Staring into her questioning eyes, I wordlessly asked her for permission. As best she could, she faintly nodded and blinked once for yes. She understood and she gave me permission. Permission to quit. It was time. It was hopeless. We’d tried everything.
Well you came to the right place. Our very own club right here in the office tower. No one would ever suspect we’d have a place like this in a Mobile high rise, now would they?
Where in the devil are we. Seems like only moments ago we were driving to the hospital. Why were we going to the hospital? Oh yes. I remember. It was my operation. Right. I was going to have a minor operation.
I followed the wake of the carrier until I was only a mile from her stern. Breaking radio silence, I called for help. Breaking radio silence was a real no-no; there were enemy submarines in the vicinity. “This is Red Fox leader. I’m desperately low on fuel, have a damaged aircraft and will need some deck illumination for a night landing. This is an emergency. I request a priority landing as I don’t have the fuel to proceed into a standard landing pattern.” The sun had already set and no moon was visible behind the cloud cover.
There it was at the end of her letter. In lieu of flowers. No obit card. Nothing.
Just an afterthought; forgo the flowers. Send a donation to an obscure charity.
Ed and Marie had been married more than four decades. No children. It was their decision. It was just the two of them through the years. And their love had not faded or dulled. Indeed, it had increased as the two melded into a single unit, each supporting and strengthening the other. They remained lovers as well as husband and wife.
Cape Girardeau next exit. Is that a Missouri state trooper right behind me? Damn, he’s “scoping” me out. Checking my Alabama plates. Oh, double damn, now his blue bubble light is on. Here he comes. Boy, this is classic. Right outa’ the movies. Smokey Bear hat.
The walk home is long and I’m a bit slow so it gave me time to mull over what I’d heard and what I might do about it. I began to think about the results of the professor’s actions. A woman with a new kidney is free from the tyranny of the hemodialysis machine. A yellow jaundiced child is now enjoying a normal life with a normally functioning liver. A blind girl can now see again.
But then, there began a slow measured clapping as the entire crew and even the anesthesiologist, acknowledged my initial surgical endeavor as lead surgeon. Leaving the OR I’m sure I was a foot taller than when I entered. My First Case, start to finish.
The well oiled OR team didn’t miss a beat. They dropped the clean up duties from the previous case, wheeled him in the trauma OR and prepped him for a left chest incision. My “sterile” scrub was a splash of soapy water and I was back in the OR, gowning and gloving.
Pushcart Prize Nominee Reilly Maginn's debut novel, BIO, a medical action thriller is a truly frightening tale of Jihadist bioterrorism. A story of weapons of mass destruction that could happen here in the US. Set in the south Pacific, a volunteer American physician/surgeon faces off against not only a deadly virus, but also the radical Muslim terrorists who developed it. There is a fittingly appropriate conclusion.
