Posts Tagged ‘terminal illness’

a close up of a burning purple candle

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Cast of Wonders 647: What Good Daughters Do

First published in Apex Magazine issue 146, October 2024

Image by Pashi from Pixabay

Violence, Cannibalism. Death of a parent. Death of a bystander. Terminal Illness/Dementia Allegory

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What Good Daughters Do

by Tia Tashiro

I’m not expecting it when my mother eats the bus driver.

My surprise comes mostly because I thought I’d gotten her under control. The bus ride—two AM on a Tuesday, servicing the night shift paycheck-to-paycheck workers at the meat factory a few miles out of town, predictably empty between the Turnpike Mall and Cedar Park stops (its last of the route)—is about as isolated as you can get. I wasn’t taking any chances with tottering old grannies in the accessible seats or teens who think they’re too cool to grab a handhold. (Continue Reading…)

a greyscale image of a ruined stone head

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Cast of Wonders 646: As Brittle as Granite

Cast of Wonders 646: As Brittle as Granite is a Cast of Wonders original.

Death of a parent

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:03 — 24.8MB)

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Show Notes

Image by darrenquigley32 from Pixabay

As Brittle as Granite

by Matt Tighe

Lisa’s father has a crack in his face. It isn’t even a small one, something that she could maybe dismiss as a shadow cutting through the warm afternoon light of the sunroom. It runs from his forehead straight down through his left eye, splits his cheek in half, and just touches the very corner of his top lip. The inside of the crack is grey stone with pale flecks of mineralisation.

“You have cracked, father,” she says. The words come out as they should, steady and measured.

When his eyes move to her, the part of the crack that runs through his eye also moves, sliding sideways with his gaze. He is calm.

“Tell your mother,” he says. (Continue Reading…)

disco dancers

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Cast of Wonders 615: Optimal Care

Cast of Wonders 615: Optimal Care is a Cast of Wonders original.

Content Warning: Terminal illness of a young person

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:40 — 29.8MB)

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Show Notes

2076 words

Optimal Care

by Matt Tighe

“Hey T! You about?”

James rounds the corner of the kitchen, his dark hair lank, his face pale, his breathing all-too shallow.

Tenderbot is standing at the kitchen island bench. It pushes the sandwich and milk forward. The Home Care Unit has already scanned the boy and computed a 92% chance he will reject the sandwich, but Tenderbot always attempts to optimise care.

James sits down and opts for the glass.

“Your platelet count is down. Eat,” Tenderbot says.

“Oh, come on, T. You think a sandwich is going to save me?” (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 399: Breaking (Staff Picks 2019)

Originally appeared in Cast of Wonders Episode 370, August 18, 2019.

Terminal Illness

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:10 — 20.7MB)

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Breaking

by Maya Chhabra

Mom’s kind of bizarrely happy for someone with a daughter about to croak, but I don’t mind. She saved my life. When I collapsed, I was still only fourteen: too young to have an imprint taken. If she hadn’t found me in time, I would be dead already, and gone. Now I’m safe, and they’ve pretty much stopped everything but palliative care. I’d like to be corporeal longer, and grow human-wise, but there’s nothing more they can do.

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 392: The Angel (Staff Picks 2019)

Originally appeared in Cast of Wonders, Artemis Rising 5, March 4, 2019

Terminal illness; Cancer

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:48 — 41.5MB)

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The Angel

by Kate Cobey

I: Sterile

“Just don’t treat her like anything less than a person,” Mama fretted from the front row of the cab. Never mind that this was the fourth time we’d come to see her, and we’d heard the same plea every single time. Cautiously, Mama asked the white hospital archway next to her, “May we enter?”

“Card?” responded the building.

“You don’t need to be so formal. It’s just a robot,” Nina complained from the back. “It’s aaaall robots, here.”

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 370: Breaking

Cast of Wonders 370: Breaking is a Cast of Wonders original.

Content Warning: Terminal illness

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:38 — 19.6MB)

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Breaking

by Maya Chhabra

Mom’s kind of bizarrely happy for someone with a daughter about to croak, but I don’t mind. She saved my life. When I collapsed, I was still only fourteen: too young to have an imprint taken. If she hadn’t found me in time, I would be dead already, and gone. Now I’m safe, and they’ve pretty much stopped everything but palliative care. I’d like to be corporeal longer, and grow human-wise, but there’s nothing more they can do. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 351: The Angel (Artemis Rising 5)

Cast of Wonders 351: The Angel (Artemis Rising 5) is a Cast of Wonders original.

Content Warning: Terminal illness

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:14 — 43.7MB)

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The Angel

by Kate Cobey

I: Sterile

“Just don’t treat her like anything less than a person,” Mama fretted from the front row of the cab. Never mind that this was the fourth time we’d come to see her, and we’d heard the same plea every single time. Cautiously, Mama asked the white hospital archway next to her, “May we enter?”

“Card?” responded the building.

“You don’t need to be so formal. It’s just a robot,” Nina complained from the back. “It’s aaaall robots, here.”

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 336: Little Wonders 19 – Bittersweet Christmas

The Night Before Never: First published in 10Flash Quarterly, January 2011

A Little Something for Christmas: First published on thefictionphial.wordpress.com

Content Warning: Grief

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:57 — 20.5MB)

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The Night Before Never

by Gerri Leen

Kris Kringle moved silently through the workshop, making sure nothing had been forgotten by the elves. Normally, they’d be starting their post-toy-making-frenzy party, but this year the group was more subdued, the carols on low, with no one making merry or wearing lampshades.

Kris sighed and lifted his hand in a wave as he passed the break room, but he didn’t go in.

Inventory.  Yes, inventory would take his mind in the direction it needed to go.

Toys?  Check.

Lumps of coal?  Check.

He peeked out the window.  Elves hooking up the reindeer?  Check.

Reindeer fat—but not too fat, they did have to fly—and happy?  Check.

Rudolph’s nose at full power?  Check.

As Kris moved from the workshop to the adjoining kitchen, he sniffed.  Apple pie baking, ready to eat when he got home?

No. (Continue Reading…)