Short Story. The cue was "The Biggest Surprise".

Uncle Doc

The biggest surprise was the day I found out why I am an only child. My mother got into some weighty and intimate conversations with one of her caregivers. Mom was very sick and was declining quickly, so her normally private nature was compromised, and she revealed a couple of family mysteries to “Mary”. My uncle Doc was a dwarf. He worked for the circus, and later in life, worked on the road crew in Connecticut, painting center lines. Mom and Dad were afraid to have more children, thinking that another child might be born with dwarfism. The chances of my brother or sister being a dwarf was one in 25,000. I didn’t believe Mary when she told me. I’m sure Mom made the whole thing up. She was testing Mary’s ability to keep a secret. Mary would be with mom until her last day.

-tp, 7/14/2004