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The 26 eclectic-genre
short stories for my #AtoZChallenge are excerpts from travelogue notes by
novel character
Gahlen, who first appeared in SHARDS OF
MEMORY – Oral History in a Heartbeat.
Each A-to-Z daily post is a
complete, stand-alone tale.
Quarantine Station Grosse Isle, Québec
Genre: Horror
– truth and fiction
(321 words)
The lazaretto and quarantine facilities here on Grosse Isle in the St.
Lawrence River opened in 1832. That row of cannons on the beach faces
approaching boats that carry staff. Immigrants are arriving by the thousands
for inspection. Cholera and typhus are getting out of control.
Often we have to hold immigrants for unspecified
amounts of time even if they do not test positive for disease or sickness. Parents
with symptoms of cholera are placed in isolation.
In the disinfection building we have what
is called decontamination equipment. We use it to destroy cholera germs on
immigrants’ meager belongings. Curious, unsupervised children clamor for a look
inside. Workers assigned to the tedious task of disinfecting property shoo them
away.
My job is to guard the property. After one
evening shutdown, a boy begged me to remove the bad bugs crawling around in
him. On the spot, I concocted a plan. If the disinfecting process could destroy
cholera on clothing, why not use it to wipe out diseases inside immigrants? The
equipment was too compact for adults, but I could start with a small child. If
it worked, I would be rewarded, maybe even become famous.
Calculating what I could buy with the
reward money, I helped the boy crawl inside and shut the door. I adjusted the
dials, compensating for the reduced timespan with a higher temperature. For a
moment, I felt some uncertainty. But the machine kicked in and I figured it was
too late to turn back. Once the door locked, the cycle began and ran its
course.
A ticking sound indicated the process
was complete. The lock deactivated and my doubts mounted. Had the boy actually been
infected with cholera? Was the machine capable of destroying germs inside a
body? How could I prove my plan had worked? As I opened the door, my questions
were answered. The plan had not worked, or else had worked too well.
*****
