THE HOUSE CALL

While eating dinner, Dr. Braun was also trying to write notes about the surgery. He was not found doing either of them because he was too tired. Soon he dozed off. He woke up suddenly to hear the doorbell ring. When he went to the door he saw a girl standing on the doorway. He knew from the girl that she had come for house call because her mother was very ill. He followed the little girl and hurried through the streets to catch her up. He wanted to ask a few questions to know more about her but could not. She led him to a dark front hallway of a tenement house. She started up the stairs. The doctor followed her and she seemed almost fly up five stories. She stopped only long enough at the top of each flight of stairs to s

ee that the doctor was coming. As he reached the top of the fifth stairs, he saw her standing in front of the door way at the end of the dark hallway. She told the doctor that her mother was inside the room. As he walked past her, she thanked him. As the doctor entered, he heard the door slowly close softly behind him.

In the dim light the doctor saw a woman lying on a bed in a small room. When he drew closer, he knew that she was Elda. She worked as maintenance staff at the hospital. She had gone to village about three years ago to live with her brother. He knew that the woman was suffering from pneumonia. He gave her some medicine. He knew from her that she had returned to the town some three months ago right after her daughter’s death. She had kept her shawl and a pair of shoes as reminders. As he looked them closely he saw that the shoes were wet. There was a look of surprise in his face and her looked frightened. As he turned to depart, he saw that the lady had fallen asleep. Touching her feverish head once more he left the house.

There are two possible explanations of whom the girl was who came to fetch the doctor.

 One possibility is that it was a girl who lived near the sick woman.

However, the girl said it was her own mother who was sick. This means the girl must have been ghost of the daughter of the sick. The explanation is supported by the wet shoes and shawl, which the girl used to wear.