The Spruce Valley Miracle

Our  civilization  is  indeed  fortunate  that  Dr.  Visionaire  has  been  the  first  to  solve  the  problem  of  turning  back  the  clock  on   the  aging  process.    Fortunate  because  the  brilliant  Dr.  Visionaire  is  a  highly  ethical  man.     He  knows  that  his  discovery  can  have  disastrous  consequences;  a  sudden  population  explosion  as  death  becomes  rare;   economic  chaos  as  pension  plans  go  bankrupt;   entrenchment  of  immortal  dictators;    frozen  opportunities  for  young  people  facing  an  immovable  establishment.

The  doctor  decides  to  expose  the  world  to  proof  of  his  discovery  in  a  small  way  without  revealing  the  secret.   He  knows  that  someone  else  will  eventually  discover  the  secret  and  perhaps  have  no  compunction  about  releasing  it,  but  hopes  to  give  the  world  time  to  prepare  for  the  consequences  before  it  becomes  an  unleashed  reality.

He  takes  a  job  as  resident  physician  in  the  Spruce  Valley  rest  home  for  elderly  people.    As  the  residents  begin  to  regain  their  youth,  he  pretends  to  be  mystified  and  encourages  the  rumor  that  the  spring  supplying  water  to  the  facility  might  be  a  second  Lourdes.   Then  he  leads  the  owner  of  the  rest  home  and  the  owner's  wife  into  a  plot  to  confirm  the  Lourdes  hoax.   As  the  good  doctor  puts  it,  it's  necessary  to  give  God  the  credit  ---  and  the  blame.

The  doctor  has  chosen  his  fellow  conspirators  well.    They  have  a  grand  time  establishing  the  hoax,  which  sometimes  succeeds  all  too  well.

As  the  fame  of  the  Spruce  Valley  Miracle  spreads  and  the  facility  is  doubled,  the  first  of  Doctor  Visionaire's  predictions  comes  true;   the  Government  wants  a  piece  of  the  action  in  order  to  give  certain  VIPs  preferred  status.    Government  money  doubles  the  facility  again,  bringing  a  host  of  new  characters  and  overwhelming  paperwork.    The  local  Government  agent,  Jane  Ormond,  becomes  the  doctor's  soul  mate.

Then  the  second  of  Doctor  Visionaire's  predictions  comes  true;  the  bad  guy  appears.    A  renegade  CIA  man  worms  his  way  into  Spruce  Valley  to  search  out  the  real  source  of  the  miracle  and  gain  control  of  it.   Doctor  Visionaire  and  his  friends  thwart  the   bad  guy,  but  not  before  he  has  deduced  the  truth  and  thrown  a  monkey  wrench  into  the  workings  of  the  hoax.

Finally,  the  public  patience  wears  thin.   A  multitude  who  have  heard  of  the  Spruce  Valley  Miracle  and  want  to  share  its  benefits  besiege  the  perimeters.    A  congressional  committee  is  about  to  subpeona  Dr.  Visionaire  and  his  friends.     Jane  Ormond  flies  the  doctor  out  of  Spruce  Valley  in  a  borrowed  helicopter  as  the  multitude  breaks  through  the  perimeter.

The  doctor's  disappearing  act  proves  difficult,  but  successful.    Some  of  his  friends  prepare  to  tell  congress  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  fulfilling  the  doctor's  original  intent.

Science  fiction?   No.   It's  science  probability.