Tag: Fiction
-
The surgeon
Joseph RumenappChicago, Illinois, United States He kicked the scrub sink again—only a trickle. He missed the smell of the iodine in the morning, almost as much as he missed the chill of the operating room itself. “Don’t bother, Doc,” the scrub nurse chimed behind him. “You won’t be touching sterile anyway.” He walked into the…
-
Burn
Arthur WilliamsCincinnati, Ohio, United States Adapted from a chapter of the novel Krooked Ketamine (self-published, 2024) by Arthur Williams. As a surgeon, I have performed a fair amount of skin grafts over the years. To need a skin graft, a person has to have sustained a serious injury, usually a terribly painful burn or an…
-
The Painted Veil: Death from cholera in China
The 1925 novel The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham derives its title from Percy Shelley’s 1824 sonnet, which begins “Lift not the painted veil which those who live / Call Life.” The action takes place during a cholera epidemic in which a missionary doctor quotes on his deathbed the final line of Oliver Goldsmith’s famous…
-
Lonely physician
Dean GianakosLynchburg, Virginia, United States Jack wakes up early Sunday morning to walk along the Carolina shore. The sand feels cool under his bare feet. He passes a fisherman preparing flies for his pole. He stops to watch the brilliant orange sun rise over the horizon. The blue green ocean is still. Gently kicking the…
-
Ambroise Paré, father of modern surgery
Trisha SebastianSan Jose, California, United States As I stepped into the field hospital I was met at once by the smell rotting of human flesh. I had seen these people die every day, and I wished I could to do something to prevent so many dead bodies from piling up in the nearby cathedral graveyard.…
-
Momma’s rocking chair
Frances NadelPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States January 21, 1929 Poverty lurks in every corner of the Johnson’s one-room house. Even if mother and baby survive this night, winter will continue to prey at their door. The room grows darker as the fire falters to orange ash, and I place the last log—more like a thick branch—on…
-
Jobber
Eli Daniel EhrenpreisSkokie, Illinois, United States One who performs odd jobs or piece work; a derogatory term for a wrestler who is booked to lose a match. “Thank you for seeing us.” “Of course, that’s what I do.” Her son sits quietly, holding a small toy plane that he moves around in wide arcs. Then he…
-
Diary of a doctor
Perpetual Enefuwa SalamiBenin City, Nigeria The following is a work of fiction. It was my first day working as a resident physician at Emis Clinic. I recall crying my eyes out the day I finally received a transfer letter. I was elated, accidentally booted my dog to the next room whilst dancing in excitement. I’d…
-
Tales of a sickler
Phebe SalamiGwagwalada, Abuja, Nigeria This piece is a work of fiction inspired by real-life stories of sickle cell disease. There are a thousand and one ways to tell a story. I guess this is just another one of those ways, my own way of telling this story… I wished I was like all the other…
-
The disease called poverty
Olufolakayomi Christiana ThomasLagos State, Nigeria It is a hot Friday afternoon in Lagos, Nigeria. Everyone is gearing up for the weekend and already starting to leave work. The clinic staff does this each week under the guise of attending Friday Jumat prayers, even though the clinic does not officially close for three more hours, and…