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Meanwhile, Richard visited his mother in the hospital. She had been fighting leukemia for years and was very embarrassed by her enlarged spleen, which made her look pregnant. Everyone around her was in denial about her approaching death. Richard was tripping on mescaline. When he was alone with her, his mother said, “You know, I’m going to die. What do you think death is?” Ken Kesey. He replied, “It seems to me, the way you and I are connected isn’t really defined by this disintegrating body… Your body is decaying before us, but the way you and I love each other, I believe that love transcends death.
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