Mr.Carter was worried. Adam seemed a bit off lately. It was difficult to raise a son without a wife. He had lost Mrs.Carter four years ago. Not a day goes by when Mr.Carter doesn’t miss Shelly as he faces the problem of raising Adam. Mr.Carter was never a fan of kids. However the day when Adam’s tiny hands had clutched his forefinger, the world had changed for him. “Nothing can go wrong now”, he had thought. Little did he know his wife was to leave him in three years, leaving him alone and the sole guardian for their little boy. As challenging as it was, Carter never let Adam feel the absence of a mother. He had taken up the challenge beautifully. He was both a loving, caring and anxious mother and a strict and capable father.
A day or two ago, Carter had realized Adam wasn’t the lively boy he usually was. He seemed tired and was not talking much. When talked to he would reply in a low and miserable voice. As much as grown up he thought himself to be, the seven year old Adam couldn’t seem to explain what was bothering him. “It feels odd.”, he would say. “In my tummy and head. Very odd.”
It was about time to take him to the doctor’s and who better than his eccentric friend - Dr. Montgomery. Montgomery was an old friend of Carter’s. They had know each other for a long time now. Montgomery was known not only for his fantastic skills as a doctor but also for his interest in dabbling in a lot of experiments. Carter got Adam ready and they took a cab to Montgomery’s residence.
Upon reaching the place, Carter addressed his son - “Look here now Adam. Dr.Montgomery may seem a little strange to you but he is a good man. He will cure you in a jiffy.”
Carter rang the doorbell. After a considerable amount of time, the door swung open and there stood Montgomery. He was an old man with a dump of untidy hair. He wore thick, old-fashioned glasses. Behind the glasses were two ruddy, tired and bulging eyes. He was stooping a little and had a dazed expression. His eyes wondered from Adam and then to Mr.Carter. “Yes?”, he said in an unnaturally loud voice. “What do you want?”
“Hello Montgomery! Its me, Jake. Not usual for you to answer the door!”, said Carter.
“Ah, Jake! Its been a long time! And that’s Raymond I suppose!”
“Yeah, that’s my son Adam.”
“That’s what I said! Come on in!”
They stepped into the house. The very first impression was one of neglect. Clearly, the house hadn’t been taken well care of. There were cobwebs on the ceiling and a layer of dust on all the furniture.
“Bad time?”, asked Carter.
“What ?”, Montgomery shouted, “Oh no! Not at all! I haven’t been seeing any patients lately. I had to let go of the house keeper.”
He stopped and stared at Adam. “But I can make an exception for Jake and Raymond here.”. His voice was still unnaturally loud.
“Thanks Doctor.”, said Carter.
They followed him into a room. It was more of a laboratory. The interior was lit up with fluorescent lights. On a desk in the center were cages with animals who looked sick. There was a cat who looked as if he had reached his time. A few mice in a cage were all dull and morose and not at all playful you would expect mice in a cage to be. Another cage had a parrot who was sleeping. The bird too looked very sick.
“Ah, you seemed to have spotted my collection of about-to-die animals!”
Carter and Adam stared.
“Oh but don’t worry! I am about to restore their health very soon!”
“I doubt it.”, said Carter. “They seem beyond help.”
“You seem to doubt my capabilities.”, said Montgomery with a frown. “Sit down! I will join you soon!”
The father and son sat down on chairs. “The man scares me.”, said Adam. “Don’t worry son. He is a bit eccentric but he is also a good doctor!”.
Although Carter sounded reassuring, he wasn’t that happy. It was one of those moments when one start’s doubting even the best of decisions. Although Montgomery was skillful, Carter wasn’t sure his old friend was still the same. He seemed a lot crazier than usual. Something inside him was making him regret thinking Montgomery would still be the same. But does age make you incapable? Or was it Montgomery’s more than usual eccentricity that had built a wall of doubt in his mind?
Montgomery was one of the finest doctors of his time. Carter hoped he would still be the same. After another long time, the doctor entered the room.
“Yes?”, he said. “What are you doing here?”. Was he trying to joke? Carter’s doubts increased.
“I’m Jake remember? With my son, Adam!”. “Well yes of course you are! What brings you here?”.
“My son seems a bit off lately doctor.”
As Jake Carter started relating Adam’s problem, he seemed to forget his doubts. His voice was suddenly full of the concern you would expect from a mother. All he wanted now was to see his son normal again.
“Well I must say Jake, you have come at the perfect time! You see I have been developing a serum which can make the most morose person happy and a limp man up and running. This magic serum has taken years of experiments. But recently I have been having several brainwaves. I think I have perfected the serum at last! I shall test my serum on these animals right now!”
Saying so Dr.Montgomery took out a small glass vial out of his pocket. The glass vial was full of a clear liquid. Even though Jake was curious, his suspicion overcame him.
“Are you sure about this doctor. The last thing I want is my disturbed son to see animals dying before his eyes!”.
“Well of course I am sure!”, said Montgomery, the frown back on his face. “Now wait and watch!”.
Montgomery broke off the tip of the vial and sucked in the contents into a syringe. He went over to the cat and took it out of its cage. The cat seemed even worse now. It didn’t have much time left. Montgomery carefully injected the serum into the body of the animal. And right then something unexpected happened. It was so sudden and unbelievable that Adam and Jake were left dumbfounded. It couldn’t be true. After all the cat looked ready to die! It looked unnatural and too good to be true.
As soon as the serum had been injected, the cat had sprung off the table and started running around the room. Spotting the cage of mice, the cat sprung back on to the table and started scratching at the cage. In fact, it was now hard to believe that not until a second ago the cat was about to die. He had become perfectly normal and behaving like an ordinary cat.
“Marvelous! Unbelievable!”, cried Carter. “What a miracle!”
One by one, Jake and Adam stared with astonishment at how the mice and the birds were revived as well. The bird started to flap its wings and the mice started playing with each other. It seemed almost impossible. Yet Carter saw the impossible before his very eyes.
“This serum, my friend, I will inject into your son and you will see how fit he becomes in seconds!”
Once again the doubt was back. Maybe it was the mother inside of him. But the very idea of injecting his son with some “magic serum” was repulsive and illegal. Although he had seen the worth of the serum with his very eyes, he didn’t want to dabble with his son’s health.
“I don’t think so doctor. Why don’t you try a normal medicine? This serum doesn’t seem right to me”.
“Now look here, Jake. I expect a much more rational approach from a man like you! And anyway, your son is not that sick! He will require a very negligible amount!”
This time the father inside of him appealed. Medicines were given to people. This too was a medicine. And what harm can a negligible amount bring? Had he not seen what the medicine was capable of.
“OK doctor. But just a small amount!”
Adam was injected with the serum. As soon as the serum went inside his body, Adam became the boy he was. His drooping and tired eyes became lively and and his face gained back the shine it had lost. Carter hugged his son. He was glad his son was back to normal.
“Ha ha! Good enough! Now Jake, tonight I will try the medicine on myself. But not a meager amount but another vial of it.”
“Now don’t do that doctor! Things could go horribly wrong! That much amount! Especially when nothing is wrong with your health!”
“Don’t get worked up Jake! The worst that can happen is I might start barking and scratching on the door seeing as the main ingredient of the serum is dog hair!”, Montgomery joked. “I want you to arrive at ten today and get astonished by the results.”
Carter and Adam took leave. The whole morning kept the mother in Carter awakened. He kept a close watch on his son. But he seemed perfectly normal. The serum certainly was a miracle. Montgomery had outdone himself. He laughed at himself for being so paranoid and shook off the feeling that the drug was harmful.
At nine, Carter put Adam to sleep. Adam seemed more excited than usual and didn’t want to turn in. After a lot of persuasion, he did go to bed. He slept curled up with his knees to his chest. He called over the sitter and left the house.
On the way to Montgomery’s, Carter gave his son a great deal of thought. His paranoid thoughts were returning. Was it right of him to allow his son to be injected. And did he really require something so unnatural? Now he came to think of it, the odd feeling in his head and stomach was probably gas. Nothing a strong antacid wouldn’t cure! But then he remembered the lighting up of his son’s face as soon as he was injected. How the animals were rescued. This drug was certainly magic. Nothing that he sees or hears now will change it. The drug was certainly a breakthrough.
At ten he reached Montgomery’s resident. The main door was unlocked. He went inside and headed for the laboratory. As he was moving toward the lab, he wondered why Adam was sleeping curled up in that fashion. As if he was an animal. Upon reaching the door, he stopped dead in his tracks. Someone was scratching on the door and there was the sound of barking in the voice of what sounded horribly like an old friend of his.