Picture Perfect

By J. H. Catch

Dr. Martin Sanders is a young doctor who just landed his first job. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and the job is in Franklin, Tennessee. The new job is in a small town at a clinic that for some reason cannot keep a doctor on staff, as every doctor leaves abruptly and goes missing. Sanders is determined to make the most out of his position there and to be the doctor ongoing for the clinic; however, on his travels to the town, he has a run of bad luck, and his car breaks down. Although he receives help from the townspeople, they are very quiet about the previous doctors and their disappearances. The more questions he asks, the more silent the town folk become.

Thinking this to be just because he is a Yankee, he starts his job with hope and works until his fourth month at the clinic. Dr. Martin Sanders notices an old painting on the wall of the office, daily, that just doesn't look like it belongs, and one day he decides to take a closer look. He falls into the painting, dropping him into another world, a clinic seemingly like his own, only it is heaven. The town from which he came in Tennessee is purgatory. After serving his time there, he has a higher calling, but he isn't the only person there. Every doctor that went missing is there too, even his mother.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887318776

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

About the Author

cover.jpg

Picture Perfect

J. H. Catch

Copyright © 2023 J. H. Catch

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2023

ISBN 979-8-88731-876-9 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88731-877-6 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Chapter 1

It was a humid day in August 1981, and Dr. Martin Sanders did not mind that the humidity caused him to be slightly uncomfortable, because he was on his way to bigger and better things. With sweat beading on his brow, he took his white-cotton shirt that he just packed in his duffle bag, removed his specs, and wiped his youthful face quickly.

One more bag to go, old girl, said Dr. Martin Sanders.

The old girl, his '66 cherry-red Mustang, was in mint condition, and he took pride in the fact that he has had no accidents, no scratches and that he performed oil changes in a timely fashion for his vehicle. Dr. Martin Sanders grew up poor. His mother worked as a waitress at a diner in Baltimore, Maryland, and his dad was the local elementary school janitor. Today marks his last day in his parents' home, and the memories of years and emotions gone by are starting to flood even his youthful eyes. His dad died last fall from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. His mother, Eleanor Sanders, well, wanted the best for her son, even if it means flying from the nest.

Martin loved his dad with all his heart, and his dad was the reason he became a medical doctor. His dad's final days on this earth were not good. Not being able to breathe, confused, not eating, dying bit by bit daily, Martin and his mother watched the pathophysiology of the disease chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) play out till the very bitter end. Ironically, Martin is departing for Tennessee on the anniversary of his dad's death.

I will meet Gladys today at the Senior Center, Eleanor shouted from the stoop to her son in the driveway.

With a quick slam of the trunk, Dr. Sanders skipped to the red brick steps that he had scaled for years, only to make this the last time. Eleanor sat