My father called again later to explain his message. He danced around the obvious: The Home is a place where stubborn Christian Scientists go to die after the ravages of physical ignorance win over the paucity of spiritual truth. That this had to be done in San Diego, away from a loving family can be blamed on a ridiculous accident.

About a year before the first symptoms appeared, my mother and a lady from Ireland named Agnes struck up a friendship after my mother heard a couple of Agnes' lectures on the wonders of Christian Science. My parents invited her for dinner one night but after that, for whatever reason, they had lost touch for most of the year. Then, as my mother's suffering hit new highs, my parents, in a flurry of sudden vision, went about trying to contact a real physician. But, just before dialing, they received a call from Agnes which they deemed to be a sign from above that they must maintain the course of spiritual healing.