26 Summer Street

Plot

A doctor is called to treat an ailing infant in an apartment in 26 Summer Street, which is in a poorer area of the town. He is welcomed by the infant's elder sister who tells him right at the door that it looks to her like the infant will die soon. Her mother is not home. While he examines the baby, he notices that the girl scratches her legs. He gives her advice on what to do to help with her legs and cure her acne. The doctor diapers the baby and gives her back to her sister. She asks if the baby is going to die. He says no and leaves with the excuse that he has to visit other patients in the neighborhood and instructs the girl to tell her mother that he will be back at 6 pm. She wants to come with him, but he passes over the offer with a joke. Before he goes she asks him why he is lying to her—he doesn't have another place around the neighborhood to go to. He just smiles and leaves.

He sits down on the stairs in front of the house and writes down his thoughts about the girl (under the title "The Girl with the Pimpy Face"): "Boy, she was tough and no kidding but I fell for her immediately. There was that hard, straight thing about her that in itself gives an impression of excellence." The girl comes down the stairs with the infant in her arms and asks if he plans to sit there till six. She gives him her sister. After holding her for a while, he is surprised and uses his stethoscope on her. He looks worried. He gives the baby back and leaves to buy soap for the girl. His thoughts reveal that he knows that the baby has maybe 6 months to live because she has a bad heart.

Cast

Showings