The Heart Murmur

This post is written for Friday Fictioneers.

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PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

 

Growing up he had wanted to play in all sports. Dr. Rulney didn’t like the “lub-DUPP”  sound he heard when he put his stethoscope to his chest.

He used to practice basketball free throws in his back yard. Sometimes he could make ninety five out of a hundred. He just knew he could have made the high school basketball team.

Later on in life he would learn these murmurs are common in healthy children. Many children will have heart murmurs heard by their doctors at some point in their lives.

This diagnoses did have one benefit: he would never see Saigon.

Author: Danny James

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”

18 thoughts on “The Heart Murmur”

  5. oh….I remember the lines and lines of young men, appearing with back braces and body art and self-induced high blood pressure trying to avoid the Vietnam war. We lost too many.

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    1. Indeed. The benches reminded me of where I took a physical for the Army standing buck naked with my clothing in a plastic bag waiting for that doctor that said I was unfit for duty. Took a bus back home and surprised my mom.

      Thanks for commenting.

      DJ

      Liked by 1 person

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  6. My mum used to say, you never know what it’s good for. Lovely story of a lucky young man even though his dreams of being a basketball star were shattered.

    Liked by 1 person

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  14. Great story. Regret, dissapointment, fate, salvation. All the ingredients of an everyday ‘ordinary’ life are captured brilliantly here.

    Liked by 1 person

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