Jack had one great passion in life: his farm. He had lived in the same farmhouse since his birth, and, like many farmers, was deeply attached to the soil it stood on. Now, at seventy-eight, he could only watch his beloved orchard from afar, going back in time, and feeling deep pain that he could no longer be there, doing things.
To reach the main door, I had to struggle through a stiff gate and an overgrown hedge. In front of me was a large house that once must have been contained a thriving household. Now, with falling roof tiles and peeling window frame paint, it looked as if the man of the house was either not there, or for some reason unable to take care of it. Somewhat incongruously, a couple of pots with episcopal purple ‘busy lizzies’ and bright blue and yellow pansies adorned the front wall. I rang the bell.
Jack’s wife Eileen opened the door. She looked worn out and resentful “I can’t take it any longer, doctor! He goes on and on about his farm, and the orchard, and the apples. Non-stop. Even if he says nothing, I know he is thinking about it. I wish he could do something: help me in the house, sort out the bills, or take the dog out for a walk. Anything!” Eileen had health problems of her own; she needed steroids for her asthma, was in pain with arthritis and couldn’t take over the additional responsibility of looking after Jack. She had done more than her share. After all, he was the man in the house, and he should remain so!
In a desperate attempt to have some time with Jack ― away from nagging ― quite uncharacteristically, I asked Eileen for a cup of tea. As she trotted off to the kitchen, I couldn’t help thinking that the vow “For better and for worse, till death us part” sometimes did not stand the test of life. And sometimes there was a reason for it.
When we were left on our own, and after a brief silence, Jack confessed “I know she is fed up with me. The thing is that I am fed-up with myself... You know what, I often wish I was no longer. I feel like a rabbit that wants to hide himself in a hole. A black hole, so that no one can see me. In fact, I feel like a black hole myself.” After a pause, he continued ― “You see, they don’t look after the apples as I used to. I can watch them being scattered around and rotting under the trees. They say it’s no longer ‘economical’ to gather them after a certain time in the autumn, and that the labor is too expensive, that nobody wants to do it for what it’s worth. But apples should not be allowed just to rot, should they?” He stopped, exhausted. Motionless, with a mask-like face, his thin figure looked like a withered away old tree. His eyes, his deep-seated dark eyes seemed fixed on despair. He hardly blinked.
As I was looking at him in silence, a thought stroke me like a lightening: Jack has Parkinsonism* as well as depression! For some time, his GP had been treating him for depression, without much improvement, but Jack might need an anti-Parkinsonian medication as well as an anti-depressant. I shared my discovery with the patient, and he exclaimed reassuringly: “Funny you should say that. I’ve thought of it too. My mother had Parkinson’s, but she had shakes. Can it be without the shakes?”
“It certainly can, and it is then when the diagnosis is often missed.”
At this moment, Eileen appeared with tea. I felt I was more than ready for it now and thanked her for it wholeheartedly. Before she would embark on a litany of Jack’s and her own problems, I rushed to present my new hypothesis, and that there might another medication that could help Jack to be more active. I also suggested he came to the day hospital for one day a week. He greeted the offer with some apprehension, she with relief.
Before leaving, I asked Jack to show me his garden. Slowly, and with great pride, he took me round to his favorite trees and shrubs. The rays of early autumnal sun seemed to be caressing yellow, red and brown leaves, now falling onto the grass. A tall chestnut tree in the corner of the garden caught my attention. It had no leaves at all and looked as if it were hollow.
“You’re absolutely right. This tree is dead and has been dead for many years! Jack explained.
“And you have not removed it all this time?” I was rather surprised.
“No... because it’s a very special tree. I used to climb it almost every day when I was a boy. I could see the whole world from the top. Well... maybe... not absolutely the whole.” After a pause, he added, “One day, a lightening stroke it down. But it was a brave and proud tree...it decided to keep standing. I had to respect its wish.”
“And that young apple tree next to it? Did you plant it afterwards?” I inquired.
“You’ve guessed it. You know, in nature nothing truly dies; everything comes back in a different form.”
“Perhaps it is the same with human beings...”, I added, deeply in thought. I suddenly remembered a great Greek philosopher Heraclitus who famously said ‘Panta rhei’ – everything flows. He also believed the world and life to be in perpetual strife and change. “To the same river we step and do not step…” Of course, I kept these thoughts to myself; to share them with Jack at that moment would have been rather pompous. I looked again at his face. It was no longer mask-like; in fact, it seemed much younger.
When I saw him a month later at the day hospital he was much improved. I was not sure whether it was the anti-parkinsonian medication, a change of an anti-depressant, the day hospital, or all three. Or maybe something else altogether. He entered the consulting room rather briskly, with a smile on his face. He even wore a shirt and a tie.
“Definitely, I’m feeling better. And I brought you a couple of apples I managed to rescue from decay! Good Worcester apples!”
When he sat down to tell me what he had been up to since I saw him previously, I couldn’t help but to be very pleased for him.
“Do you think you are getting out of your black hole now?” I asked.
“Perhaps. At least I have a hope now”, he said.
The image of a black hole had been with Jack a long while. The memories of his childhood on the parents’ farm were permeated by frequent and violent rows between them and the hardship of every day life.
“I lived in fear that one day they would kill each other. There was an abandoned shed at the far end of the garden where I used to hide until their voices calmed down. My father was a very passionate, hotheaded man with many ideas, most of which ended in a fiasco. But at least he had them! My mother looked the most agreeable woman on earth, but she was a specialist in pouring cold water over his head. He just couldn’t live without having new ideas, and she couldn’t live with them. As a result, they couldn’t live with each other. One morning, he was found dead in bed. She told me he had a heart attack, but my aunt later intimated that he might have killed himself with sleeping tablets. He was only fort- five at the time.”
“And you, how old were you then?” I interjected.
“Nine”, he said, and after a little pause added “I missed him a lot. We used to do all sorts of things together. He would take me to the orchard and teach me different kinds of trees, apples, pears… He was a kind man… After his death, the rows stopped, of course… but so did the laughter…” Jack went silent, his eyes watered. “You know, my black hole. I didn’t need to go and hide there any more. I, kind of, carried it in me, inside…”
It is always difficult to say anything consolatory in the face of a deep sadness. Perhaps, it is also redundant.
Jack picked up in his mood and in his ability to do things. He also found his niche in a day hospital where he gave a couple of talks and demonstrations on how to run an orchard. These were followed by afternoon teas, with apple cakes, of course.
One day in spring I received a message that Jack died suddenly from a heart attack. His wife found his body under the apple tree in their garden. The tree was in full blossom.
* Parkinsonism is a condition related to old age and the clogging of the arteries, whereas Parkinson’s Disease is of idiopathic origin and starts much earlier in life. The same part of the brain is affected in both conditions, hence the symptoms are similar. The patient I’m describing here is a good example of crossing these epistemological boundaries.
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I dedicate this story to Bill, my life-long friend who was an indirect inspiration for this story.