About 12 years ago a customer of mine requested some repairs. He wanted me to fix his sliding patio door, paint a weather beaten window that was around the corner from the door. He also wanted me to get a better seal around the garage door as winter was coming.

I knew this doctor for a few years and he was now em-brawled in a legal fight for his life. Twenty years before he was working emergency at Toronto General Hospital. A drugged up falling down drunk woman was allegedly put in his care. After pumping her stomach, in her testament to the College of Physicians and Surgeons, said he took her home and they had sexual intercourse.

Eighteen years later she brings on a paternal suite to which he wins. She then went and complained to the College of Physicians and Surgeons. They suspended his license until they could rectify the complaint. Well it was over one year later the good doctor was near broke. There was one last thing he could do to clear his name and get his life back on track. Take her to civil court and have the matter resolved there. Since she was the complainant she would have to agree to go to court to resolve it in that matter. She refused and the doctor was running out of options.

The story was in all the local papers, journalist hounded him and he was getting really sick from it, but they wouldn't leave him alone and he had no way to clear his name in a timely way. I saw pictures of this women in the Ottawa Citizen. She had a shaved head, was dressed like a Punk and was now a self confessed lesbian, apparently brought on by the mistrust of men like the good doctor. She was now the media darling of the left to promote women's issues. With this added pressure the College of Physicians and Surgeons were under pressure to find in her favor, but the evidence suggested the good doctor should be cleared of wrong doing. The whole process was being delayed by her and her tax funded attorney and the good doctor was now near ruin.

He needed me to fix those things around his home to prepare it for sale, because he was running out of money and had to sell it. I fixed the sliding door first then went around the corner to work on the side window. I heard what sounded like a rock hit the patio door, so I peeked around the corner and a black bird broke its neck on the glass.

Those who are superstitious say that means someone will die. I went to the front to inform the good doctor that a bird had killed itself in the back. The good doctor was making his garage immaculate by cleaning and painting anything that did not move. He even painted all his shovels, rakes and garden tools black, then hung them up in perfect rows.

I finished the side window, made a good tight seal on the garage, got paid and went home. That Saturday the headline in the Ottawa Citizen said, "Dr. Hill Found Dead of Asphyxiation".  He was found dead in his car with the motor running. He was dressed to the nines, his car was detailed and the garage was picture perfect.

I called a couple of days later, I phoned to offer my condolences to his wife. She was very upset and knew it was me calling. She picked up the phone and then slammed it down. A couple of months later I saw her in a restaurant just receiving her lunch. I said hello to her, she stood up, mad as hell and said, "why did you have to seal the garage so tight"? Then she stormed out of the restaurant without eating or paying for her meal. The staff and patrons looked at me like a just committed a horrific crime. My partner just looked at me and said, "I think we better get the hell out of here"! We did.

It occurred to me she blamed me for her husbands successful suicide. I do not feel any guilt in the matter, and even if a little birdy tried to tell me so, there was no way I could have known. It is not a good feeling to know someone who I used to have conversations with, feels I am responsible for her husbands death.

That was one job I wish I screwed up!