The Grumpy Doctor

The Grumpy Doctor

In a small village in England called Cromwell, there lived a doctor named Dr. Charles. He had once worked as a senior surgeon at a very big hospital in London. A surgeon is a doctor who performs operations. But one day, something strange happened. Dr. Charles developed a fear of blood. Every time he saw blood, he started vomiting. The hospital told him he could no longer be a surgeon, so he became a general practitioner instead. That's the kind of doctor you visit when you have a cold or a cough.

Dr. Charles left London and moved to the small village of Cromwell to start his new practice. At first, many villagers were excited. They thought, "Wow! Such a big doctor from London! He must be really good!" And he was. Dr. Charles was actually one of the best doctors. He knew everything about the human body and truly cared about his patients. He wanted to give them the best treatment. But he did not believe in giving unnecessary medication.

The problem was, Dr. Charles was very grumpy. If anyone said "Good morning!" to him, he would snap, "What's good about the morning?" If someone said "Hello," he would just say "Shoo!" and wave them away. He was a 50-year-old man with no wife and no children, and he was grumpy all the time. He was always snorting at people and never smiled.

When Dr. Charles opened his clinic in Cromwell, many patients came to see him on the first day. One woman came in and said, "Hello, Doctor. I've been having a little pain in my back."

Dr. Charles examined her back and didn't find anything wrong. He asked, "What is your lifestyle? What do you do all day?"

She replied, "Oh, I don't do much work. I just sit on my bed and watch Netflix for hours."

The doctor said bluntly, "That's the problem. Stop watching Netflix, go for a walk every day, and your back pain will go away."

"Any medicine?" she asked hopefully.

"Shoo! No medicine! Go!" he said, waving her out of his clinic.

The villagers were used to their previous doctor, Dr. Sharma, who always gave them medicine for everything. If someone had a headache, Dr. Sharma would say, "Oh, you have a headache? You must take this very seriously!" and give them aspirin and other medicines. He wanted to keep his patients happy, even if they didn't really need medication.

But Dr. Charles was different. Another woman came to him and said, "Doctor, when I walk, I start to pant. Do you have any medicine to open up my lungs?"

He replied harshly, "No, madam. You are very fat, and that's why you pant. You need to exercise. After three months, you will stop panting. Now get out of my clinic. Don't come to me for silly medication!"

The woman was very upset. "You insulted me!" she cried.

"No, get out!" he said. "You are so fat. Go lose weight. Don't ask me for medicine."

Many patients got upset with Dr. Charles. Someone would come in and say, "My eyes are itchy." Other doctors would give them eye drops, but Dr. Charles would say, "Go wash your eyes with cold water. Get out of here!"

One girl came to him and said, "I have lice in my head."

Dr. Charles shouted, "Get out of my clinic! I don't want to get lice in my head!" But as she was leaving, he threw a bottle of medicine to her and said, "Catch this! Go home and put it on your head."

After some time, nobody really liked Dr. Charles. But Dr. Sharma had already left the village, so they had no choice but to go to Dr. Charles. People only went to him if they were very sick. If they had a slight tummy ache, headache, or cold, they would stay home and take care of themselves. But when someone was seriously ill, Dr. Charles always took good care of them, even though he was never polite or nice. He would always fix their problem, somehow or the other.

The villagers became so unhappy with Dr. Charles that they made a big complaint to the head hospital in London. They wrote, "This doctor is not nice to patients. He is always rude. He is a bully!" The hospital was very upset and sent someone to investigate. The villagers told the investigators, "We need a new doctor. We cannot have this doctor. You have to take him back and give us a new doctor." It looked like Dr. Charles would be sent away.

Then one day, something happened that changed everything. A young boy was up in a tree, plucking fruits, when he fell down. He had a massive fracture in his arm, his lungs were bleeding, and he could not breathe. People rushed to help and called for a doctor. At first, they didn't call Dr. Charles. They said, "We will call another doctor from a nearby village." That doctor came, but he didn't know what to do. He said, "We have to call an ambulance."

But the villagers said, "The ambulance will take one hour to come. By that time, this boy will die!"

The other doctor said nervously, "This is a very serious injury. I don't know what to do. You have to call an ambulance." So they called the ambulance, but the boy was lying there, unable to breathe.

Then someone called Dr. Charles. When he heard about the emergency, he came running. People said, "No, no, no! You are a bully. You are a rude man. You will not be able to help."

Dr. Charles pushed through the crowd and shouted, "Just get out of my way!" He quickly examined the boy. He saw that the boy's arm was dislocated—the bone had come out of the socket. With swift, expert hands, he popped the bone back into place. Then he saw that the boy was not able to breathe because his head was tilted down. He pulled the boy's head up and gave him CPR, pressing on his chest. The boy started to breathe a little. Dr. Charles noticed that a stick was stuck in the boy's lung. He carefully removed it. In just five minutes, he did all these things, and the boy was able to breathe again. The boy sat up, gasping for air.

The boy's mother rushed forward and hugged Dr. Charles. "Thank you so much! You saved my boy's life!" she cried.

The villagers realized that Dr. Charles was actually the best doctor. He just wasn't polite, and he didn't believe in giving unnecessary medication. They apologized to him and told the big London hospital to take back their complaint. They wanted Dr. Charles to stay with them.

Dr. Charles stayed in the village, but he did not change his ways. He was still always grumpy. But the villagers learned to accept him. They realized there was no need to say hello or good morning to him. They only went to him when they were really, really unwell. And when they did, he took very good care of them.

And that is the story of Dr. Charles of Cromwell.