“But you.” Patti injected. “You will have to live with one arm.”

“You are saying I looked more normal with two arms.”

“Well. Yes.”

“Patti, every time I had surgery something could have gone wrong. I could have died. Every time I went to the doctor they were suggesting another “procedure” as they call them. Every “procedure” had risks. I signed the paper every time that said I understood the risks. Several of them did go wrong and I almost died. I finally got tired of taking the risks. One of those goes wrong and I am not here or I am in a nursing home with a stroke.”
Patti just looked for a moment. “But what will people say?”

“Because I have one arm? I hope they will think I am the same person. They aren’t the one who will be dead if I keep on trying to save the arm. They don’t get a say.”

“But to have your body, a part of it cut off, you know. It didn’t just happen, you made it happen.”

“Patti, have you ever had an allergic reaction, I mean a bad one?”

“No. But I remember a friend in school having one. We helped her with her epi-pin. She was so bad she wasn’t able to do it. It was scary.”

“I had two of them in the hospital from the drugs that were used when I got the grafts. I nearly died in the hospital with good people there caring for me. I was scared. Really scared. If you think it is scary when it is someone else, try it when it is you.”

Darin bent down and hugged her. “Does anyone need to know?”

“They will notice my arm is gone.”

“You could wear an artificial one. Your arm was, people knew it wasn’t working right. It would be a lot the same.”

“I don’t want to lie to people. My arm is gone. And a hook is better than a hand that is cosmetic. I can do a lot more with it.”

“But I mean not tell them what happened, that you did it.”

“There are people who know already. There is public record with the police. They will find out and it will be more problems if it comes out in the scandal sheets. As soon as they know they will start looking.”

Darin nodded, “You are right about that.”