King of Clubs - Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
1- Prose
Unfortunately, today's piece - a character sketch of an aging Chamberlain - was derailed by food poisoning. There would have been survivor guilt, struggles with modernity (turn of the 20th century), a catheter insertion scene, armchair descriptions of Bowdoin college, an egotistical Anglophile colleague, and a loyal and brilliant maid from his governor days who would refer to him as "Your Honor."
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was always my favorite Civil War general. If anyone deserves a genre mystery series based in early 20th century academia (what this would be the starting point for) written about him, it's Chamberlain.
A Starting Point
His robes always smelled vaguely of urine. This is a fact to which Lawrence had grown accustomed although every so often after a late afternoon nap or a particularly consuming writing session he would wake, not yet lucid, to that familiar metallic odor. He would search for an external source and then remember. A different man, faced with such realities might resort to tears or drink. Lawrence, however, would need only stare at his old fingers, tensing and relaxing them. At the moment of realization, his breathing would barely change.
The routine was the same everyday...
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