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Friday, May 25, 2007

The Believable

posted by on May 25 at 14:20 PM

From the PI:

Maleng and his wife, Judy, were planning to visit Norway this summer to explore his heritage. On Thursday evening, they were at a dinner to toast a Norwegian ambassador at the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture when Maleng collapsed.

About 10 minutes after he arrived, Norm grabbed onto Judy’s arm and fell to the ground,” Maleng’s chief of staff, Dan Satterberg, told the crowded courtroom.

He suffered cardiac arrest. Nearly an hour of resuscitation efforts at Harborview Medical Center weren’t able to revive him. He was pronounced dead at 9:11 p.m. He was 68.

My obsession for the day is this death. Its suddenness shocks my own heart—the pump of my life. It’s now not a matter of why does it beat but why doesn’t it stop beating? The amazing thing is this beating; more believable is it stopping, the body falling, the glass of existence shattering, and the opening of the vacuum into which the soul is sucked and crushed.

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1

This is very sad and scary. I've been trying to figure out why they took him to HMC and not UWMC, which was closer by far.

Posted by Levislade | May 25, 2007 2:22 PM
2

My husband was half this man's age when a blood clot filled three out of four chambers of his own heart. The end really occured that quickly. My deepest condolences to the Maleng family.

Posted by bijoubaby | May 25, 2007 4:58 PM
3

Death is not as fun as you make out, Charles. In fact, it's a major drag.

Reminds me of my ex in Vancouver wanting to be there when the cat was put down - only someone who has no idea what death is like romanticizes it.

Quite frankly, death sucks. Big time.

Posted by Will in Seattle | May 25, 2007 5:17 PM
4

Charles, I can't help but connect your obsession with the eloquent and gripping monologue by "Cop #1" in Zoo. I finally saw it last night. Beautiful movie.

Posted by Maggie | May 25, 2007 6:03 PM
5

Joan Didion's husband died of a heart attack; she wrote a book about that event's effect on her life called The Year of Magical Thinking. If you appreciate Didion's work, you might be interested in reading this book.

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