Writing for Fun
November 2018
The Faint Pulse - Anne Wilson
11.35 a.m.
The clock in the private room of the hospital ticks loudly but no-one can hear it: they are too traumatised to notice.
A heavy set, coarse-looking man of fifty-five paces the room with knuckles clenched. He is sweating profusely, despite the moderate November climate and will not be pacified. There is too much at stake for him. On a chair, zombie-like and staring into space sits the wife of the man whose life hangs in the balance. She does not flinch from the tactile reassurances of those present, nor from their occasional words of comfort, but neither does she respond to them. She does not move. She is in her own private hell, blood splattering her fashionable clothing.
11.40 a.m.
The coarse-looking man has a notorious short-fuse and language to match but has tempered his natural inclinations because the wife of his boss is amongst those waiting; sitting on a chair inches from him in a traumatised state and bearing the worst burden of all. She is the sole member of the family for whom he has any time or fondness and, if the outcome is tragic, his foreknowledge of the events that have precipitated it, together with his tacit acceptance of it, is his one regret in that will place an intolerable strain on her. The waiting is starting to affect him and he starts to swear at his own, long-suffering wife, barking at her in a distinctive Southern drawl.
He is being driven to distraction by the bland and unresolved up-dates on his boss’s condition from the hospital staff and no words will assuage his impatience. Hot drinks are brought in by well-meaning staff, but they remain untouched.
11.50 a.m.
The tension is relentless and the silence deafening. The seemingly endless waiting forces the agitated man to take further stock of his situation. He knows that he is not as attractive or youthful looking as his boss. There is under ten years in age between them, but there could be twenty. Neither does he possess his easy manner and charm but he knows his importance to this powerful family and resents their casual treatment when they know that they would not have achieved their goal without him. He is the nominal number two but the reality is that it is his boss’s younger brother who truly assumes that role: a yapping, inexperienced whippersnapper who has no right to be in a position he has attained merely by dint of nepotism. He dislikes him with an animosity that can scarcely be concealed and the feeling is heartily reciprocated. 12 p.m.
The door swings open, making the people in the room jump; their hearts racing in anticipation. A surgeon in a gown, hair awry and face beaded with sweat, advances towards them.
He looks grim and tense, as if about to bear bad tidings, but then he smiles and his words surprise them.
‘We were lucky,’ he tells them. ‘We found a very faint pulse initially, indicating that the injuries sustained were not fatal, as we first thought. We’ve stabilised the patient and my colleagues are operating now. He will make a full recovery, although it may take time.’ He sighs deeply, as if to emphasise the enormity of what could have happened. ‘Believe me, if the man responsible had been a better marksman the second bullet would have resulted in almost instant death and we would be having a very different conversation now.’
Words of gratitude, both to the surgical team and the Almighty are uttered. The seated woman arises from her chair and collapses into the arms of one the others waiting; relief torrenting from her and releasing her from the grip of inertia.
The man with the drawl, however, turns away from the others and faces the window in an effort to conceal his anger and bitterness. He knows now that he can now only be a caretaker until his boss recovers and that a tidal wave of national sympathy and sense of outrage at such an act of violence will then sustain his boss’s position for several years to come, at which point his odious younger brother will very probably take his place. An instinct for self-preservation begins to kick in. He alone out of any of those present knows the identity of the person who will be made the scapegoat for the crime; an impressionable young ex-Marine with a wife and child who will be caught very quickly and will probably crumple under cross-examination equally as quickly. That must never be allowed to happen. He knows of a seedy local night-club owner in poor health; possibly with a terminal illness and therefore with nothing to lose, who will silence the ex-Marine forever. Plans must be put in force immediately to see that he does so. One by one, all those involved must be eradicated.
In years to come, dramatic incidents such as this, whatever the outcome, (good or bad) will be known to the worldwide public within minutes – less, maybe. But nobody on that day can anticipate that. This is 22nd November, 1963 and television, not only nationally but worldwide, will struggle to cope with the breaking of this news and re-scheduling of programmes. The following day it will be the newspapers who will maximise and capitalise on emotions, as their readers see the headlines that will chart the course of history forever.
‘ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE PRESIDENT KENNEDY FAILS.’
EXTRACT FROM THE TIMES:
OBITUARY – JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY (1917 – 2007)
Former U.S. President, John (Jack) Fitzgerald Kennedy, died of complications from Addison’s disease yesterday, two days short of his ninetieth birthday. He had suffered from the illness since the 1940s but had well exceeded the normal life expectancy – an example of the charmed lives of what is widely regarded as America’s First Family.
In November, 1963, Kennedy narrowly escaped death from an assassin’s bullet and recovered sufficiently to fight, and win, a further term in office the following year before being succeeded for a further two terms by his younger brother, Robert Francis Kennedy, who stood against a resurgent Richard Nixon on each occasion. During his Presidential campaign ‘Bobby’ Kennedy had also been fortunate enough to survive an assassination attempt, despite being close to death for several days: thus coining the term ‘The Luck of the Kennedys.’
The Kennedy family holds a unique place in American history that remains unparalleled in that three of its members have occupied the office of President in an unbroken sequence of two terms apiece, spanning the period 1961 to 1985. Edward Kennedy, who succeeded his older brother, Robert, was arguably able to maintain family occupancy of the highest office in the land as a result of his heroic rescuing of a young girl from drowning on the island of Chappaquiddick, in the Kennedy’s home state of Massachusetts some years before in 1969, despite strong Presidential campaigns by the Republican party and its candidate, Ronald Reagan. John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s greatest achievements include the aversion of nuclear war during the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis and the successful conclusion of the Vietnam War in a time-frame thought to be impracticable. During Robert Kennedy’s two terms as President, he acted very much as the ‘power behind the throne’ and was instrumental in assisting him in pushing through many Civil Rights bills, working in close association with Martin Luther King. He also oversaw the Moon Landing programme that ultimately took place during Robert Kennedy’s first term of office in 1969 – a project that had been close to his heart since originally first taking office in 1961.
Separated from the late Jacqueline Kennedy (nee Bouvier) following completion of his second term of office at the end of 1968, Jack Kennedy was linked to many powerful and beautiful women.
He is survived by his two children from his marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy. John Kennedy Junior is widely tipped as a possible fourth Kennedy occupant of the White House; thus ensuring an unprecedented succession of family members to the post.