Nightmare

It was a long time ago.

It was six years ago, when I was twenty-three.

My father fell seriously ill.

He had lung cancer.

When I heard that my father had lung cancer, I couldn't understand how he'd gotten it.

His clothes only smelled faintly of cigarettes, and even that was because he'd gotten used to the smell of people smoking around him at construction sites. He himself had never even put a cigarette to his lips.

He exercised diligently and took good care of himself. He was a proud father, youthful-looking and muscular.

The reason my father had lung cancer was asbestos.

Cough, cough.

Whenever I went to visit him in the hospital, I could hear his coughing from the hallway...