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“At least I know when. You don’t.”
I laughed. “That’s true.”
“I’m goin’ before you.”
“You’d better,” I shot back on impulse, and Joe burst into laughter, emitting cigarette smoke. “I’m joking, I didn’t mean to—”
“It was funny!” Joe crushed out his cigarette, eyeing me with new regard. “I like you, son! My daughter and son-in-law come by, they got long faces. They act like I’m dead already.”
I felt a pang for him. “They love you, that’s why.”
“They’re comin’ tonight. They need to loosen up. This cancer, it’s all over now.”
“You were in the skin-patch test?”
“Yeah, and the poison ivy and the ringworm, too. My back got so many scars, it look like amap. I didn’t think there was nothin’ wrong with it. They were doctors.” Joe shook his head. “Now there’s nothin’ anybody can do. They gave me chemo, it didn’t work. They only expected me to last two months. I made it to three yesterday.”
“Thank God.”
“I got to see the Eagles in the Super Bowl again.”
“Sorry they lost.”
“Okay, but they werethere.” Joe grinned back, and I felt amazed that I was talking with a man facing his own demise with bravery, even humor. He was about my father’s age, and I wondered how I’d feel ifmy dad were dying. The thought tore me in two, my love and anger a one-two punch.
“Now, for the lawsuit, do you have any new medical records?”
“Yeah.” Joe waved at the counter. “I got ’em ready, like she asked.”
“Good.” I reached in my bag and got the Complaint. “I can take you through this and make sure we have the facts right.”
“Don’t bother. Read it to me or ask me. I’m not in school no more.”
I flipped to his section of the Complaint. “What do you remember about the skin-patch tests? What did they do?”
“We went into the room and they cut up our backs and put the medicine on. Then we went under a lamp. It was like an assembly line. I got three bucks a shot.” Joe shrugged. “I didn’t think much about it till Chuck and the lady called, what’s her name?”
“Gabby Devlin, my sister.”
“She talked to Pam, too. She’s a nurse so she understood. Got the scars on my back. On my shoulders, too.”
“Did they explain what product they were testing?”
“No.”
“And you were in Holmesburg in 1966, for only one year?”
“Yeah, I was there before my trial. They charged me with aggravated assault, but I didn’t do it and I couldn’t make bail. That was the reason I did the test, to make bail. The judge set five grand, so I needed five hundred bucks. I couldn’t get it.”
My God. “So you were only there awaiting trial? You were innocent?”
“Yes.” Joe blinked matter-of-factly. “They picked up the wrong guy. I tried to tell them, but they didn’t believe me.”
I felt speechless, struck dumb by the injustice. I looked down at the Complaint, but the words swam before my eyes.
“Son?”
I tried to focus, skimming the lines. “Then you left Pennsylvania from 1967 to about 2021?”
