by John White

Created on: October 29, 2009

Doctor Aldelman

This would be the most important surgery of Dr. Mattias Aldelman's sixty-year career as a physician. Mattias leaned over as far as his ninety three year old bones would let him and petted the three light brown American pit bull pups. One of the pups snapped at Mattias' thumb.

"Oh, you are what they say you are, my little friends. Such aggression from one so young, but it is not your fault of course. You are like them-" He pointed out the smoky window of his Flatbush apartment at three teenagers playing one on one at a net-less basketball hoop. "And they are like you, no? Fierce and angry but ah-that was how they were bred, no? Like you, little pups, it is all they know."

Mattias walked slowly to the window to pull closed the curtains Helen had made with her own hands forty years ago. They had enough money at the time to buy a nice set of curtains but they had both grown up during the depression and were not able to change their thrifty ways regardless of their financial condition.

Before he could close the curtain, one of the three boys pointed to him. It was Antoine. Mattias knew their names. He knew quite a bit about each of the three. Marcus and Antoine both lived across the street in the large public housing project. Neither had parents, raised by their grandmothers, like so many others. The white boy who hung out with them was called Beck. Mattias was unsure if it was short for a last name, maybe Beckham or Becker.

Antoine said something to the others and then casually dribbled the ball in the direction of Mattias' apartment. Mattias left the curtains open and stood steadfast in the window. He was too old and had seen too much to be intimidated by a bully.

Antoine stopped just short of the window and grinned. He pointed to a red gem embedded in his left incisor. Helen's. It was Helen's ruby, a chip from the larger stone. Antoine was flaunting his prize to Mattias.

Mattias closed the curtains and hummed Liebestraum to calm himself and drown out Antoine's laughter.

The puppies barked, first to one another and then to Mattias who waved a finger at them. "Oh no, no, my friends. I can't feed you now. It would be a waste of good milk, you see."

He went into the second bedroom he still used as an office, where the poor and the forgotten came to him for his help. How could he refuse now? He had not refused for sixty years and he would not start now. The sick had changed over the years from mostly white and mostly Jewish to now mostly black and

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• Next Page >>