Book Four of Five

Hughes David

Description

Book Four of Five is the latest collection of five gripping short stories from prolific author David Hughes.Once again, he has written stories that will keep the reader speculating on the subject, with plot lines that compel you to think about life and consider the foibles and habits of the general public. Our way of life has developed year on year - sometimes the changes are improvements and sometimes they can be detrimental to society at large.Science has made huge leaps forward, with technology giving even the most ordinary person the capability to bring about catastrophic events, as can be seen in 'Liquid Oxygen'. In another story, genetics, the study of heredity, and the biological process where a parent passes certain genes onto their children is featured - along with the hazards of making friends at university and work in others.Who would guess that everyday life could be so perilous!

Sujets

• Short story

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 16 juillet 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780722350171
• Langue: English

Extrait

Book Four of Five
David Hughes




Published in 2020 by
Arthur H. Stockwell Ltd
Torrs Park, Ilfracombe
Devon, EX34 8BA
www.ahstockwell.co.uk
Digital edition converted and distributed by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Copyright © 2020 David Hughes
The right of David Hughes to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.



Baby Chain
Just think about babies being born into this crazy world and the impact on the mother because of one of the many, many complications that can be in play at that time. The mother might not be conscious at the actual birth! The baby can be taken away by a student midwife and checked over! The mother might not actually see the baby she gave birth to for hours – even days! Ah, so how does the woman know that the baby she is presented with is actually the one she gave birth to? The woman will always say she would know!
Oh well, we all know the normal words spoken, “he/she has your nose” or “he/she has your eyes” etc., etc. Codswallop! Farm animals tell by smell and taste because by sight they all look the same!
Read the true story!
Introduction
Families, well what about families? There seems to be so many different families in the world! But you know the main features of families, the principle fact that most persons relate to with families, are the children!
No matter where you are in the world you will always tend to notice the children first then possibly the parents! Living in a village you tended to meet the children first! But no matter whether you met the parents first or the children first I could always pair the two together! Especially on parents’ evening at a girls’ grammar school! Having spent many days in the presence of some 120 new girl pupils I could observe and learn about the characteristic of each and every girl pupil, so when the first parents’ evening came along, although in my case it was a first time meeting the parents, I could always match the parents with the pupil! (I was not a teacher but teacher of teachers, and spent eighteen years in that job, so was involved with some twenty-five thousand pupils and eight thousand teaching staff.)
But, and the but can always appear, usually with a perfectly valid reason, you should never ever become complacent with your theories! Why? Well, there can be a significant difference in the parents! These days the parents you meet are not necessarily the child’s biological parents! So, many parents may not be the birth parents! We can have children who are adopted – we can have children who have a mother and father who are not the parents who brought the children into the world! Oh boy, that can have nasty surprises and major consequences caused by education! I pe rsonally remember well just how education can cause a serious rift and serious trauma in families!
For example, with the biology department following the curriculum and teaching about the human body! Male and female – the skeleton, the bones, muscle, sex organs and some very detailed videos etc. Now, as previously said, without thinking the teacher explains that the pupil’s eye colour is based on their parents’ eye colour. So, the teacher has assisted each pupil to make a note in their homework books of their own eye colour so they can add their parents’ colour as well!
But the teacher has no common sense and does not consider that the parents might not be the pupil’s biological parents! Next day there are many phone calls to the head teacher from outraged and distraught parents. In some cases it was the first time the child had found out they were adopted or the mother or father were not the ones they expected! Oh boy, just imagine the problems a simple lesson in biology can cause in families!
Oh, another thing, when working in a girls’ school you quickly learn just how some girls can be so spiteful to another! Yes, you can imagine how we suddenly had many pupils having serious mental problems caused by other pupils making fun of them regarding the parents who were not who they thought they were!
Now, you have some valued information of family life! I expect some of you have been trying to remember your parents’ eye colour etc., and will spend time trying to correct my information! So, in my own case my children, two boys and one girl, one boy has blue eyes, and one boy and the girl have brown eyes! My own eyes are brown and my wife’s were eyes blue, so that is OK! Oh yes, before some of you start screaming that there can be occasions when the eye colours do not follow the norm! I remember well one girl who, despite both her parents being white, had brown skin and eyes – I’m sure you can imagine the stares, the questions, and the whispering dialogue which was polluting the airwaves when that family were noticed! This very unusual phenomenon was listed as a ‘throwback’ – I’m not too sure of the scientific details, but think it may be to do with genes! I expect there will be some of you avid readers who will want to look up and study the scientific answer in great details and probably will be on the lookout for possible sighting of similar ‘throwbacks’!
Chapter One
So why all this information? Well, I always believe that you can enjoy a story if you can understand the history and the possible science as well as being more aware of the happenings in the world around you! So many persons will watch the TV and observe the media reports yet still do not really understand the simple fundamentals of the human race, as well as the way the planet earth operates so we can actually exist!
This story has a very simple beginning, but like so many stories the beginnings are usually at the middle or the end!
So we start many years from the actual beginning!
We have a major family trauma, which occurs because of a simple medical fact!
Carol and Frank are your normal happily married couple and they have two daughters, Alice is the oldest and Katie is two years younger! Just seventeen years have passed since Alice was born at the Parish Park maternity hospital. There had been some complications with the birth because of the position of the baby’s head, so Carol had an emergency caesarean section as a result. Carol was to spend a few days recovering in a side room on her own and new baby Alice was looked after in the maternity ward nursery by trainee midwife nurses! So Carol had not seen baby Alice when she was born! Alice was born in the early afternoon and Frank had phoned the hospital to find out if Carol was OK, and had been informed she was still asleep, so he popped in in the evening! Carol was still asleep so he had visited Alice in the nursery on his evening visit and had seen Alice for the first time, and like all newborn babies wrapped up, they all looked the same and just a name tag identified Alice!
Carol was still under the anaesthetic so Frank would not be able to speak to her until the next day at the afternoon visit. Frank turned up for the visit and on his arrival the nurse brought baby Alice into the room and gave her to Carol for first time so everybody was happy!
But, now it was some seventeen years since the first daughter was born, and despite the happy times, recently Carol had been attending her local GP with unusual problems! Not quite the normal everyday women’s problems! Carol had been referred to the local hospital to have an investigation into the possibility of bowel or stomach cancer. But after extensive tests, scans and micro keyhole surgery with biopsy of various body organs, Carol’s problem was found to be Huntington’s disease and was unusual because it was an inherited disease and Carol had inherited the genes from her parents!
Frank, being a worrier type of husband, insisted that he was checked in case he was the one who had inherited the disease from his family and had transferred it to Carol! That fact was cleared up by the consultants and Frank accepted that it was on Carol’s side of family and not his! Carol and Frank were informed that the daughters could also have the disease as it was inherited!
Now, Alice and Katie had not been told the full details of Mum Carol’s problem and certainly not told that they could have inherited the disease! Alice and Katie were just told that their dad just had a minor infection, had been tested just for confirmation, and it would be wise if they, Alice and Katie, had tests to confirm they were also clear!
Carol and Frank had been quite adamant that they would be informed of the daughters’ results and not the daughters. Being responsible parents and aware of their daughters’ possible reaction, they certainly did not want strangers breaking the news, good or bad, to them!
There was good news from the daughters’ tests, neither Alice nor Katie seem to have inherited the dreaded disease! But there was bad news, oh yes, very bad news – Carol and Frank were found not to be the biological parents of daughter Alice!
Carol and Frank just could not believe the test result and