Elinor took diet pills and smoked heavily when she was pregnant. Her first child, Eddie, was born a low birth weight and put on an incubator his first six weeks in the world. Her second and last child, Linda, had so many health and medical problems, it was not possible to easily count them. When she was twelve years old, she had a foot and a half of her intestine removed since it had somehow become gangrened. In her later years her gall bladder was removed, and she needed to take special pills to digest fat. After that, her ovaries, uterus and tubes were taken out. She developed a form of breast cancer that didn't spread. Later she had cataracts in both eyes. Linda was also borderline retarded. She lived at home with Elinor all her life. Linda could do nothing, not even make a phone call or put a cup of coffee in the microwave. She lay on the couch morning, noon and night. Elinor was a lonely, selfish, needy person who required constant companionship, and this she obtained from Linda as well as her son, Eddie. Nevertheless, her needs were insatiable.
One day, Linda fell down the stairs. Her ankle was broken and an ambulance rushed her to the hospital. The doctors quickly discovered that she had pneumonia and she was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit. There, she came close to death a number of times. Eddie went to see Linda once or twice a week. Elinor did not visit her daughter. Instead, she stayed home and neglected herself, neglected housework, did not get dressed or eat much, and smoked more than she ever had in her life. There were longish trails of cigarette burns on her kitchen and dining room floors. Eddie doted on her and took care of her. In this way, Elinor had recovered the companionship she lost when Linda left. Eddie's wife and infant son were alone and had to fend for themselves in life.
The night came when Elinor called Eddie in the middle of the night. He hurried over to see her. She was lying in bed, looking quite horrible, and had soiled herself. Eddie carried his mother down the stairs and took her to the hospital. She, perhaps, had become sicker than she wanted to be. Her pancreas was inflamed, which usually happens due to excessive alcohol use. The mother had been drinking wine every day for years. "I don't know why I have pancreatitis again, Eddie, you know I don't drink much!" she said. "Do I?" He ignored this. Elinor's gall bladder was perforated, and it released infectious fluids into her body. In the hospital, she had a slight stroke. But worse, it was found that Elinor had a large blood clot in one of her main arteries and would need surgery. Eddie prayed. His mother was 83 years old and he didn't know if she'd live through an operation. But there was a stubborn toughness in what appeared to be a helpless old woman.
The mother came out of surgery alive. Linda was put on a ventilator. A doctor asked Elinor if she'd want to be put on a ventilator herself. She said, "Well yeah, if it'll help."
Mother and daughter were both on vents, but ironically could not see each other. Two people on ventilators could not be together in the same hospital room. Elinor had not seen Linda since she'd fallen down the stairs.
Elinor hung on to precious life for a year. She'd done nothing but lie in bed. Her mind was intact, and this is what she chose to do. The infections within her body were held in check with strong antibiotics until nothing more could be done.
Another year passed before Linda died, almost to the day. Linda had never done anything in her life, so it made sense for her to live on a vent. But Elinor had been active with friends and worked for "Meals on Wheels," delivering food to the elderly. But somehow she flourished on the ventilator. Eddie visited her almost every day. "I can't stand to see my mother looking like that," he kept saying. Eddie and his mom were always very close.
Eddie, after having lost his mother, freaked, left home, and went on a yearlong cocaine frenzy. His wife never let him back.
He passed away five years later. He was 55 years old and smoked. He had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and stopped breathing. He had refused to be on oxygen. He was stubborn like his mother.
The core family was now extinct. Eddie's wife and son moved on with their lives. But one day, the young son wanted to know more about his father. His mom told him as much as she could about their lives but had mostly just photographs to show. There was a picture of Elinor holding the baby on her lap and feeding him a bottle. There was a photo of Eddie at age 16 looking like a large husky boy standing near his mother's swimming pool and smiling at the camera. Another picture showed the ungainly Linda sitting on the couch with the dog. Eddie's wife told their son all she knew about the deaths of Eddie, Elinor and Linda, with nothing left untold. The greatest tragedy was endured by her son, she believed. Elinor had drawn Eddie away from them. The old woman demonstrated that power. The wife disliked Elinor intensely and decided to never let her rest in peace. Her son had no interest in his grandmother.
