Category: Fiction
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Those eyes
Susan Woldenberg ButlerCanberra, Australia Publication Acknowledgement: This fictional short story was published in Secrets from the Black Bag (Royal College of General Practitioners Publications; London, December, 2005). I’ve always involved myself in the lives of my patients and their families. Familiarity with context helps me to provide better treatment and nourishes such mental processes as…
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Blind faith
Susan Woldenberg ButlerCanberra, Australia This fictional short story was published in Secrets from the Black Bag (Royal College of General Practitioners Publications; London, December, 2005). Some patients will do anything we tell them. Others obey their spouses blindly. Ambrose O’Sullivan did as his wife directed. It killed her. “Divina won’t be needing that toe massage…
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A song for me
Steve SobelSt. Albans, Vermont, United States Sometimes the obvious is revealed to us as a life-altering revelation that shifts the tectonic plates of our world. Such was the case when I sat in a stuffy, cramped bedroom listening to Taylor Swift singing “Love Story” on the radio. Suddenly I realized this was not just another…
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Hunters
Nam NguyenPalo Alto, California, United States I led her well into the center of the Russian Market, holding her hand behind me so that I could navigate the two of us around curious eyes. I was careful to stay in the dark, aware that the market had not yet been entirely vacated. A group of…
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A perfect day
Mike EllmanChicago, Illinois, United States Hematology rounds start with chalkboard presentations. After posting the admission date, the laboratory results, the hospital course, and our recommendations, we hunch over microscopes to view the blood smears and bone marrow aspirations before marching en masse to the patients’ rooms. As the senior resident in charge, I direct this…
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The midwives of San Gimignano, 1336
Mary A. Osborne Chicago, Illinois, United States Before the story line for Alchemy’s Daughter flew into my imagination, the idea of writing historical fiction had not occurred to me. I had penned a number of short stories, often inspired by my experiences as a home care nurse, and two semiautobiographical novels that no publisher wanted.…
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There is a time
Joel L. ChinitzPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States When the doors flew open, the noisy hoard—many in dirty, white jackets and floppy, bloodstained, green pants—circled the nurses’ station and overran the medical Intensive Care Unit. Wednesday renal rounds had begun. As two aides jumped back and fell into a linen cart, the unrelenting column spilled down the…
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Hooked
Emily Gregory-RobertsSydney, Australia The list on the Emergency Department computer screen displayed that the first patient waiting was Gavin Hunt with an anal abscess. The second on the list was Holly Bester with a vaginal abscess. The resident saw me eyeing the list and smiled his crooked smile. “They’re a couple,” he said. I laughed.…
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There is an elephant in the room
David ValentineRochester, New York, United States “I’ve lost my erector spinae,” my husband said to me.“They make pills for that now,” I told him.“No, not that,” he said. “Here.” He pointed at his back. It looked more floppy than usual, but only a little. “See? My back muscles went away.” I went over and felt…
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Four short literary incisions (Or how I began to write things that did not let me sleep)
Catalina FlorescuStaten Island, New York, United States In memoriam, to mom and dad [Episode One: On Life and Even More Life] Carla hasn’t said a word since last Friday when her younger sister, Elvira, stopped talking. Elvira has been lying in bed, eyes almost shut all the time. If Elvira is in pain, few people…