The drudgeries of life
Friday, September 14, 2007
The jubilant oncologist had the telephone's receiver pressed to his ear. Something was shivering, and he couldn't tell whether it was his hands or his whole body. His profession had taught him patience but just this once he couldn't contain his excitement. But he had no choice but to wait till the ringing on the other end of the line was put to an end.
Finally, a groggy voice answered with a question, "Hello?".
The doctor noticed the faintness, but he was bursting with news that would take care of that. His usually calm voice was shrill, "Anfuso, my boy! It's Doctor Dave speaking!".
Anfuso's voice seemed to grow feebler, "Oh! It's you, doc. What bad news have you got to offer me now? I thought we were done with the worst..." His voice trailed away.
The elderly medic burst out, appearing oblivious to the other man's agony but understanding nonetheless, "No no no, son! I have great news to offer. Your diagnosis, well... it was a big blunder. There was a mix up and you were diagnosed with something your body had no traces of. This is not the end as we had feared! I'm so happy for you! And I sincerely apologize for all the trauma the entire episode must've caused you..."
While the doctor rattled on, the receiver had slipped out of Anfuso's hand.
No, he wasn't ecstatic about not having the terminal disease. Instead, he felt as if a cruel joke was being played on him.
Oh! Why had he given up on himself after hearing the diagnosis? He wondered whether a bullet through the head would've been better... Surely consuming the poison had been a bad idea.
He had little time left, but it was more than sufficient to regret. He did exactly that as the life drained out of him, slowly by slowly...
Finally, a groggy voice answered with a question, "Hello?".
The doctor noticed the faintness, but he was bursting with news that would take care of that. His usually calm voice was shrill, "Anfuso, my boy! It's Doctor Dave speaking!".
Anfuso's voice seemed to grow feebler, "Oh! It's you, doc. What bad news have you got to offer me now? I thought we were done with the worst..." His voice trailed away.
The elderly medic burst out, appearing oblivious to the other man's agony but understanding nonetheless, "No no no, son! I have great news to offer. Your diagnosis, well... it was a big blunder. There was a mix up and you were diagnosed with something your body had no traces of. This is not the end as we had feared! I'm so happy for you! And I sincerely apologize for all the trauma the entire episode must've caused you..."
While the doctor rattled on, the receiver had slipped out of Anfuso's hand.
No, he wasn't ecstatic about not having the terminal disease. Instead, he felt as if a cruel joke was being played on him.
Oh! Why had he given up on himself after hearing the diagnosis? He wondered whether a bullet through the head would've been better... Surely consuming the poison had been a bad idea.
He had little time left, but it was more than sufficient to regret. He did exactly that as the life drained out of him, slowly by slowly...
6 Comments:
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oh man! can u imagine that really happened? :( nice to see u blogging again! missed u here! :)
This is why people say think before you leap - there can be a giant lump of cow dung ahead.
Sorry for that "crap". Actually these kind of stories freak me out so was just trying to calm myself down.
Nicely written post :).
Had left one more comment on your blog earlier in the "life is a sinusoidal wave post" which obviously you did not see, because you couldn't have just written off the comment posted by me :P.
Anyways you do write well... Keep doing it.
@dc
how true... *sighs*
@jen
so sorry! i should've written a disclaimer that it was fictional :(
missed u all n blogging too... will be back in action in a short while ;)
@astha
hehe nice analogy :p
someone so like me. sorry to have missed ur prev comment, mate... was hibernating! will check it out n check u out too :D
thanks so much. cya around
sad aint it how v giv up so easily...just one mistake one thing going in the wrong direction and boom....v forget everything n everyone!!my my am i sounding crazy or wat??waise nice one..how come u into riting stories now??ure daily happenings r pretty interesting too;)
my god!really you gave a gift of churning out stories loved this one a lot
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