Doctor Foster went to Glo'ster
In a shower of rain;
He stepped in a puddle, up to his middle,
And never went there again.
(Traditional Nursery Rhyme)
***
Doctor Foster just knew he was going to have a great day. He woke up early feeling rested and refreshed, was up in time to get his favorite donuts from the bakery down the street, and didn’t have very many patients in the afternoon, which gave him an hour and a half break, which was extremely rare. Since he had extra time, he even decided he would take a trip to one of his favorite lunch spots in the Gloucester, which would make his day even better. He also didn’t have any patients after 3:00, so he was going to be able to come home early and take his dog to the park, something he hadn’t been able to do since flu and cold season had begun. The sun was shining, the day abnormally warm, and the flowers were in full bloom as he walked to work in the happiest mood.
His day began going wrong as soon as he walked into his office. As he was filling up his coffee cup, his secretary frantically ran into him, spilling his coffee everywhere. She apologized, but said she didn’t know what to do because the phone had been ringing off the hook. Everyone had suddenly wanted to be seen immediately. His morning, which was only supposed to be filled with three or four appointments, changed to him seeing eight patients all before noon. He also now had to see patients all afternoon, meaning he was going to have to stay later than 3:00. He still had an hour and a half break, however, so he was still looking forward to being able to go to his lunch spot, which kept him in good spirits.
After a long morning of treating patients, some suffering from the actual flu while others seemed to just have a bad case of allergies, Dr. Foster was finally able to take his lunch break. He was so distracted with thinking about what he was going to get that he didn’t realize how dark the sky had become. He walked about a block from his office and it started pouring rain. Since it had been so warm and sunny earlier, Dr. Foster hadn’t even worn a jacket, let alone remembered an umbrella, and he was instantly soaked. He quickly found the nearest tube entrance, determined to not let this ruin his day.
He enjoyed the quick tube ride, getting in better spirits as the train approached his stop. He couldn’t wait to get his lunch and return to his office, where he could hopefully get through his appointments quickly and still make it home on time to take his dog for a walk.
Dr. Foster finally arrived at his stop and hurriedly ran up the stairs to get to the street. As soon as he reached the last step, he immediately planted his foot into a huge puddle of water, deep enough that it covered the bottom of his pants. To make matters worse, a car was driving by at that moment, hit a puddle, and covered him in water. Dr. Foster immediately turned around, got back on the tube, returned to work and never went to his favorite lunch spot in Gloucester again.
Author's Note: I did some research into the poem's origin, and it actually was created in the 13th century to warn children that puddles that they saw on the roads may be much deeper than they thought. King Edward apparently went to Gloucester and fell off his horse into an incredibly muddy puddle, which made him so embarrassed that he never returned to Gloucester again. I thought this was actually really funny because you hear about the ridiculous things monarchs did simply because they were embarrassed or didn't like something.
Bibliography: This story is based on the poem "Doctor Foster Went To Gloucester" in The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang (1897)
I found information on this story at this website.
The beginning of this doctor’s day was the calm before the storm. It’s funny how things can change so rapidly in a day.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you did research about the origin of the poem because when I first read it, I thought it was a very random poem with little meaning. Now I understand its purpose and I think it’s a pretty good lesson to keep kids away from puddles.
Jessica-
ReplyDeleteI had never heard the Doctor Foster’s Horrible Day nursery rhyme before. I love the thought that you put into this story! I think it is neat that you did outside research to form the basis of your story. I know you are an advertising major and I think that’s a great fit for you based on your creativity.
Ha! I loved the part in the author's note about King Edward... you hear about kings in movies or stories being that self-absorbed, but who knew stuff like that actually happened...
ReplyDeleteI also really liked all the detail you added to contrast the doctor's encounter with the puddle. If he hadn't been so looking forward to his long lunch break, early day off, dog-walking, etc., the rain might not have seemed like such a downer. But with the contrast of all the positive events he was looking forward to, it really made the unfortunate incident stick out.
To be honest, I was a little confused when I read the word "tube"... I thought that's what they called the subway in England... but Gloucester is in Massachusetts, so I thought the story was taking place in the States... but maybe I'm wrong. It might help to have the location toward the beginning of the story; establish the time, place, etc.
Another suggestion I would make is to be concise with your sentence structure/tenses. Instead of saying, "began going wrong," you could just say, "went wrong." And instead of "had suddenly wanted to," you could say, "Everyone wanted to see him immediately!" Or something along those lines.
I really liked your story and how you made a lot of details to make the reader enjoying your writing. Reading the title of the story can tell anyone what to expect from reading this story. and that is made me curious to know what happened in that day and especially when I started to read the first part of the story and know the doctor plan for the day. It is like I knew he was planning to go to his favorite lunch spot, but I was wondering while I am reading what will happen in the place, maybe he will not like the food or maybe he will find the he lost his wallet somewhere. I mean writing the plan for the day in the beginning was a great choice because that let my imagination works very good. I was thinking what if the doctor was not able to get to his office on time and he arrived late for his appointments with patients about 15 or 30 minutes, how can we make his horrible day start from this period of time .like make all the horrible things come to him before even he started his day in the office and the coffee spilling everywhere.
ReplyDelete