A full lifetime of cordiality as a
thoroughly social human being
patterns a rote response and a
flashy smile but this is not the same
man we've casually encountered
for years. The rough outlines of
familiarity remain but the face
is lined and sunken, his gait now
unsteady, his body a mere whisper
of the hale and hearty person we
knew. In an expansive and very
private despair his wife described
him as changed beyond recognition
but we recognized him behind the
studied facade the hurried nod as he
carried on, his two dogs scampering
before him. With their storied senses
do they know, can they detect the
wholesale change, are they concerned?
Clinical depression said his wife. A
total lack of interest in anything. He
cannot rest easy, has no appetite either
for food or for life, mumbling incoherently.
Medication was useless and psychiatrists
little more. Can a fulfilling life so suddenly
descend into an abyss of the walking dead?
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