Thought He Was a Goner

"Thought He Was a Goner" is a short story by Christine Morgan that first appeared in the Herbert West-themed anthology Legacy of the Reanimator (Chaosium, 2015).
== Synopsis ==
The story is a scene from West's childhood, as the future mad scientist accidentally reanimates his first corpse, a freshly deceased schoolyard bully.
== Behind the Mythos ==
Anthology co-editor Peter Rawlik describes it as "a rather touching tale of schoolyard life (and death) that shows us how West may have got his start."
The title is a line from the song "The Cat Came Back," about a man whose cat keeps coming back despite all his attempts to get rid of it.Wikipedia, "The Cat Came Back."
== Characters ==
*Herbie West: A quiet, studious schoolboy who hopes for early admission to the medical school of Miskatonic University; he "prefer[s] to be addressed as Herbert." His parents having recently died, he has come to live with his aunts Gertrude and Ludmilla.He "wasn’t a tall boy.,,thin, and quite pale, with fine hair the color of buttermilk. His eyes, behind spectacles, were a very light blue." He is seen as "polite and soft-spoken," though he is described by a teacher as “sharp as a tack, smart as a whip, cleverest student I’ve ever had … but insolent."
* Sarah Grantham: A classmate who has a crush on Herbie. She has "curls...as black and shiny and glossy as fresh ink."
* Sebastian Crewe: A schoolyard bully who fancies Sarah. His accidental death leads to West's first success with partial reanimation--accomplished with a pencil inserted into his brain.
==References==
Category:Expanded Mythos Works
Category:Christine Morgan works