Welcome to strangers from KCW and Radiotopia.

I'm Leah Tao.

Today, for Halloween, we have another old favorite from season one.

It's not spooky in the classic sense, but it is kind of a ghost story.

You'll see what I mean.

And if you're like me and you find yourself less scared by the idea of supernatural weirdness

and more scared by the thought that tragedy could descend on your family,

well, then this story is plenty scary.

And it's plenty sad, but it also shows just how much we can overcome. Here's

Bill Ratner. When I was five, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she had a mastectomy

and went into remission for about two years. But then when I was in second grade, I was seven years old, the cancer came back.

And she was a social worker and was aware of and wanted to do something about the anxiety that

both my brother and I were feeling.

So one day in the fall of 1954, I got out of the school bus and walked home, entered my house,

and in the living room sat my mother and my brother and our Unitarian minister, Dr. John Cummins.

And she said, you boys know, Dr.. Cummins as our minister at the Unitarian

Church, but he's also a psychotherapist. And the reason I'm late for supper every Thursday evening

is because I am with Dr. Cummins. And I talk about how I feel about my cancer returning and

how much I love you boys and how I worry about daddy.

And this is what one does when one is in crisis.

One seeks help.

But I remember feeling that she was preparing.

...