Wait a minute

Author says: what if the postman did stop to make Karen Carpenter feel a little better? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).

in New York City the piercing sincerity of ten words from an anonymous fan convinced the desperately sick American singer and drummer Karen Carpenter to search for a way out of her life-threatening cycle of eating disorders and in so doing solve the problem that was threatening to destroy her relationship with her brother and co-star Richard Carpenter.
Watch the Youtube Clip of "Please Mr Postman - The Carpenters" (1975)

The first step was the hardest, placing a long distance call to a telephone number in New Haven, Connecticut. Fearing the worst, her mother Agnes asked what was happening, but was reassured to hear that no, nothing was "Jesus will meet you at the point of your need" ~ the message. wrong, quite the contrary in fact, Karen had called to say that something, something just incredible had happened to her that very day.

Through to the mid-eighties her musical career kept apace with her steady medical recovery and by her thirty-fifth birthday she was once again a major star in good health. But her central focus now was to help others suffering from the little known disorder anorexia nervosa.

The anonymous fan was never revealed, although HIS identity was no great mystery to Karen Carpenter.

Because she had caught a glimpse of the Postman's bare feet, you see.

Author says extract from the source article ~ the song "Now", recorded in April 1982, was the last song Karen Carpenter recorded. She recorded it after a two-week intermission in her therapy with psychotherapist Steven Levenkron in New York City for her anorexia. The sight of Karen upon her return to California in April shook Richard and his parents, since she had lost a considerable amount of weight since beginning her therapy with Levenkron. In September 1982, Karen's treatment -- which had never convinced her family as being an effective method -- took a sinister turn of events when Karen called her psychotherapist to tell him she felt dizzy and that her heart was beating irregularly. Karen was admitted to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Levenkron remarked to her that she was no more than "77 pounds of dehydrated skeleton".
Karen was hooked up to an intravenous drip, which would be the cause of her much-debated 30 pound weight gain in eight weeks. Richard recalled visiting her in the hospital, saying "Karen, this is bullshit! Don't you understand?! You're going about this all the wrong way, this guy isn't getting anything accomplished, because you're in a hospital now!"
Karen returned to California in November 1982, determined to reinvigorate her career, finalize her divorce and begin a new album with Richard. She had gained 30 pounds at the end of the year-long stay in New York during 1981, and the sudden weight gain (much of which was the result of intravenous feeding) further strained her heart, which was already weak from years of crash dieting. To view guest historian's comments on this post please visit the Today in Alternate History web site.

Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items explore that possibility. Possibilities such as America becoming a Marxist superpower, aliens influencing human history in the 18th century and Teddy Roosevelt winning his 3rd term as president abound in this interesting fictional blog.