[January 2026, Issue 47] Tender Hand, Paul Kindlon

Judith was an impressionable child sensitive to both heat and cold.
Taking a bath was torture. And living in England was both a chore and
challenge to her gentle nature.
She was often ill and so had to stay at home in the stately mansion
with nervous servants attending her.
It was during those times when she encountered mysteries.
No one in the family ever talked about them though.
Not her mother or her brother Randloph.
Certainly not father.
She was left alone with silent questions and doubts.
Terribly difficult to share with family.
It just wasn’t done.
Her curiosity could not be cured, however.
Except by Doctor Haim. Kind Doctor Haim.
With his tender touch.
“They are fever dreams,” he explained.
“Try not to think about them, dear Judith. For your health.”
She tried, but the questions lingered. And the doubts only grew.
Who was this man who created so much confusion?
Mother told Judith that her father was a banker. But he never actually visited
a bank. She thought that odd. And made note of it.
She did notice that men came to visit her father at the mansion when she was ill.
Important men. The ones you read about in the newspapers.
These cigar smoke memories remained in her mind because she could hear through
the wall the stern voice of her father scolding these men as if they were servants.
Judith could not understand. The truth seemed obvious. Her father was very influential.
But why did he never have his photo taken with these people? And his name was never
mentioned in the papers. The mysteries grew. There seemed to be a discrepancy
between reality and the truth. It unnerved her, made her lose sleep, affected her health.
When Doctor Heim arrived, he looked worried. Very concerned.
Judith told him why she was upset and suffering so.
It was, she told him, because she knew a secret. A secret she could not carry alone.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“But I want to.”
The papers said her condition was terminal. Hopeless.
Despite his heroic efforts, the doctor failed to save the banker’s daughter.
Judith died.
In a fever dream.
The newspapers reported another tragic death one month later.
Doctor Heim.
They say he died by his own hand.