Euthanasia Island

Chapter 1

Ten years of having someone bedridden in the house takes its toll.

The home smells of sickness and neglect. The dust piles until it turns to

dirt. The matted down rugs were beyond the vacuuming stage, and it

was getting too much for George Harrison to handle any longer. It

was time to seek alternative arrangements for his wife, Leona.

One of the possible solutions came in the mail several months

ago, in the form of a brochure. George had mulled over the brochure

a hundred times … if he’d looked at it once. The place was

called Euthanasia Island, a place where you could go die in peace.

He needed to decide. Seeing Leona hooked up to all the machinery

just to keep her alive was killing him. Even if he placed her

in a nursing home, she would still be a prisoner to the machines.

Though it would free him up, it would do no good for her. He knew

in his heart that she wouldn’t want to live this way. So the only

alternative was death.

He couldn’t just unplug the machinery, because according to

Florida Law, if there is brain activity, she is still alive. If he unplugged

her, it would be murder. He loved the idea of Leona going peacefully,

but he didn’t want to go to jail for it.

He decided to run the idea of Euthanasia Island pass Leona. He

knew she couldn’t respond, but he felt she would like the idea. And

today was the day he was going to do it.

He made his morning coffee and took it into Leona’s room like

he had for the past ten years. He would usually sit in her room and

read the paper while the machines made their noises. If there was

something of interest, he would mention it to her, but mostly, he

just sat reading to himself. But, today was going to be different.

“Good morning honey,” George said as he set his coffee cup

down on the nightstand next to Leona’s bed, then asked, “How was

your night?”

“Shhhhh, pufffff, shhhhh, pufffff.”

“Sweetheart, I have something I’d like to talk to you about this

morning,” he said and pulled out the brochure. “You remember the

times we talked about how to relieve your misery, I think I’ve found

a way.”

“Shhhhh, pufffff, shhhhh, pufffff.”

“I know you can’t see the brochure, but,” he said and opened it

to show her, “There is a place called Euthanasia Island. It’s a beautiful

island near the Bahamas. The concept is, you go there and spend

three days doing anything you want. In your case it would probably

be pleasant to sit on the beach. At the end of your three days-,” he

paused and took a sip from his coffee cup.

Leona’s machine sputtered, “Shhhhh, pufffff, shhhhh, pufffff.”

He put his cup back on the stand, cleared his throat, and placed

his hand on her forehead. “At the end of your three days, they put

you to rest.”

“Shhhhh, pufffff, shhhhh, pufffff.”

George paused for several moments while brushing the hair back

off her forehead. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he said, “Sweetheart,

it hurts me so much to be discussing this with you, but it

hurts me more to have let you live like this for ten years now. I

promised that I wouldn’t let you go on life support, and I’ve broken

that promise. Now I think I found an answer.” He finished his sentence

and stood there in silence thinking what else he could say, but

he couldn’t find the words.

Leona’s machine responded. “Shhhhh, pufffff, shhhhh, pufffff.”

He turned and looked at the life support machine with contempt,

turned back and kissed Leona on the cheek. “I’ll be back,” he

said and left her room. He walked into the living room, sat on the

recliner and cried like a baby.

3

Chapter 2

Bill Sharp touched down at the New Smyrna airfield at nine

o’clock Wednesday morning. The company jet with the logo of two

palm trees on the tail, taxied to the small terminal where a rental car

waited for his arrival.

He got off the jet and walked to the waiting Buick La Sabre with

his briefcase in hand. He got into the car, found that the keys were

above the visor as promised and the gas tank was full. Enterprise

Rentals always got it right. He started the car, put the air-conditioning

unit on high, shut the radio off and opened his briefcase. He had

five appointments scheduled for the area and only three days to complete

his mission. Considering he had an eighty-five percent closing

ratio for selling memberships to Euthanasia Island, five appointments

were easy for Bill to deal with.

He rifled through the paperwork and pulled out his first appointment.

Written on the file tab were the names, George and Leona

Harrison. He opened the file and began to read:

Name: George and Leona Harrison

Address: 43 S. Peninsula Drive, Ponce Inlet, Florida.

Client: Leona Harrison

Age: Sixty

Religion: C

Condition: Permanent Comatose, Permanent Paralysis /

Vegetative State.

Bill figured he would fill in the rest of the form blanks at the

noontime appointment with the Harrison’s.

He looked at his watch and concluded he had more than enough

time to get breakfast before visiting the Harrison’s. He placed the

folder back in his briefcase, put the car in drive and headed for highway

U.S. #1.

5

Chapter 3

George sat patiently in Leona’s room reading the morning paper.

He didn’t tell her that today was the day he had the appointment

with the representative from Euthanasia Island. For that matter,

he didn’t tell her he had called. It took him three weeks after he

originally mentioned it to her, to get the courage up to call. Then he

didn’t have it in him to tell her anymore about it, but he would tell

her soon.

He checked his wristwatch, realized he only had two hours until

the representative arrived and figured he would try to get the house

tidied up a bit.

He got up from his chair which sat near the window overlooking

the pool, a pool that hadn’t been used for many years, folded his

paper and set it on the chair. He took the last sip of his now cold

coffee and walked over to Leona’s bedside.

He bent over, gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, “Honey, I’m

going into the kitchen for a while, I’ll be back soon,” then touched

her face before walking out of the room.

Leona’s machine responded, “Shhhhh, pufffff, shhhhh, pufffff.”

The house was a total wreck and needed sprucing up; ten years

of not having a woman’s touch … things piled up. He looked around

trying to figure out where to start and shook his head. Then he

figured all he needed was a place to go over the paperwork, and the

dining room table seemed like the best spot, and the easiest to clean

up. The only thing the dining room table was used for in the past

ten years was a place to gather paperwork. George figured he could

organize it to get enough room for two people to sit and sign some

papers. So that’s what he decided to do. An hour later, his mission

was complete.

He looked at his watch again and noticed he still had an hour

before his appointment would arrive. He wanted Leona presentable

in case this person would like to meet her, and headed for her room.

He entered her room, which used to be the master bedroom but

now George slept in one of the spare bedrooms by himself. When he

started sleeping in the spare room, he went to Kmart and bought a

baby monitor so he could listen to Leona during the night, in case

she needed him. All he ever heard was, “shhhhh, pufffff, shhhhh,

pufffff,” and figured, what the hell; he couldn’t do anything to help.

He listened to the monitor for three days then shut it off for good.

Normally he could get his ‘Leona’s morning chores’ as he called

them, complete in thirty minutes which would give him enough

time in case his appointment was early. The chores consisted of the

basics in health care the Hospice people had taught him of cleaning

out the suction tubes, emptying the waste bag and general bathing

of the body. He used to laugh at himself thinking that he could

always get a job with the Hospice people, but that joke died about

nine and a half years ago. Now it was something he did without

thinking.

He completed all the basic items and when he got to the part

where he would brush her hair, he would normally talk to her as if

they were sitting at the kitchen table having tea. And today’s teatime

conversation was going to be about Euthanasia Island.

“Sweetheart,” he said while starting to brush her hair. “Remember

we were talking about that place called Euthanasia Island?”

“Shhhhh, pufffff, shhhhh, pufffff,” Leona’s machine answered.

“Remember it’s the place where you go on a glorious three day

vacation doing anything you want. You could watch the sunrise from

the beach, or go listen to live music. And when your three days are

up they give you the most modern drug therapy available and put

you into a painless sleep. You get to go meet the angels. Your years of

suffering will be over,” he finished his long practiced speech, and the

brushing of her hair. He put the brush back into the nightstand

drawer and looked at her for her response.

“Shhhhh, pufffff, shhhhh, pufffff.”

“Well I think that’s the best plan. And if I’m comfortable with

this representative, God be with me, I am signing you up.”

“Shhhhh, pufffff, shhhhh, pufffff.”

George kissed her on the forehead and headed out of her room.