Frank & Red

by Matt Coyne

He had once heard a saying that went something like: ‘You don’t need a parachute to skydive once.’ That’s what he was thinking about: that falling in love with someone, and allowing yourself to do so, was like falling without a parachute. And that’s okay when it’s the love of your life, because you only intend to skydive once.

The thing about terminal illness is that it is a plane crash in slow motion. It begins with warning lights in the cockpit: a cough, tiredness, a lack of appetite, sometimes spidery handwriting across a quiz sheet. And then you get a diagnosis and lose control. And then everybody prays and cries, and waits to crash into a mountain.