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    A Doctor Dies and Other Stories
    A Doctor Dies and Other Stories
    A Doctor Dies and Other Stories
    Ebook77 pages1 hour

    A Doctor Dies and Other Stories

    By Joseph Chamberlin

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    About this ebook

    Life and death are spun to poetry in A Doctor Dies and Other Stories. A legless veteran leaves footprints in the snow. Boys carry the casket of a friend up ice-covered church steps. A son asks to dress his deceased father in boots and jacket as he and his mother await the funeral director on a winter morning. A boy finds a pop sickle stick lodged in the ice on a February day. For Evelyn and Smiley, a romantic taunt on a frigid night stops time between Teds Dairy and Vietnam.

    Within these 15 stories, Joseph Chamberlin, also the author of My Father Frank, the Story of a Priest, the Woman He Loved, and the Sons They Left Behind, builds a world of ordinary heroes.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateFeb 19, 2013
    ISBN9781475974102
    A Doctor Dies and Other Stories
    Author

    Joseph Chamberlin

    Mr. Chamberlin lives in Baltimore, Maryland, where he works as a mediator. He develops parenting plans that help ensure children keep both parents in their lives. In business settings, Mr. Chamberlin works internationally with profit and non-profit businesses to develop constructive work relationships that ensure productivity and profit.

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      Book preview

      A Doctor Dies and Other Stories - Joseph Chamberlin

      Copyright © 2013 by Joseph Chamberlin.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

      Anticipation was first published in the Urbanite, Baltimore, Maryland, July 2007

      Dad’s Gift was first published as He Gave Us His World in The Washington Post, December 1997

      iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      iUniverse

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.iuniverse.com

      1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4759-7411-9 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4759-7410-2 (ebk)

      iUniverse rev. date: 02/14/2013

      Contents

      Footprints

      A Doctor Dies

      Brian’s Day

      The Intruder

      Nerves

      Saturday Night on Broadway

      Peeping Tom

      Anticipation

      Ice Sliding

      The Laslos

      Smiley

      The Death Rattle

      A North Avenue Odyssey

      The Haircut

      The Drink

      Dad’s Gift

      ALSO BY JOSEPH CHAMBERLIN

      Novella

      Our Father Frank, The Story of a Priest, The Woman He Loved and The Sons They Left Behind a novella based on the lives of his biological parents—a Roman Catholic priest and the married parishioner who sought his counsel.

      Poetry

      Life in the Breach and Other Poems

      DEDICATED

      TO

      MY BROTHER

      MICK

      THOMAS MICHAEL CHAMBERLIN

      HE HAS THE REST OF THE STORIES

      THANK YOU

      MARGARET OSBURN

      FOR EDITING THESE STORIES

      AND

      KEVIN O’MALLEY

      FOR DESIGNING THE COVER

      Footprints

      SOUNDS OFTEN FRIGHTENED HIM and kept him restless as unquiet memories marched through his mind. This morning was different. Almost smiling, he sat himself up on the edge of the bed, reached for his jeans and managed to pull them over his new legs. He finished dressing himself with a red sweatshirt emblazoned Semper Fi and tried not to make too much noise as he moved himself into the kitchen. When he entered, his family’s voices fell silent. The room filled with smiles.

      Daddy. Daddy… you’re up!

      * * *

      IT WAS THE stillness of the newly fallen snow that had stirred him from bed. He’d opened his eyes to the morning brightness and lain there a moment to take in his wife’s scent. It lingered on the warm print sheets, sheets so much more welcoming than those of the hospital bed where he’d spent so many months during the last year and a half. He had waited long for a morning such as this.

      The snow, the wonderful white of winter covered the world, his world—the world he had dreamed of as his sweat had soaked through the layers of clothing he’d worn over there in the desert. He was glad for the cold, grateful for the opportunity to struggle to prepare for this day, a day more than a few of his colleagues no longer had.

      Slowly, with a cadence he’d learned on drill fields, he’d moved what was left of his body to the edge of the bed, pausing only to take in the sweet sound of muffled voices, hers softening theirs with Shh… Daddy’s still asleep.

      He knew the routine. He’d gotten past most of the dread some time ago. With the certainty of assembling his rifle, he’d lifted and affixed the one and then the other leg to the rounded cotton-covered remnants of his knees. He no longer experienced pain as much as awkwardness, which was also now finding a place in his life.

      So, as he’d gone about the task of dressing, he’d remembered how he’d sworn he wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t go through this. Not me. No way. No how. I’d rather be dead . . .

      * * *

      SHE WAS GLAD to be able to pour coffee into his favorite mug.

      He took a sip as he reached the counter and, looking at the three of them, said, Well, what are you waiting for? Why aren’t you all dressed? Time’s a wastin’. With that, his son and daughter scurried from the room. And, within an instant, they were back.

      The young boy struggled with his snow pants and one boot, while his older sister asked Mom for help with the gloves she hoped matched her jacket. Mom smiled as she helped the boy find his missing boot and gave approval of the girl’s gloves. She made sure which hat belonged on whose head.

      Dad watched, amazed, and was soon helping. Before long, he stood at the door, the cold trying to push into the house even before the door had been opened. Then, from the open doorway, the three stood looking out as if

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