It's funny how things shouldn't happen.
Funny how the most praised and respected surgeon of his era finds himself reaching retirement feeling as though he hasn't accomplished the goals he set himself all those years ago. Funny how the richest of men, in a time of poverty, sees himself as unlucky.
It shouldn't happen, should it?
You shouldn't assume there is an heir to this old man's fortune, everyone does but they shouldn't and they wont find one when the time comes, or will they?
Because, you see, there should be an heir, but not one of the usual kind. This heir would be a boy, but again, not one of the usual kind, assuming your usual is the same as everyone else's.
But then again... this man's life wouldn't have ever been normal.
-
Dr White was an unhappy man. The world around him assumed money brought instant happiness, but White knew they were hopelessly wrong. He knew he should be happy, but knowing you should doesn't mean you are.
He spent decades fixing other people's problems and took pride in it. He would stand in the small doorway to his surgery and smile back at the numerous families that came seeking his assistance. Every one of them left with a smile on their face. He was just that kind of man.
But there was always one thing that could dampen that smile.
Children.
Do not be mistaken, he adored children. He worked overtime during every Christmas, just to make sure every child was attended to.
And that was what saddened him. He had no children of his own to attend to. There was no shortage of women after a rich doctor such as himself, but his work had consumed him, and he was now to old to start a family of his own.
With the last fair well still ringing through his mind, Dr White set off home. His father would not be proud of him. He never was. Right up to the day he died he shunned his own son for leaving the family carpentry for a job in medicine. Even though it was his son's medicine that kept him alive.
He had not abandoned carpentry completely. He'd paid to keep the family business alive and out of debt for many years, but now his only links with the craft were gathering dust in one of his many outbuildings.
And it is during this trail of thought that it struck him.
This old man suddenly had a spring in him step as he rushed home. Wide eyed and gleaming, he unlocked the old door to his carpentry and with an almighty shove opened the door, sending years of dust flying. For it was, during his walk through old London town, that he realised he could solve his childless problem;
He would build himself a child!
Dr White knew the anatomy of the human body like no other so, calling on all his knowledge of carpentry, he started to carve himself a son.
-
For nearly a year nothing was heard of Dr White. Rumours were passed round of his project, but no one dared find out if they were true.
In the mean time, he spent his days locked in the same shed, carving and carving away. He would not rest untill everything was perfect.
And perfection it was. Lying peacefully on the old wooden table.
