A week went by. The red marks were completely gone, but Gregg seemed listless and would drop into bed as soon as he arrived home.

The close relationship we had known in the past seemed to disappear. He quit bringing his friends and co-workers home. Twice during past weeks he refused to get up and go to work.

One day, three weeks after the poison oak event, he came over to the sink to get a drink of water. I noticed his height seemed off.

I was about five foot, four inches, and he was five feet, eight or nine inches. He was husky and had weighed one hundred and seventy-five pounds for years.

I said, "Gregg, what in the world is happening to you? It looks like you are shrinking; look, you are the same height as I am now, and I have noticed you look like you are losing weight too."

He glared at me and said, in a tremolo voice, "Mind your own business," and walked out of the room irritated. It was the first time in our marriage he had ever had acted that way towards me. I knew something terrible was happening to my husband.

That was the last day Gregg went to work. When he came home that night, there was no, "Hello, dear."

At the bedroom door he brushed past me, threw himself on the bed and just lay there. I noticed that his pant legs were turned up at the ankles. Now his clothing seem to hang loose upon him.. I walked in and he just laid there.

His eyes were closed, and the pallor of his face was startling, with a light green cast shining from his skin.

He always had a rapidly growing beard and I had noticed for the past few days he had not shaved, yet his face was devoid of whiskers.

I walked over to the bed and said, "Honey, we had better drive into town and see a doctor; I think something is wrong. You look terrible."

Gregg jumped up like a mad man and screamed at me in a high tremolo voice, "Get out of here! I don't need a doctor. All I want right now is peace and quiet, away from you!"

He picked up an ashtray from the night stand, that we used to put change in, and with all his might, threw it at me.

It hit me on the cheek. I fell back a step and clutched my face. He just seemed to collapse, and sank back into the bed as before.

With tears on my face, I went into the kitchen and held a cold wash cloth to my cheek, where a large lump was forming.

It seemed impossible that such a terrible thing was happening to us; he always had been such a cheerful and loving husband, never a harsh word. He never once had committed a violent act like this to anyone, especially to me.