Med Telephone
I asked a room full of doctors who had never written creatively before to be bold and take a stab at art. I set the stage of the story, then let them run with it. The rules were simple: each doctor was asked to write one sentence. They had to follow what came before, but they could take the story in any direction after.
Please enjoy this short story written by doctors with no creative writing experience, who came together and pulled off something fantastic.
If you’re in medicine and have ever wanted to try writing, grab a few friends in the breakroom and give this a try!
I knocked and entered the room to find the young boy had wrapped himself in plastic covering like a mummy. Beside him, his mom hung her head.
“Tommy, I can’t take you anywhere. Will you please sit still for the doctor?” She said. Tommy raised his arms and stepped toward me.
“BRAAINS,” he muttered.
His mom shook his head. “Not one hour ago were you vomiting in the car.”
I laugh as I pick Tommy up and place him back on the bed. “Glad to see you’re feeling better.” I start to unspool his mummy-zombie layering and my hair sticks up. “Mom, how long has he had this?”
I noticed a 5cm gash on his right arm. It was gushing bright red blood!
I rushed across the room to apply pressure and get the bleeding to stop. He tried to run away from me and tripped on the sheets.
He hit his head on the floor and began to vomit.
His mother squealed in fright as she witnessed her baby boy fall to the ground, his head making a loud thud as it met the cold, white tile floor.
I rushed towards him while calling out his name. “Tommy, Tommy!” He was unresponsive.
I pulled out my ACLS/BLS card and started to panic.
As I called for help and checked for a pulse, my thoughts were racing. What if I can’t save him? What am I missing?
Suddenly, I hear giggling and realize Tommy was pretending to play mummy in a coffin.
Mom sighed in a moment of relief. “Goodness, Tommy! You scared us!”
I realized I’d been too focused on his antics to notice the tank of fake blood attached to his back. It was still leaking all over the floor.
Luckily, this was all a silly prank and we got ice cream on the way home.
THE END :)