The Severed Hand

“I don't know what I was thinking when I got so involved with my experiments. My poor Josette, she was the love of my life and to just throw it all away over an experiment was inconceivable, but I did. Now I must live the rest of my days as a lonely old man down in a dusty old lab with my assistant Gregor,” said Dr. Van Lewton.

“It's been ten lonely years with a bunch of botched experiments that seem to go nowhere. I thought I'd give it one more shot. Then all of a sudden there was a knock on the door. I said to Gregor, "Who could that be? No one has been at my castle since my beautiful wife Josette left me on that stormy night. I pleaded with her to stay, but she had all she could take and slammed the door behind her and left without saying goodbye. I know she was very hurt by me neglecting her, but I thought this experiment would bring us wealth beyond our wildest dreams. Enough self-pity, I better go see who is at the door. I wish you could talk to me Gregor, but you always do as I ask and I am grateful for your loyalty,” said Dr. Van Lewton.

Dr. Van Lewton was somewhat hesitant to answer the door, but he was excited to have a visitor. Dr. Van Lewton opened the door and tears flowed down his cheeks. He tried his best to hold back the tears, but they just kept flowing. Dr. Van Lewton said to his visitor, "Is that you Josette, Is that you, Please come in. I must be dreaming."

The visitor placed her hands on his cheeks wiping away his tears saying, "It is I, Josette, your wife, I'm coming home."

They embraced and their lips touched and the tears flowed down their cheeks.

Dr. Van Lewton said to Josette, "Please forgive me for what I have done. If you decide to stay, I promise things will be different, I won't neglect you as I did in the past."

They embraced and kissed one more time.

Dr. Van Lewton yelled out Gregor's name saying "Gregor! Gregor! Come here. I want you to meet our visitor."

Dr. Van Lewton was so excited he forgot Gregor couldn't hear a word he said. Dr. Van Lewton said, "Wait right here Josette, I'll go get Gregor, my caretaker and assistant. I want you to meet him.” Dr. Van Lewton went down to the laboratory to get Gregor to come upstairs to meet his beautiful wife, Josette. Dr. Van Lewton wrote down on paper what he wanted to tell Gregor as he has always done. Gregor was so excited for Dr. Van Lewton. He knew this would make the doctor a very happy man. Dr. Van Lewton wrote on a piece of paper introducing his lovely wife Josette to Gregor. The note said, "Gregor this is my beautiful wife, Josette, She came back to me and she wants to stay," said Dr. Van Lewton.

Gregor bowed in front of Josette, showing that it was an honor to meet her.

"Why isn't Gregor speaking?" said Josette.

"Gregor was born a deaf-mute, but he has been a great help with my experiments," said Dr. Van Lewton.

"That's a shame, does he have any family?" said Josette.

"No, he just showed up cleaning one day at the grounds of the castle and I asked him his name, but got no response. He made hand gestures and pointed at his mouth, that's when I knew he couldn't talk, so I pointed at the castle for him to follow me inside. Gregor followed me to the castle and we went inside my study. I had Gregor sit down at my desk and write his name and everything about him and why he was cleaning the castle grounds. He wrote on the piece of paper, my name is Gregor, and I live in the forest behind the castle and feed off the land. I have no family, but I've always dreamed of living in a castle I was afraid to ask if you needed a caretaker for the castle grounds. I just kept to myself until that terrible day when Josette left on that stormy night.

The next morning, I got the courage to come to your castle in hopes you could use me as your caretaker. I felt sorry for Gregor and gladly took him in and haven't regretted it for one moment. Now that I've introduced Gregor to you, Josette, I don't know about you both, but I'm famished. Why don't we go into the dining room and I'll have my butler Geston fix up a lovely meal with some wine to celebrate Josette's return."

They all sat down at the table and had a feast and Dr. Van Lewton and Josette talked about their loss of ten years of being apart from one another and how it affected each other’s lives. Dr. Van Lewton and Josette agreed on one thing they were both unhappy being apart from each other for so long.

"Josette if you're finished with your meal, I would like to get you settled into your room and when we both feel comfortable with each other’s company we can share a room and even start a family of our own. How does that sound to you, Josette?” said Dr. Van Lewton.

"That sounds wonderful to me. We should start things slow since we've been apart for so long," said a happy Josette.

Josette asked Dr. Van Lewton to be excused from the dinner table to freshen up before they took a stroll through the castle grounds and do some catching up on lost time.

"Josette, I'll be in my study finishing up some paperwork. When you're ready meet me in the study, I'll drop what I'm doing and we'll go for a long stroll through the castle grounds," said Dr. Van Lewton.

Josette kissed Dr. Van Lewton and Josette said,” I'll see you shortly my darling."

Dr. Van Lewton went to his study to write down his latest notes on his recent experiment. Josette arrived in his study about twenty minutes later in a stunning black dress. "Darling, are you ready, said Josette."

"Josette, you take my breath away in that dress," said Dr. Van Lewton.

Dr. Van Lewton got up from his desk, went over to Josette his arm around her, and said, "Let’s go for a long walk and catch up on things."

Dr. Van Lewton wrote on a piece of paper telling Gregor to keep an eye on the castle while Josette and I go for a walk.

Gregor wrote on a piece of paper "Okay, Doctor! It will be my pleasure. You and Josette take your time. I'll be down in the lab preparing for the next experiment."

Dr. Van Lewton and Josette were enjoying each other’s company and catching up on lost time. Dr. Van Lewton suggested they go for a ride in his carriage. As they were sharing a long-awaited kiss, a strong wind came by and the driver of the carriage lost control sending the carriage down a ravine. When Josette and Dr. Van Lewton regained consciousness, Josette screamed out "Darling your hand, your hand it's gone."