This post is written for Friday Fictioneers.
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.
I’ll bet his mom was happy.
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One of the best presents I ever gave her was the call that said I was coming home after the Army rejected me.
DJ
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some nice turn in the end
http://obliqview.blogspot.in/2016/05/waitingroom-prompt-j-hardycarroll-there.html
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Heart murmurs are way more comment than they could have imagined back then. Which is a good thing for your hero, isn’t it?
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And for me!
DJ
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Every cloud has a silver lining, I guess.
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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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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
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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.
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Cool story, neat turn.
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You win some, you lose some…nicely done!
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great punch.. see Saigon could have been the end or worse.
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Dear Danny,
Well, there is that. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Interesting take.
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Good comes out of bad! Niceee!
Btw, love your view – my favorite, books in bookcases!
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Good comes out of bad! Niceee!
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Great story. Regret, dissapointment, fate, salvation. All the ingredients of an everyday ‘ordinary’ life are captured brilliantly here.
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Interesting story.
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