Todd went straight to the clinic. Instead of sitting him in one of those examining rooms, Dr. Watkins came out and invited him back to his private office. It was a nice office too, with a big desk and a comfortable couch. "Have a seat" barked the doc, as he motioned a hand with a folder in it toward the couch. He was a big man and always spoke loudly and with authority. 
   Todd was surprised. "I never knew you had all this back here. This is nice" he said, referring to the couch as he sat down. 
   Doc Watkins sat back and blew out a deep breath. He hesitated and then bit his lower lip. He put the file down and let out another big exhale. "Well, I have some bad news Todd" he said. He paused again, then added "I'll get right to the point. You don't have long to live.
   "We found a rare cell in your blood. We sent it to another lab for confirmation and unfortunately, we were right. You have a very rare disease and there is no cure. It's called Pigannelli's Disease. Named after the only other guy in the world known to have had it. The only symptom that we know of, that you will experience, is fainting. The reports I've read, state that Mr. Pigannelli fainted several times a day during his last days. That's when he went to his doctor, after he started fainting. First, he fainted once. Then the next day, he fainted two times. On the third day, he fainted three or four times before he finally made up his mind to go see his doctor. His doctor, Callahan, from Milwaukee, performed a whole bunch of tests before he found this strange cell in his blood. He wasn't even sure if that was the cause. But since he couldn't explain the cell and he couldn't find anything else wrong with Mr. Pigannelli, he assumed this was it."
   Todd broke in. "Maybe he was wrong. I have never fainted. Maybe that cell is something else and maybe Mr. Pigannelli had some other thing wrong with him."
   Doc Watkins frowned, shook his head left and right, then added "maybe. For your sake, I hope so. But it doesn't look good to me at this point. Once Mr. Pigannelli started fainting, he was dead within a week. He fainted six or seven times on his last day. He was never in any pain. He just fainted one last time."
   "So, what you're saying is, if I start fainting, I only have about a week to live?"
   "It looks that way. But there is something that may help you. Mr. Pigannelli was a fat man who rarely exercised. His blood flow was limited by a week and fatty heart. You seem to be in good shape. I think if you keep yourself healthy, you may be able to live a long time."
   Todd was digging deep for some hope. "I run two miles a day. My heart is healthy and my immune system is strong. I think I can fight it off."
   Doc Watkins bit his lip again and said "the Clinic for Research in Milwaukee conducted some tests on rats with this cell. Every rat they injected, died. The old and week ones died within a few days, but the young, strong ones lived for months. They all fainted several times a day before they died. But they did in fact all die."
   "What if I keep running? I'll start running even more. That will help then, right?"
   "Strength seemed to be as important as endurance. My advice to you is, build up your strength too. Do push-ups, lift weights, but build your strength. I think that is the key to living longer. All of the rats that lived longer in those tests were the young strong ones."
   "I am not exactly young."
   "But you are. You are only forty-three and you have the body of a twenty-five year old. I think you have a good chance to fight this for a long time, especially if you build your strength up a little more and keep working on your endurance, with the running. The only problem is that we don't know how long you can fight this. It wont be forever."
   "I'll fight this as long and as hard as I can." Todd threw in "I'll take kung-fu lessons. I'll join the weight lifting gym. And I'll keep running."
   Doc Watkins smiled and said "if anyone can beat this, I know it"s you. Meantime, we have our lab working on it and they are in touch with Milwaukee. Maybe we will find out something in time. But, if you ever faint, I want you to come and see me right away."
   Todd left the clinic and wondered how long he had to live. If a strong rat can live for months, then maybe a strong man can live for years. I am not going to feel sorry for myself and I am not going to give up either, he thought.

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