JFK part one

Joseph Fredrick Keen or JFK to his friends, sat alone in his study, book in hand, wondering how his life would be now if he'd done some things differently. He'd never been one for thinking 'what if' but now things were about to change. The one thing he had always loved, that had always kept him going, was about to be eliminated and now he realized that without it his life was going to be insignificant


Joseph had always been interested in space and as a child he had spent many an hour laid on his back in the yard watching and studying the stars. At the age of ten his father bought him a telescope and a book on all the different constellations in sky. Joseph's father had spent most of his life as a pilot in the air force. Towards the end of his career he'd moved to NASA. This was the best Joseph thought especially when his father had arranged for him to have a look around, that visit was the start of it all, and he was convinced that he was going to become an astronaut. Once old enough he set off to university to do the degrees required to become an astronaut. Despite the death of his father, due to an unusual accident while at NASA, on the morning of his exams he passed them all with honours. He then proceeded to do the one year training programme that was required for all candidates to do, at Johnson Space Centre Houston. This is where he'd first seen her, the most beautiful girl in the entire world. His Rose.

The phone began to ring; this snapped him out of his trance and thoughts of the past. Slowly and gently he placed the book onto his desk and picked up the receiver.

"Hello."

"Hello Mr Keen. This is Doctor West."

"Oh hi Doctor how can I help?"

"Mr Keen I was wondering if it would be possible for you to make an appointment to see me as I have your test results back and I would like to go through them with you. When would you be available?"

"Well I have training tomorrow afternoon. Off into the mystery of the stars in a few months you know."

"So I heard. Would you be free in the morning say about 9-45am?"

"Yes that would be fine."

"Ok. Well I'll see you then Mr Keen. Goodbye."

"Goodbye." Placing the receiver back down, once more he picked up the book with his scar covered hands, gently his long slender fingers traced the outline of the picture of a woman and three children. "Where did I go so wrong?" He asked himself looking first at the picture then at the scars on his hands and arms. His whole body was covered in scars, what with accidents at work and the two falls off his bike. All the scars had healed pretty quickly and quite well. All except one, the largest scar, this one he'd had for years now it never seemed to get better then like he'd said to one of his work colleagues once 'a wounded heart never heals fully its just the pain becomes more bearable to deal with.'

The following morning JFK was up bright and early and was just getting back from his six mile run when he heard his telephone ring. He fumbled in his pocket for the keys and quickly opened the door, but to no avail, he was too late and the answer phone had picked it up. 'Hi I'm not here at the moment please leave your message after the beep.' There was a long tone then a soft sweet voice came on.

"Hi dad it's Lucy. Just thought I'd give you a quick call see how you are and to wish you a happy retirement." Joseph sat listening he loved the sound of her voice it reminded him of how her mother used to sound. "I know it's a bit early but I have been accepted into The Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, I fly over in a few weeks time. I'm so excited. It's everything I hoped for, and to get into such a prestigious college. Well enough about me lets go threw the rest of the family." Joseph sat still and quiet, a tear gently trickled down his face, now he felt his baby girl was being took from him, first his career now his daughter, what other cruel blow could life have for him he wondered as he listened intently to the rest of what she had to say. "Well I guess start with the youngest and work up. Ok that means Marc first. I know he keeps in touch with you now and again well once every blue moon" she giggled "well he managed to get into law school with financial support of the navy he's currently doing work placement with wait for it J.A.G. Can you believe it! My little bro at J.A.G. and they said once he's passed he has a permanent place there. Next well that would be me and you already know my big news. Next big brother Joe. You know sometimes that man is worse than a dad. No offence. I know you don't tend to keep in touch but you might want to give him a call to congratulate him, twice over, first on his promotion and second on the birth of his daughter Rose. I've posted some pictures of her to you. That leaves mum. She's doing quiet well she still talks a lot about you when Joe's not there anyway. Well that's it I have to go. Love you dad take care." There was a click as his daughter hung her receiver up and another as the answer phone stopped. Slowly he stood up and made his way to the machine. Removing the tape he kissed it and placed it gently in a draw with countless numbers of others and replaced it with a new tape. Looking at his watch he noticed the time. Quickly he ran upstairs for a quick shower and to get changed before heading off to see the doctor.

It was 9-39am. when he got to the doctors

"Hello Mr. Keen" the receptionist said with a smile on her face. "If you take a seat I'll let Doctor West know you're here." As Joseph made his way to a seat he saw out the corner of his eye the receptionist hurry down the corridor. It wasn't long after that he heard the familiar voice of his doctor.

"Hello Mr Keen"

"Doctor West"

"If you'd like to follow me." The doctor gestured for Joseph to follow him down the corridor. The walk down the corridor to Doctor West's room seemed to take an eternity. It was kind of like when he was a young child being led down the corridor by his mum to the nurse's room for an injection. A cold shiver ran down his spine he had a sudden feeling of dread that the doctor was going to give him bad news after all if it had all been ok wouldn't he have said over the phone. 'No' Joseph thought pushing the negativity to the back of his mind. Just because everything else had gone wrong up till now didn't mean this was. The doctor was just being thorough.

"In here please Mr Keen." Joseph suddenly snapped back to reality as the doctor opened the door to his room. "Please take a seat Mr. Keen." Joseph made his way across to the seat at the opposite side of the room near the big dark mahogany desk. "Mr. Keen you must be wondering why it is that I asked you to come in?"

"I was a bit curious Doctor."

"Well Mr. Keen unfortunately its not good news." Joseph felt like a knife had just been stuck into him. "What do you mean?" He asked hoping that wasn't anything that could not be fixed.

"It's as we feared Mr. Keen the results of the biopsy confirmed that the tumour is cancerous and is malignant." Josephs face turned milky white at this point, why was God doing this to him, he wondered, what had he ever done that deserved all this.

"But you can fix it right?" he asked hopefully.

"You see Mr. Keen because you'd waited for so long to come and see us we did extra tests and scans that we would not normally do."

"But is the cancer fixable?"

"Unfortunately Mr. Keen we can't. The extra tests and scans we did showed us that the cancer cells have actually spread throughout your body."

"Oh. So what is the best case scenario Doctor?" Joseph asked putting on a brave front, something that his father had always instilled into him.

"Best case scenario Mr. Keen is not that good."

"Please Doctor just tell me."

"Looking at the results Mr. Keen worst case scenario three months, best case scenario six months."

"So I'll still be able to go up to space?"

"If your health remains at the standard that it currently is then as long as your bosses don't have any problems I cant see why not."

"Well then thank you Doctor." Joseph stood up holding out his hand.

"Mr. Keen." The doctor said as he shook Joseph's hand. "Is there anything I can get you?"

"A new body." He laughed.

"I can arrange for you to talk to someone if you'd like me to Mr. Keen?"

"No I'm fine." He said walking towards the door. As he walked down the corridor he felt the knife that had been stuck in him earlier start to twist.