Chapter 2 – The Diagnosis

Arthur’s decline began quietly, the way declines often do — a forgotten appointment, a fence repair he insisted he’d already finished when he clearly hadn’t, small inconsistencies that Daniel noticed before anyone in the family did, mostly because Daniel was the one actually present to notice them.

The diagnosis, when it finally came, confirmed what Daniel had already suspected — early-stage dementia, progressing slowly but steadily, the kind that would eventually require decisions about the farm’s future that Arthur, increasingly, struggled to make clearly on his own.

Claire and Grant, informed of the diagnosis, increased their visits somewhat, though Daniel noticed the visits still centered largely on practical questions about the farm’s disposition rather than genuine time spent with their father.

“We should really talk about power of attorney,” Claire said, during one such visit, “and start looking into what the land’s actually worth, before things get more complicated. I’ve had a developer reach out already, actually. Preliminary numbers, but they’re significant.”

Arthur, present for the conversation but increasingly detached from its practical implications, simply nodded along, the particular vagueness of his agreement troubling Daniel more than an outright objection would have.

Daniel, watching thirty-one years of shared work reduced to preliminary developer numbers, made a quiet decision that day to ensure Arthur’s own wishes, expressed clearly in years of conversation before the diagnosis, wouldn’t simply be overwritten by children who’d shown up mostly once the land’s value became relevant.