A Bad Day
by Hal Kempka
Doctor Nelson held out his gloved hand at the operating table.
“Scalpel!”
Nurse Betty slapped the instrument into his palm.
The doctor screamed. “Ouch!” and pulled the scalpel out of his heavily bleeding hand.
“Dammit, Betty,” he hollered, as the scalpel fell on the operating room floor. “How many times have I told you, handle first?”
She retrieved the scalpel, and holding onto it, replied, “I’m sorry doctor. This has got to be my screw up day. It seems everything I’ve touched turns to crap. Can I bandage that for you?”
by Hal Kempka
Doctor Nelson held out his gloved hand at the operating table.
“Scalpel!”
Nurse Betty slapped the instrument into his palm.
The doctor screamed. “Ouch!” and pulled the scalpel out of his heavily bleeding hand.
“Dammit, Betty,” he hollered, as the scalpel fell on the operating room floor. “How many times have I told you, handle first?”
She retrieved the scalpel, and holding onto it, replied, “I’m sorry doctor. This has got to be my screw up day. It seems everything I’ve touched turns to crap. Can I bandage that for you?”
“Yes, if you don’t mind,” he said. “I don’t want to bleed to death.”
Betty grabbed sponges, pads, and tape, and went to work.
Suddenly the Doctor hollered, “Dammit Betty, you wrapped it so tight my hand is turning blue!”
“Sorry Doctor, let me fix it.”
“Hell no!” he yelled. “Get Doctor Adams, so he can stitch me up.”
Nurse Betty ran into the adjacent operating room, where Doctor Adams was just applying the final sutures on his patient.
“Doctor, come quick! She said, slapping him on the back. “Doctor Nelson is bleeding to death and needs you to suture him up.”
But Doctor Adams collapsed onto his unconscious patient. Betty then realized she’d forgotten to put the scalpel down, and inadvertently drove it into his shoulder.
“Oops. Sorry Doctor,” she said, removing it.
Betty reached for a stack of gauze pads and knocked the tray of instruments over. Embarrassed by her clumsiness, Betty hurried to the nurse’s station to clock out and knocked a cup of coffee onto the station nurse’s paperwork.
She left the hospital, figuring tomorrow would be a better day. After climbing into her Dodge Neon, Betty backed out of her parking spot. She leaned down to select a CD from the glove compartment as she drove past the Emergency Room, hitting a gurney carrying a patient that ambulance attendants had just unloaded. It careened into a plate glass window, where shards of glass stuck the already bleeding patient.
Unaware of what had happened, Nurse Betty continued home and pulled into her driveway. Spot, her dog ran from the porch wagging its tail excitedly. As she bounced in sync with Queen’s Night at the Opera playing through her headphones, she unknowingly ran over him.
That night, after overcooking a pot pie in the microwave, Nurse Betty lit several candles and took a hot bath. Then she crawled into bed, glad that her bad day had concluded. The candles melted down and ignited the house while she slept. When the fire department searched the rubble, they found her charred body in bed clutching a Deepak Chopra book on positive thinking.
Hal Kempka's stories have been published in magazines and ezines such as: Fiction Flyer, Many Midnights, Flashes in the Dark, Microhorror, Long Story Short, Shine Journal, and Black Petals, as well as The Beaches of Belmont anthology.
Betty grabbed sponges, pads, and tape, and went to work.
Suddenly the Doctor hollered, “Dammit Betty, you wrapped it so tight my hand is turning blue!”
“Sorry Doctor, let me fix it.”
“Hell no!” he yelled. “Get Doctor Adams, so he can stitch me up.”
Nurse Betty ran into the adjacent operating room, where Doctor Adams was just applying the final sutures on his patient.
“Doctor, come quick! She said, slapping him on the back. “Doctor Nelson is bleeding to death and needs you to suture him up.”
But Doctor Adams collapsed onto his unconscious patient. Betty then realized she’d forgotten to put the scalpel down, and inadvertently drove it into his shoulder.
“Oops. Sorry Doctor,” she said, removing it.
Betty reached for a stack of gauze pads and knocked the tray of instruments over. Embarrassed by her clumsiness, Betty hurried to the nurse’s station to clock out and knocked a cup of coffee onto the station nurse’s paperwork.
She left the hospital, figuring tomorrow would be a better day. After climbing into her Dodge Neon, Betty backed out of her parking spot. She leaned down to select a CD from the glove compartment as she drove past the Emergency Room, hitting a gurney carrying a patient that ambulance attendants had just unloaded. It careened into a plate glass window, where shards of glass stuck the already bleeding patient.
Unaware of what had happened, Nurse Betty continued home and pulled into her driveway. Spot, her dog ran from the porch wagging its tail excitedly. As she bounced in sync with Queen’s Night at the Opera playing through her headphones, she unknowingly ran over him.
That night, after overcooking a pot pie in the microwave, Nurse Betty lit several candles and took a hot bath. Then she crawled into bed, glad that her bad day had concluded. The candles melted down and ignited the house while she slept. When the fire department searched the rubble, they found her charred body in bed clutching a Deepak Chopra book on positive thinking.
Hal Kempka's stories have been published in magazines and ezines such as: Fiction Flyer, Many Midnights, Flashes in the Dark, Microhorror, Long Story Short, Shine Journal, and Black Petals, as well as The Beaches of Belmont anthology.
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