A Perfect Day Read Free Page A

wondered where you got your good looks.”
    “I’ve never wondered.” She began turning pages again until she stopped at a leaf with her mother’s funeral program. Next to it there was a picture of herself as a small girl dressed for her mother’s wake. Her father looked young in the picture, she thought. It made him seem only that much more remarkable to her.
    “How did you go on after losing the love of your life?”
    “I had you. Failure wasn’t an option.”
    “You’ve always been there for me. I don’t know how I’d live without you.”
    He smiled, but his eyes revealed deep sadness. Then he said, “Well, girlie, we need to talk about that.”
    Allyson’s heart skipped at his words, and she moved back from him to look into his face.
    “What?”
    He didn’t answer for what seemed a long time to her. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to make your wedding.”
    She looked at him as if anticipating the punch line of a joke. “What are you saying?”
    His lips tightened and his brow furrowed in deep creases. “I guess there’s no good way to put this.” He scratched his head the way he did when he was troubled. “I have cancer, Al. Pretty bad cancer.”
    Allyson’s mouth opened, but no sound escaped.
    “It’s pancreatic cancer. The doctors say that there’s nothing they can do. I’d even try some of that chemo hocus-pocus if it could get me to your wedding, but the doctors don’t think I have that long.”
    “How long?” she asked. Panic rose in her voice.
    “With treatment they say I only have three to four months.”
    “Three months . . .” Numbness spread throughout her entire body, making it difficult to continue. “. . . And without?”
    “They give me two.”
    She began to cry. “No.” Then she erupted angrily. “You don’t even look sick. We’ve just spent the whole afternoon riding . . .”
    Carson put his arm around her. “It hasn’t gotten me yet, girlie. But it will. They tell me pancreatic cancer is that way. It sneaks up on you. The truth is I didn’t feel a thing. I only found out about it because my eyes were turning yellow. They say it’s the most fatal of all the cancers.” He looked back at her. “Truth is I kind of expected it to be coming along.”
    Allyson stopped crying briefly and looked at him, confused by what he had just said. “Why would you expect something like this?”
    “On account of something that happened a while back. About six weeks after Mom died I was diagnosed with cancer. Had a big tumor growing inside my neck.” He pointed to a small scar. “That’s where they tested it. I was already in a world of hurt with her loss and wondering how I was going to raise you alone when whammo, the rest of the wave hits. I about lost my faith over it. I couldn’t believe that God would do this.” Carson looked out over the land around them then continued in a softer voice. “When I was done being angry with God, I made Him a promise. I told Him that if He would let me live to see you grown and married off that I would do everything I could to fill the gap left by your mother—and that I would never touch alcohol again.”
    Allyson was stunned. “You used to drink?”
    Carson chuckled. “Oh yes, girlie, I used to drink,” he said, the tone of his voice implying the understatement. “. . . Like a sailor on a weekend pass. That’s one of the reasons your mother and I fought so much. A week after my promise, I went back to the doctors. There was no sign of cancer. I remember my doctor looking at one X-ray and then the other as if it were a prank. Some of the doctors tried to explain it away as a misdiagnosis. Doctors don’t like to be wrong—think they could wrap up the universe in a handkerchief. But I knew better. God had accepted my deal. I started AA that night. Haven’t touched a drop in almost twenty years. Believe me it wasn’t easy. There were nights I went outside and howled at the moon. But then I’d look at you and I’d