Lily Marin - three short steampunk stories

by Paul Kater

  Lily and doctor Drosselmeyer

  "Miss Marin? How wonderful that you have come on time." The man in the white coat and ditto hair looked at Lily. A monoscope seemed to protrude from his forehead, as if he tried to impersonate a unicorn. The looking device, held in place by a rubbery band, had been over his left eye too long. The eye still showed red-rimmed evidence of that.

  Lily had been here a few times, and at each appointment the good doctor had surprised her with new eye-wear. "Good afternoon, doctor Drosselmeyer," she said. She held back a remark about his comment; she always was on time. Making such a remark would not serve any purpose, however. Doctor Drosselmeyer was impervious to such things.

  "Would you please follow me, Miss Marin..." The doctor went before her into his large office and sat down behind the sturdy desk. The desk was, as always, littered with papers, looking devices in many shapes and boxes that contained a plenitude of the most modern and sophisticated devices.

  As usual Doctor Drosselmeyer forgot to offer Lily a seat, so she picked a chair that looked safe and clean enough. Meanwhile he picked up a sheet of paper. On it was, Lily knew, in a meticulous handwriting, a detailed report of the progress that had been achieved.

  Doctor Drosselmeyer was the local leading expert on throats and voices. Lily knew there had to be even better ones, but doctor Drosselmeyer was highly spoken of, and also, to get to him she did not have to travel very far.

  "So..." the doctor said, after studying the paper for a while. He then looked at Lily. "How is your voice, Miss Marin? Do you notice any improvement at all?"

  Lily wanted to be a singer. Her family did not approve of that. They hoped for her to marry, settle down and start a decent family, but Lily had rebelled against being married ever since she had gotten this idea of singing in her head. Her voice however needed some 'encouragement' to become stronger, more stable and also to reach the higher notes in the songs Lily desperately wanted to sing.

  "Yes, I do, sir," Lily was pleased to confirm. "The medication you gave me last time seems to work."

  "It was not the medication, Miss Marin," the man in white lectured, "it was the treatment with the ray-device. The medication, and I did tell you, was to soothe the effect of it."

  Lily nodded, although she was not sure if she remembered that particular part. The doctor was rather eccentric at times and normally it was best to agree with him.

  Doctor Drosselmeyer took a device from the desk. Lily wondered how he was able to find anything in that assortment of - well - too much. The device consisted of a long flexible tube with a round brass piece at the end that made it look like a miniature horn. The other end of the tube was connected to a small metal splitter from where two thin rubber tubes came. The doctor put the ends of the two thin tubes in his ears, got up and held the small horn in front of Lily's mouth.

  "Can you please sing the lower range of what you want to be able to." It was not a question.

  Lily suppressed a sigh over such lack of manners and sang. Had she known he was going to ask this, she would have warmed up her voice before coming over. Now it would sound all wrong.

  "Very good. Now the middle range. Please."

  Less miffed, Lily sang again, and after that she sang the highest notes possible for her. This procedure was repeated for half an hour, until Lily's jaws began to hurt. But her vocal chords reacted well, and she was feeling better about the sound of her voice.

  "We are indeed improving, Miss Marin." The doctor sat down again, started to write on the paper and then he looked in a book with impressive charts. At times he would nod, mumble and write down a few more things on Lily's paperwork. "Yes... yes... yes..."

  Those were the good words, Lily thought.

  "No..."

  Not such a good one, perhaps.

  "Well, Miss Marin..." He looked at her, stapling his fingers. "I am quite content with the progress, but I have a feeling that there is more we can bring out of you. But we may have to resort to the less common procedures for this." Doctor Drosselmeyer regarded her, as if he was judging what she would be worth at a meat market. At least that was how it felt to Lily.

  Lily waited as long as she considered polite. Then she said: "You know, sir, how much I want to sing. If there is something we can do to improve my voice even more, I would really like to try it."

  The man nodded slowly. He leaned back in his chair. "You should know, Miss Marin, that the procedure I have in mind is not one that is very accepted by my more conventional colleagues in the field."

  Lily had suspected so much. "If it works, I trust you, sir."

  Doctor Drosselmeyer smiled. "Very well. I thank you for this trust, Miss Marin, and you will not regret it. As a token of my appreciation I shall perform this treatment for free."

  Lily stared at him. This was not what she had expected. "For free? But..."

  The physician raised a hand. "None of that, Miss Marin, if you can arrange to be here again tomorrow afternoon, around three o'clock, that would be wonderful."

  -=-=-

  The next day Lily Marin arrived at the practice of Doctor Drosselmeyer, at the time they had agreed on. For some reason it was the doctor himself who answered the door and let her in.

  "I am grateful for you being as punctual as ever, Miss Marin," he said as he helped her out of her coat.

  It made Lily feel good that he was after all aware of this.

  First the doctor treated her to a cup of tea, as he explained what procedure he was going to submit her to. "It is not more than polite, of course, that you know what my plan is. After listening to me, you can still decide whether you want to proceed or not, of course."

  The man told her about a special cream he had developed. "It contains some elements that will be approved by the medical commission soon, so that is nothing to worry about. The cream will be rubbed on your throat. Then I shall use a special lamp to project light onto your throat. This procedure might be rather uncomfortable, as part of the lighting will have to happen inside your mouth. Would you feel hindered by that?"

  Lily calmly put down the cup of bone china and considered the words. "How long would this have to be done, if I may ask?"

  "Oh, by all means," the doctor said. "The lighting inside your mouth would be done three times, over a period of one minute each time. You would have to keep the light inside your mouth, but please do not worry, Miss Marin. Let me show you..."

  Doctor Drosselmeyer left the room for a few minutes, and returned with a small contraption that looked like a light bulb the size of a teaspoon on a short flexible brass tube. "This is what you would keep between your teeth, Miss Marin." He handed her the device.

  Lily looked at it and decided this was not so bad. She had eaten lollipops larger than that, but she did not tell the doctor this. There were certain things a lady did not divulge.

  "The light may be a bit alarming to you," the doctor continued, "as it will change colours during the procedure. This is however nothing to be worried about."

  Lily felt safe with the doctor. He was very careful with his work, and he was clearly very dedicated to whatever he could do for her.

  "The light," the doctor continued to explain, "will be powered by the latest, state of the art power boxes, from the well known company of Mr. Enderson."

  Lily recognised the name from somewhere. With the doctor placing his trust in them, this too had to be a good thing. "When do you think we can begin the procedure, if you do not mind me asking?" Lily was very anxious to get her voice treated so she would be a great singer.

  The man in the white coat smiled at her as he arranged the light on his desk, next to the power box he had pointed out. "Of course, I understand you are looking forward to this, Miss Marin," he nodded, "but if you would like some more tea..."

  Lily asked if this would be beneficial to the treatment. As the doctor said that it would not make any difference, she said she did not want to wait. Upon the doctor's request she undid the high collar from her blouse so he could rub
her throat with the special cream he had told her about.

  The cream felt very cool on her skin. Lily sat as still as she could, so the doctor could work in peace. He almost startled her as he said that she was allowed to breathe normally. Lily coloured red; she had not noticed she had been holding her breath.

  "Now we have to wait for the cream to settle on your skin," doctor Drosselmeyer said as he wiped his hands on a fluffy white towel. "This will take a few minutes, Miss Marin. If you feel anything that is uncomfortable, please tell me. In the time we wait I shall prepare the table."

  "Table?" Lily was so surprised by this that she forgot all rules of etiquette and blurted out the word bluntly.

  Doctor Drosselmeyer, who had already started walking away, stopped and turned. "Yes. Oh, I am sorry, I did not explain that part, Miss Marin. The procedure should have the best effect if you lie down. That will enable you to relax as much as possible and should provide us with the best results. Which is what we want, don't we?" Apparently he had not heard her bluntness.

  Lily nodded. "It is, indeed, sir." She watched as doctor Drosselmeyer worked on what looked like a kind of bed that was in a far corner. At least that was better than a table, she thought.

  Her throat started itching. From the inside, which was awkward as the cream was on the outside. She told the doctor about it, who asked if the sensation was very bad. "No, not very bad, but it feels strange so I thought I would tell you."

  "Good,