The story is taken from Berlin City of Germany. The main characters are Dr. Emil Braun, his wife Mrs. Braun and a sick woman Elda.
One day after Christmas of 1903, in the evening, Dr. Emil Brown of Germany was trying to make notes of the difficult surgical operation he did that day. He was trying to have dinner at the same time. But due to his tiredness he could not do either of them and soon dozed off.
Then a conversation about a house call between a small girl and his wife at his door woke him up. The child was saying that her mother was very ill and was dying soon. The doctor came to the door, talked to the girl. The girl of six or seven was thin and wearing cotton dress and shabby shoes. Dr. Emil became ready with his coat, hat and little black box despite his wife’s disagreement.
It was raining lightly. On the way the doctor tried to catch up the girl to ask some questions but the girl kept the distance between them and stopped for a short time only at the corners to make sure that the doctor was following.
The girl took him through the poorest part of Berlin, the section of the city around the hospital where he worked. Finally, the girl led him to an old house. They climbed the stairs through the dark hallway. The doctor tried to catch the girl on the stairs also but failed again. However, he felt energetic to climb up the stairs as if he was young. On the fifth floor the girl led the doctor to a room where woman was lying on a single bed. The girl thanked the doctor as he moved in and softly shut the door from outside. The elderly doctor easily recognized the woman. She worked as maintenance staff in the same hospital three years before. The doctor easily found out that the woman was suffering from pneumonia and gave her some medicine. He asked her if she had gone to live with her brother in country. The woman replied that she had gone but she had come back three months ago after her child’s death. They talked about the woman’s daughter confusingly. Then the woman showed her daughter’s shawl and shoes to the doctor in the corner of the room. The doctor examined them carefully. The doctor touched them and felt that they were wet. He was astonished to this. Then the woman said that there might have been some confusion about the girl who called the doctor. The doctor agreed. The woman said that she had been thinking about him and he came which was strange. The woman slept with her half sentence and the doctor left the room.
