My Wonderful Uncle Theo – entry no. 50

Monday

Uncle Theo beamed when he caught sight of me. And even that took effort – he doesn’t have much time left. Aunt Tut went out and left us alone for an hour and it was lovely to spend some time alone with him. My uncle and I have always been close, and it hurt me to see him so weak. The doctors say that the cancer has spread everywhere and there’s nothing they can do to help him.

I sat down and took his hand. He dosed off but then suddenly awoke and asked:

-         Are you still planning that thing with the numbers?

-         1789/1909/2029?

-         Yes.

-         I thought you were going to do it with Thomas?

-         It just wasn’t meant to be.

-         So what are you going to do?

-         I met another man. If all goes well, we’ll do it together.

-         Is he a good man?

-         He’s fantastic, I said with a smile.

Uncle Theo grinned from ear to ear and patted my hand. Then he drifted off again.

When I got home there was an e-mail from Frederik, who wants to go out with me on Wednesday. I accepted right away – it helped to abate the disappointment that Ruben hadn’t written.