The Revenge of One Humiliated
The results just came in on my terminal.
He pauses, and his face closes, marked by a new gravity, different from the sad resignation of a moment ago.
— I am sorry to have to inform you of this under these circumstances, but it is my duty to share it with you. The toxicology tests are conclusive. Your father was exposed to a toxic agent. A poison.
The word falls like a sledgehammer in the silence of the waiting room.
— A poison? my mother articulates, her voice barely audible.
— Yes. The markers in his blood are clear. It is not acute, not a massive dose administered recently. The traces indicate a slow, cumulative exposure over a… long period. Several months, probably. A year, perhaps more.