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„You go through life and you never tell people how much you care about 'em when people should probably do that more, you know?“
„I care about you.“
„I wasn't fishing for that.“ Denny shoots him a stern look. „I fish for steelhead, not mush."
„I care about you, Denny.“ He closes his eyes for a second. I love you. That’s what he really means, as absurd as it may sound. But then it has never come easy to him to say these words. And Denny would probably panic even more if he heard them. „You don’t have to say it back.“
Denny’s face is hard to read in the dark on the balcony. He doesn’t answer, but Alan isn’t surprised about that. He knows that Denny loves him in his own way.
Which makes it even worse, because that’s something else he’s going to lose. He knows Denny, he knows him very well, he’s probably the person who knows him best. And he can see it. The beginning of the end. Others might register that his memory‘s getting worse or that he’s somtimes erratic–-well, more so than usual. But he sees Denny losing parts of himself, a little more every day.
He is still Denny Crane, mind you.
He is still there, mostly.
But it’s not the first time Alan’s been through this and he knows that they are on a one-way street. Maybe they’ll go slowly. Maybe there’ll even be stopps along the way. But there’s no way back. This disease only knows one direction.
„You know what I said the other day, Alan?“ Denny’s tone has changed, sounding much more like his old optimistic self. Some might call it bombastic, but well, Alan loves the man. „I don’t live for tomorrow. Never saw the fun in it.“
He’s somewhat surprised that Denny remembers, but then he remembers the strangest things while forgetting others. He’s not surprised that he senses his grief because despite his at times ridiculous ego, Denny Crane reads people very well. He wouldn’t be as good of a lawyer as he is if he didn’t. And you don’t have to be Denny Crane to make the connection between Milton Bombay’s situation and his, both facing old age and a disease with a fatal outcome. So he tries to comfort him, which is, come to think of it, more than just saying it back.
Alan raises his glass. „To no tomorrows.“
* Fin *