The Story of a Doctor's Telephone

A doctor's telephone promises quick help for patients, but every ring brings another interruption into his household. Ellen M. Firebaugh turns that predicament into comic scenes told from a wife's perspective. Mary must distinguish between two telephone systems, several signals, a striking clock and the doorbell, while her husband struggles to find the right receiver. Calls arrive at night, connections break off, and the familiar demand for the doctor can carry either a real emergency or an unnecessary question.

Country drives give the couple time for a different kind of conversation. They joke about unsafe steps and preventive medicine, admire roadside flowers and trees, and recall a child's confident ideas about God's favorite color. The book combines household humor with glimpses of medical work and rural life. Its particular interest lies in the small negotiations around a new convenience that makes a physician easier to reach and his family's sleep harder to protect.