"He's no better, then?" asked the brother, down from the city.
"If anything, he's worse. The morphine injections don't help much. I can hardly stand to watch the suffering in his eyes.
A loon's sudden laugh floated mockingly across the lake.
"Then it's time."
"Yes," she said, choking on her words. "Oh, yes."
He gently patted her shoulder, gave her a small bottle of pills, and they returned arm in arm to their father's lake house.