| General Fiction posted November 4, 2025 | Chapters: |
...28 29 -30- 
|
Lettie consents to breathe into the breathalyzer
A chapter in the book Beating the Devil
Beating the Devil - Chapter 30
by Jim Wile
| Background A cancer researcher invents an early cancer detection system. |
Recap of Chapter 29: Julia and Earl pay Lettie a visit at the rehab center. Earl behaves strangely and tries to sniff behind Lettie’s back. Julia apologizes for his rudeness, and they leave. At home, she discusses this with Brian, and they theorize that Earl might have gotten used to Marie’s cancer odor and smelled something similar on Lettie.
Brian and Julia discuss possibly using the breathalyzer without the pancoliver pill on Lettie to confirm their suspicion, and Brian proposes the idea to Mal the next day. Mal agrees to talk to his mother in hopes she will consent to try it.
Chapter 30
When Mal returned to his rat duties, Bertie looked up from her workstation. His expression was sober, and his shoulders were slumped.
“Anything wrong?” she inquired.
“Well, maybe. There could be more going on than a busted hip for my mother.”
He related the conversation he and Brian had just had. She got up from her workstation, came over to Mal, and put her arms around him. He hugged her back, and they stood that way for a few moments.
“Thank you, Bertie.”
“I surely hope there’s nothing to it, but if there is, it couldn’t have happened at a better time, when maybe it’s early enough it can be treated.”
“Yeah, there’s that.”
“I’m just thinking here. What if the readings from the breathalyzer aren’t conclusive? Suppose they indicate a small possiblity, but don’t reach the threshold for a definitive diagnosis?”
“Are you suggesting she take the pancoliver pill to strengthen the VOC production to meet the threshold? Do you think Brian would even consider that, seeing as how it hasn’t been approved for human testing yet?”
“I don’t know. It was just a thought.”
“That would be a big risk for him. The FDA frowns on shit like that. I certainly couldn’t ask him to do it and risk the consequences.”
“No, you’re right,” Bertie conceded.
“Well, let’s hope if there’s anything to see, we’ll see it with the breathalyzer.”
After work, Mal headed straight to Atrium Pines. Lettie was already back in her room after an early dinner. She was seated in an armchair watching TV.
After Mal greeted her with a kiss, he turned the TV off, pulled up the other chair in her room, and sat in front of her. He took her hand and said, “Momma, I don’t want to alarm you or anything because this may be nothing at all, but Brian and I were talking this morning about you and Earl and his strange behavior around you.”
Lettie began to tense up and applied pressure to Mal’s hand. “What was you sayin’ ‘bout it, Malcolm? I don’ think I like where this is goin’.”
“Like I said, Momma, this may be nothing, but I think Julia probably told you how much time Earl spent with Marie. We think he got used to the smell of her cancer, and just maybe he smelled something similar on you. The way he reacted to you on two occasions could have been something else entirely, but it might be worth checking out, seeing as how we have a device that can do that.”
“You sayin’ he mighta smelled cancer on me?”
Mal hesitated, trying to frame his response.
“You don’ have to answer; I know that’s what you suggestin’. So, you want me to take that pill and breathe into that tube? That it?”
“No, just breathe into the tube. The pill hasn’t been tested on humans yet, although it works very well on rats.”
“I don’ know, Malcolm… “
“Momma, what do you have to lose? You don’t have any symptoms, but that’s the way with many cancers—no symptoms until it’s well advanced. Wouldn’t you like to diagnose it as early as possible when you would have a lot more treatment options?”
“Well, I guess I can’t argue with that. When you wanna do it?”
“How about tomorrow? We could come over in the morning. What’s your PT schedule like tomorrow?”
They looked it over together and chose 10:00 AM.
“Alright, Momma. Brian and I and maybe even Julia and Earl will come tomorrow. I’ll check with the facility first to make sure it’s okay.”
Mal stood and bent down to give her a hug. “Just have a normal evening, and try not to worry. It may end up being nothing.”
“’Don’ worry, he says.’ Like you wouldn’ worry with that news? Awright, I do my bes’. See y’all tomorrow, Malcolm.”
“Momma, I—”
“Go on now, shoo!”
Mal gave her a kiss on the forehead and left.
The following morning, Brian, Mal, and Julia arrived at Lettie’s room. Julia had Earl on a leash.
Lettie was again seated in an armchair. “Hello, y’all. Malcolm said I might have a visit by the whole pack. Hello there, Earl. I see they brung you too. Come here, let me say hi to you.”
“Miss Lettie,” said Julia. “Thanks for agreeing to this visit. Mal told us he explained the purpose to you. It may be nothing at all, and Earl just might have been acting peculiar for some reason all his own. Do you mind if he sits in the chair and gets face-to-face with you? And maybe you could keep talking to him. Brian thinks it’s important that he sniffs your breath in addition to your back.”
“I gotta say, I was a little surprised at what Malcolm tol’ me yest’day, and that warn’t the bes’ night a sleep I ever had, but I don’ mind talkin’ at him. C’mon up here, Earl. Let’s you an’ me have us a little conversation,” said Lettie when Mal pushed the other chair over next to her.
Earl hopped up and looked at Lettie. “Awright, Earl. You stirred up quite a fuss ‘parently when you was here the other day. Now you gets to smell my stinky breath.”
And there it was again, even stronger now that he was closer to her. It was just like when Grandma used to talk, and it would come right out of her mouth. He shuddered, and he couldn’t keep the bad memories away. He began to whimper. Maybe he could help this big, dark lady like he helped Grandma. She always seemed to calm down when he’d laid beside her and would begin to smell a little less strong. If only he could have drawn all that bad smell from her, maybe she wouldn’t have left him.
This big woman continued to talk to him. He tried to stay strong for her, but even so, he couldn’t help whimpering occasionally. It finally became too much, and he hopped off the chair.
Brian looked at Julia, then at Lettie. “Miss Lettie, would it be possible for Earl to sniff your back? That seems to have been the place he first noticed anything.”
“He sho did’n’ seem to like my breath none. I know it ain’t always the bes’, as Sammy tell me sometimes. But I didn’ think it was bad ‘nough to make a dog cry.”
Everyone smiled at this attempt by Lettie to lighten the mood. It was an admirable effort to make light of it, but no one laughed out loud.
Mal said, “Momma, let’s get you standing up with your walker, facing away from Earl in the chair.”
He started to try to help her, but she shooed him away and was able to do it herself. She backed up to Earl, who had gotten back on the chair, and he began sniffing her lower back.
He smelled it again. Not as strong as when she talked to him, but surely there. He couldn’t stop trembling when he smelled it. It wasn’t exactly the same as Grandma’s smell, but it had that same sharp tang to it. And then it became too much, and he howled.
The memory of that night when it had been so strong as he lay beside Grandma overwhelmed him. And then the smell had changed suddenly as she became still, and he knew that he’d failed to stop it and that she’d left him.
Julia said, “That’s okay, Earl. Everything’s okay,” but in truth, she was alarmed by this reaction, as were the others. “I’d better take him out. We’ll be outside walking around.”
Brian nodded, and they left. He said to Lettie, “His reactions seem pretty consistent, but so far, they don’t necessarily indicate cancer. Why don’t we see what the breathalyzer shows, Miss Lettie?”
“That thing cry too if it don’ like what it smell?”
Brian chuckled. “In a manner of speaking, yes. Let’s hope it stays happy. Mal, you want to instruct her on how to breathe into it?”
“Sure. Momma, you need to seal your mouth around the mouthpiece, then we want you to take 10 normal breaths into it. Breathe through your mouth the entire time. It will allow you to take breaths because a flap opens and closes. No need for extra long inhales or exhales; just breathe normally. Are you ready to try it?”
“Awright. Seems simple enough.”
“Okay, go ahead and start.”
Brian Kendrick: A 43-year-old neuroscientist and cancer researcher
Julia Kendrick: Brian's 43-year-old wife. She is also a world-class violinist.
Johnny Kendrick: Their 8-year-old son
Lindsay Kendrick: Their 6-year-old daughter
Earl Kendrick: The Kendrick's chocolate Labrador Retriever
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother
Abby Payne: Brian's partner on the project. She is 67 and a brilliant mathematician.
Malcolm Roberts (Mal): One of Brian's two lab technicians
Tanya Roberts: Mal's wife
Samantha (Sammy) Roberts: Mal's 6-year-old daughter
Letitia Roberts (Lettie): Mal's mother
Larry Posner: One of Brian's two lab technicians
Vivian Delacroix: An oncology professor at Wake Forest University also doing early cancer detection work
Roberta (Bertie) Chen: Brian's new lab technician
Cedric (aka Cecil) Washington: Marie's premier violin student and friend
Maddy McPhail: Owner of Bo
Bo McPhail: Maddy McPhail's cancer-sniffing therapy dog
Dr. Renee Houlihan: Marie's oncologist
Dr. Paul Rieke: Brian's former chemistry professor and mentor, now a good friend
Picture courtesy of Imagen-4-Ultra
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© Copyright 2025. Jim Wile All rights reserved.
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