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Some of the stories may be apocryphal - take them for what they
are worth.
Dr Markeles was the local GP.
He was very short and fat and when he came in to my father's
pharmacy he
used to put his large stomach to rest in a drawer at waist height
and then
consult across the counter. He was Bella Lubner's brother.
My father's brother Simon, served his apprenticeship with my
father. He too
is long dead. But there were many stories of his local exploits.
My father was chairman of the local Chevra Kadisha
A Jewish commercial traveler died on a Friday afternoon while
staying at
the Athlone Hotel.
My father and Dr Markeles took the body to the pharmacy and put it
on a
large table in the back of the pharmacy.
A wagter was employed for Friday and Saturday night while my father
and his
brother kept watch over the business and the body on the Saturday
During that day a woman brought kittens in to the pharmacy and asked
Simon
to do away with them
He took a box, and doused the kittens with chloroform and put the
box under
the table
During the night some of the kittens came round, started to meow and
the
wagter was found the next day in Ogies.
Urban legend or fact I can't tell you = but my father was very fond
of
telling the story.
His other friends were the Schechs the Mazelles and the Brozin tribe
in
Middelburg |