Frank Comes Back

On Monday afternoon, at the end of his last cardiac rehab session of August, Frank asked the cardiologist the question.

She was a young woman with a quiet voice who had read his chart very carefully. She listened to his heart for a long time. Then she looked at his blood pressure numbers, which Margaret had written down every morning in a neat table, and his rehab results, which were, Kelly the nurse said, "annoyingly good for a man who complains this much."

"Two hours," said the cardiologist. "Once a week. Sitting down. Not standing at a board. If you feel pain, you stop and you call. And your wife drives."

"I'll sit," said Frank. "I promise."

"He won't," said Margaret.

"I'll mostly sit," said Frank.