Arlene never had a close relationship with her father. This never bothered her all that much. He was a peculiar man with a notorious temper, and he always made Arlene uneasy on the rare occasions he would come for a visit.

The last time she saw him was when she was 12 years old. They had gone to a public pool with Arlene’s stepmother and stepsisters, and everyone appeared to be having a good time until Arlene’s father inexplicably took one stepsister by the back of the neck and pushed her head under the water. When the girl tried to free herself, he forced her back under the water and held her there, choking the life out of her. Naturally, this frightened Arlene and she decided that she never wanted to see him again.

More than ten years after the incident at the pool, Arlene received a call from her aunt who told her that her father was terminally ill and living in a nursing home. It was near Christmas and several family members were going up to the nursing home that weekend to see him, so the aunt asked Arlene if she wanted to go.

“This will probably be the last time you will see him alive, Arlene,” the aunt had told her. “He is pretty bad off, you know.”

Arlene didn’t really want to go, but it was Christmastime and the man was dying, so she agreed to go with the rest of the family to the nursing home that weekend. The aunt was happy to hear that and told her to be ready by eight a.m. on Saturday. Arlene hung up the phone and sighed. She really didn’t want to go…but she knew that she had to. Her aunt’s warning that this would probably be the last time she would see her father alive kept repeating in her head. She had to see him.

The long trip down to the nursing home was excruciating. Arlene’s stomach was in knots. She hadn’t seen this man in over ten years, so she didn’t know what to expect, didn’t know how to approach him or what to say to him.

When they reached the home, the knots in her stomach became worse. The place was more like a mental home than a nursing home. Patients were either roaming the halls with a dazed look in their eyes or cowering in a corner, rocking back and forth muttering under their breath. There were several cries for help coming from behind the closed door of one room. And there was a stale smell hanging in the air that reminded Arlene of overcooked soup and dirty bed linens.

A nurse gave everyone a visitor’s badge and led the way to the room of Mr. Jeremiah Greeley. Arlene was the last one to enter the room, and when she saw her father, she took an involuntary step backward. This wasn’t the man she remembered. This man was frail and emaciated, and looked to be about 75 years old. Her father was only 59, and the last time she saw him he was powerfully built with a head full of thick dark hair. This couldn’t be the same person.

“Jeremiah, I brought your baby Arlene to see you today.” she heard her aunt say.

“Arlene?” Jeremiah Greeley said in a voice that was barely intelligible.

The aunt grabbed Arlene’s hand and guided her over to the frail figure sitting in the wheelchair.

“Arlene?” Jeremiah repeated.

All Arlene could do was nod. She was afraid to speak.

“Why don’t we go out to the garden and get some fresh air,” Arlene’s uncle suggested, feeling the tension in the room. “Doesn’t that sound like a good idea, Jeremiah?”

Jeremiah nodded, but never took his eyes off Arlene.

Out in the garden, he repeated her name several times, and burst into tears while patting the young woman’s hand. She felt sorry for him. She had spent most of her life fearing this man, and there he sat, unable to walk, unable to talk in clear sentences, unable to do anything except say her name and cry. It was a pitiful sight.

After sitting in the garden for an hour or so, the family wheeled Jeremiah back to his room and Arlene watched as her uncle lifted the shrunken little man out of his wheelchair and ease him onto the bed. It broke her heart to see that. She went over to him, her father, and wrapped her arms around him.

“I love you, daddy.” she whispered into his ear.

“I love you, too, Arlene.” he whispered back.

As the family left his room, Arlene turned around and took one more look at her father, who stared at the wall to the right of his bed.

Later that day, Arlene received a call that her father had died in his sleep. She was glad that she had gone to see him. She was glad that the last words he heard from her were “I love you, daddy.”