Parallel: Clear and Present Danger

    From my memory store:   During my childhood, in our town, it was a common practice for the doctor to call on the local women to assist in house calls where the doctor felt more help would be of benefit, as during home births and also deaths. My mother was somewhat  younger than the other women neighbors, and while she was asked by the doctor to help during a few home births, I don't think she was present during the times people died at home. But there was a very active network then of the neighborhood women, and it seemed my mother's house was a central location for the gossip sessions, she being known as a good listener. 

    I remember hearing this about a man who lived on our street:  He was dying; there was no doubt of that. I thought of him as older; maybe he was in his 60's or 70's. When he himself realized that his death was near, he raged. He wanted everybody else to die also, and for the world to end, and he was a family man, with wife and children.   The neighbor ladies who were present during his final diatribe seemed shaken to hear him. They had assisted at home deaths before but had never experienced the like of his deathbed wrath.