Skip to main content

The House Call


“The House Call” is a story of appearance-after-death. It occurred in the city of Germany in 1903. The main character of the story is an old German doctor named Dr. Emil Braun. While he was trying to have his dinner at 9:30, a little girl came to his house for call. She told him that her mother was very sick. Despite his wife’s unwillingness and his overtiredness, Dr. Braun decided to help the child’s mother and followed the child. He thought it was an order to him by God.



            It was raining. The child led him past the hospital where Braun was the head surgeon, to an old house in the tenement area of the outskirts of the city. The doctor tries his best of his age to catch up the girl but could not do so. She finally led him at the top of the fifth floor of an old house.

            The girl took the doctor to a room where a woman was very sick, and lying in the bed as if dead. Dr. Braun immediately recognized the woman because she used to work at the same hospital as he did.

            The doctor noticed that the woman was suffering from pneumonia. He gave her some medicine. Sitting on chair near the woman, he started talking to the woman. Her name was Elda. The doctor told her how her daughter had come to call him, but the woman said that her daughter Adelheid was already dead. She died three months before. The doctor had a look of surprise on his face as he looked around the room. The little girl was not there.

            The woman said that she had kept her daughter’s shoes and shawl to remind her of her daughter. She pointed to the corner of the room where they had been kept. The doctor got up and looked at the shawl and shoes. They were shabby and wet. It feared him a lot. The woman told the doctor that he was mistaken about who went to get him that night. She further said he came over there because she had been thinking about him; she had been wishing, and praying earlier that night that he would have come for her checkup.

            It was sure to the doctor that the child was dead and her spirit went to call him. Finally, he touched her feverish head once more, he ran to heel to see his wife.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

facebook, twitter, google plus

Popular posts from this blog

Class 12 Optional English 11 Sets Past Paper(2078-2081) Solution

 Class 12 Optional English 11 Sets Past Paper Solution   CDC Model Question 2078 Optional English Grade: XII                                 Time: 3 Hours                      Full Marks: 75 Group-A Choose and copy the best answer. (11×1=11) 1.      What is a dead language?                 i.    A language no longer used in everyday life.               ii.    A language that no one speaks any more.            iii.    A language that is learnt solely for ceremonial p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who was Khaptad Baba? (Biography) by Ganesh B. Dhami

Khaptad Baba Khaptad Swami or Khaptad Baba was an eremite who is reported to one day have come to the Khaptad plateau of western Nepal from Punjab, India during 1940s in his 60s. Yet, some historians argue that h e had come from Pakistan since some of his writings are written in Urdu. Much about the origin and background of Khaptad Swami is shrouded in mystery. Some speculate that he was a medical doctor trained in England. It is rumored that when he was practicing in a hospital, he was astonished by some miracles of life and death phenomenon, like a declared dead person revived, which was almost impossible from the perspective of modern science. He was once, desperately trying to save the life of a child. But minute by minute, the child was going towards the dark cave of the death. He found himself utterly helpless. Then, a hermit came in his town of Jammu-Kashmir with Himalayan herbs and power of Yoga, saved the life of that child. After that incident, he kne...
7 comments
Read more

Abiku(poem) by Wole Soyinka

  Abiku -Wole Soyinka "Abiku" is a poem by Wole Soyinka that explores the Yoruba concept of the abiku, a spirit child who is born repeatedly to the same mother, only to die young and return to the spirit world. The poem is rich in imagery, symbolism, and Yoruba cultural references. Summary of Abiku The poem is narrated by the abiku itself, who speaks with a sense of pride and defiance. It declares that no matter how many sacrifices or rituals are performed, it will continue to return and die again. The abiku describes its familiarity with suffering, hunger, and the pain of its repeated existence. It seems to challenge the efforts of its parents to keep it alive, suggesting that it is beyond human control. Themes in Abiku a.      Fate and Destiny – The abiku is trapped in a cycle of birth and death, suggesting that some things are beyond human influence. b.      The Supernatu...
Post a Comment
Read more