The Spencer Carlin and Ashley Davies Chronicles

By

M.C.R

March 30^th, 2028 (First session with Spencer Carlin)

At noon, Spencer walked back into the hospital room to check on her wife, Ashley, who was recently moved into this room after spending two grueling weeks in the intensive care unit. Spencer’s mother, Paula Carlin who is the Vice President of Hospital Affairs, was able to provide her daughter-in-law the hospital suite.

Spencer pulled up a chair and sat next to Ashley, who was lying helpless on the hospital bed with hundreds of wires attached to her now pale skin. Spencer tells me that she usually tries to avoid the wires because of a bad experience in high school when she tripped and unplugged her friend Aiden’s heart monitor, but that’s a story for another time. After three hours of watching soap operas and holding Ashley’s hand, Spencer’s father, Arthur Carlin, walked into the room with Spencer and Ashley’s ten and fifteen year old daughters.

 “Mom,” Fifteen-year old Lisa whines,” Your dad wouldn’t let me drive the Porsche again”

“Oh, I’m her dad when I don’t let you drive, but I’m grandpa when you need money,” Arthur laughs, “you have to stop getting ideas from your Uncle Glen.”

While Arthur and Lisa argue, Spencer’s youngest daughter, Sarah, sits down on her lap and gives her a hug. “Will mommy be okay?” Spencer looks at her daughter trying to find the perfect words to say, but she can only come up with, “Yeah.”

Lisa and Sarah had become Spencer and Ashley’s everything; they spent every waking moment together trying to give all they could to their daughters. Ashley had over time become the bad cop in their relationship, always intimidating any date Lisa brought home. Ashley always said, “I am trying to protect her from a male version of me,” but Spencer always thought that her daughter needed to meet a boy like Ashley, minus being an egomaniac.

As she is telling me her story, she pulls out a picture of her family for me to see. Their oldest daughter looks just like Ashley, except she has Spencer’s eyes. Sarah, on the other hand, is a mini Spencer.