Alfred’s Enigmatic Smile

Alfred's Enigmatic Smile is one of the short stories found in the book Campbell's Crossing by Alan Maley.

This story is about Alfred, a gardener. Alfred is perpetually wearing an enigmatic smile. He hides his feelings through his smile, and the narrator is sometimes confused by Alfred's actions. He is married to Sarah, who is a diabetic. To control Sarah's diabetes, Alfred gives her an injection of insulin daily. Sarah's medical condition is worsening; she goes into a coma occasionally, and suffered a mild stroke. Alfred's life is fraught with misfortunes, with both of his sons dying, and his wife getting worse day by day. Sarah was cantankerous, and often yelled at Alfred. However, Alfred just weathered his wife's fits of anger.

The narrator lives next door to them. One day, he wanted to visit Alfred. When he was about to enter Alfred's house, he heard Sarah moaning that she cannot bear the pain caused by her medical illness. Alfred then injected her with poison. The narrator saw this, and crept away. The narrator then tipped off the coroner, and Alfred was punished by the law.

I feel that Alfred's poisoning of his wife is due to a few reasons:

1) Sarah mentally abused Alfred, scolding Alfred for no good reason. However, Alfred was a good husband, and did not fight back. After tolerating his wife for many years, Alfred could not bear it anymore, and on that occasion, Alfred lost control of himself and poisoned his wife out of anger and frustration.

2) Alfred felt sorry for Sarah; Sarah suffered from multiple illnesses, occasionally slipping into comas, and suffering from mild stroke. Alfred could have killed Sarah to end her misery.

3) Alfred believes in the concept of 'survival of the fittest'. During his work as a gardener, Alfred cuts off the withering petals. He also killed a few stray cats, saying that 'to be kind you have to be cruel'. These thoughts and practices may have shaped his character in such a way that he feels that his wife should die as she was too weak.

This story brings up some of the moral rights of humans. Does Alfred have a right to poison his wife? In this case, his actions could be a result of two main reasons: Sarah asked for it, and that Sarah was in great pain. Anyway, Sarah was going to die soon from her illness. However, some may argue that life is precious, and no one has a right to end anyone's life. I feel that none of the three reasons can justify Alfred killing his wife. A life is precious, and no one has the right to take it away from anyone else.