F Scott Fitzgerald

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button F Scott Fitzgerald

As long ago as 1860 it was the proper thing to be born at home. At present, so I am told, thehigh gods of medicine have decreed that the first cries of the young shall be uttered uponthe anaesthetic air of a hospital, preferably a fashionable one. So young Mr. and Mrs. RogerButton were fifty years ahead of style when they decided, one day in the summer of 1860, that their first baby should be born in a hospital. Whether this anachronism had anybearing upon the astonishing history I am about to set down will never be known. I shall tell you what occurred, and let you judge for yourself. The Roger Buttons held an enviable position, both social and financial, in ante-bellumBaltimore. They were related to the This Family and the That Family, which, as everySoutherner knew, entitled them to membership in that enormous peerage which largelypopulated the Confederacy. This was their first experience with the charming old custom ofhaving babies-Mr. Button was naturally nervous. He hoped it would be a boy so that hecould be sent to Yale College in Connecticut, at which institution Mr. Button himself hadbeen known for four years by the somewhat obvious nickname of "Cuff."On the September morning consecrated to the enormous event he arose nervously at sixo'clock dressed himself, adjusted an impeccable stock, and hurried forth through thestreets of Baltimore to the hospital, to determine whether the darkness of the night hadborne in new life upon its bosom. When he was approximately a hundred yards from the Maryland Private Hospital forLadies and Gentlemen he saw Doctor Keene, the family physician, descending the frontsteps, rubbing his hands together with a washing movement-as all doctors are required todo by the unwritten ethics of their profession. Mr. Roger Button, the president of Roger Button & Co., Wholesale Hardware, began to runtoward Doctor Keene with much less dignity than was expected from a Southern gentlemanof that picturesque period. "Doctor Keene!" he called. "Oh, Doctor Keene!"The doctor heard him, faced around, and stood waiting, a curious expression settling on hisharsh, medicinal face as Mr. Button drew near."What happened?" demanded Mr. Button, as he came up in a gasping rush. "What was it?How is she? A boy? Who is it? What-""Talk sense!" said Doctor Keene sharply, He appeared somewhat irritated.