her six months to live. They had bought an RV when they were still active and working when they were just 60. They did some traveling but as they were still working, just short jaunts to places they could reach during a two-week vacation.

When Karen was diagnosed, they both retired from work and spent the next two months traveling. Anywhere Karen had wanted to see, in the US. At the end of the two months, she was so sick they couldn’t continue, so Bob brought them home. Five days after their return, Karen was gone. After so many years together, Bob was devastated. He gave up; he wanted to join his soulmate, his reason for living. Their children, James and Sally, had lives of their own with their families, James and family were in Denver, Sally and Jeff and their brood lived in California, while Bob and Karen had settled in central Texas after Bob retired from the military.

Now, Bob just sat in his chair, with the TV on, but not really watching it. He was reliving all the great memories of his life with Karen, all the good times and the bad. He ate when he felt hungry, which wasn’t often and hardly moved except from his bed to the chair and to the kitchen or bathroom as required. Bob’s neighbor Steve, a local cop, often checked on him to make sure he was alright.

Bob was trying to think of a way he could die and not make it look like suicide, so the kids would be able to keep everything as well as the insurance. The house was paid for, the RV almost was but insurance would cover that, he had plenty of life insurance (all told, about half a million), plus both retirement funds would go to James and Sally and their children. This added up to close to a million dollars. Several years ago, Bob & Karen had prepaid for their funeral costs so that was taken care of too. Now he had to figure a way to end it and still leave them all he could. He had just come back from the store and Steve had helped unload the groceries and was going to check on Bob before going in to work.

Steve rang the bell and Bob tried to get up out of the chair as he felt this red, hot burning sensation in his chest. He had stood up when a crashing pain ran down his arm and legs. He fell and screamed. With Steve having a key rushed in to find Bob sprawled on the floor, he immediately called 911 to get an ambulance on the way and called on his radio for an escort to the hospital. He explained the problem to the dispatcher and let them know he would be late coming in.

Bob and Steve now live in a small bedroom community outside Austin. The town had grown from around 5,000 people in 1989 to about 24,000 now. As such they now had a good hospital about 5 miles from Bob’s house, but due to interstate traffic and distance, time would need to be on their side. Steve found an aspirin in the cupboard and had Bob swallow one. This helped as they waited for the ambulance. Luckily, there was a fire house with ambulance and EMTs just down the road from the small subdivision where Bob lived, and the ambulance was there in less than five minutes after Steve called 911. The EMTs with Steve’s help got Bob on a gurney and in the ambulance very quickly, then they were off. Before they came out of the subdivision, a local police car was just in front of them leading the way.

You see Bob had grown up in town and had been a reserve officer for many years and everyone knew him. He and Karen had always tried to help with donations or assistance when needed for both the police and fire departments. When the town was young and Bob was younger, he was a volunteer fireman for the town. It was funny, it seemed that the entire police force and a couple fire/rescue trucks were stopping traffic along the way to the hospital. In the meantime, Bob thought ‘this is perfect, I can die now and never have to worry about it not being anything but an accident. If the kids can get their money, James will get the RV and I can join my soulmate again.’ No such luck. Because of Steve’s quick action and the police & fire escort, Bob received excellent care and was saved, but did have some minor paralysis of his left arm. When Bob went home from the hospital, he had to think of a new way to join his wife.