Writing His Own Ending

I met Lon a week after he had been told that he would be dying in short order. He had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, bulbar type. Rather than broadcasting its intentions by weakening the limbs before overtaking his ability to speak, swallow, and breathe, this less common subtype had robbed Lon of these functions straightaway. Lon seemed to have little patience for the process of dying; he asked me every day how much time he had left. And every day I told him that I didn’t know.