Afflictions: Cautionary Tales

Affliction: The cause of continued pain of body or mind, as sickness, losses, etc.; an event or instance of grievous distress; a pain or grief. These fifteen cautionary tales are about ordinary people encountering unusual problems: a woman diagnosed with a rare disease that requires a DNA transplant; an elderly woman whose strange malady robs her of the joy of baking cookies for her neighbors; a young card dealer who meets a suicidal woman on his first paid vacation; an abstract painter and sculptor deeply in thrall to a model; a bully who refuses to take "no" for an answer; a real estate broker who thought she had married a wealthy man.
And others-a conniving thief who begs his mother for money; a young girl growing up in a dysfunctional family; a widow trying to run an apple farm by herself...and more. Afflictions are universal to humankind and have been since the beginning of time. Almost everyone has been touched at one time or another by an affliction, sometimes of one's own making, sometimes through the deliberate acts of others, sometimes by chance, mistake or accident.  Some people take pleasure in hurting others in order to feel powerful, while others derive satisfaction by helping those in need.
Some people learn from adversity and are able to cope with the realities and vagaries of life; others surrender and wallow in their pain. Some obtain wisdom, while others can't or won't. But, as these stories reveal, there is always a chance to overcome that which afflicts us.