careful what you think
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💭 Thoughts
by Laura Shell
“You were in a car accident and suffered a significant blow to your head. Plus, you were in a coma for three days.”
Squinting at her father, Lisa inched herself up in her hospital bed and experienced the full force of the piercing pain at the back of her head. “Holy shit.” She placed a hand to her head, felt the bandage, and the lump.
Her father, Thomas, pressed the button to call the nurse, who arrived in a flash.
“Hi sweetie.” The nurse went straight for Lisa’s head and checked the bandage.
Lisa held out both hands and, with a hoarse voice, asked, “Pain meds, please?”
As the nurse checked her vitals, she promised relief from the pain would soon arrive. Then, a doctor appeared.
The doctor verbally rambled on about one thing, but Lisa heard a voice that sounded as if it were coming from inside a cave—“I’m so fucking overwhelmed. Why did I choose to become a doctor? Holy fucking shit.”
Where had that voice come from? Not from the doctor’s mouth. No. The doctor was talking about her physical condition and when she could go home, but this other voice of his...
“What’s wrong? You look too stunned for someone who just received good news,” the doctor said.
Then Lisa heard that cave voice again, “This lady is kinda cute.”
“Excuse me? You think I’m cute?”
“What? I didn’t say that.”
“But you thought it, right?”
Thomas chimed in. “Wait, what’s going on here?”
Both the doctor and Lisa looked at Thomas at the same time and said, “Nothing.”
A moment of awkward silence filled the room.
With a scowl, Lisa put her hand to the back of her head again. “Hey Dad, think of something. Say something in your mind.”
“Like what?”
“Like, say what you might order for breakfast at The Waffle House.”
She peered at him hard. Then in that cave-like voice, she heard her father say, “Hashbrowns all the way, two eggs over medium with bacon.”
“Holy crap,” Lisa said.
“What?”
“I just heard you say, ‘Hashbrowns all the way, two eggs over medium with bacon.’”
“No, you didn’t. You know that’s what I always get when we go to The Waffle House.”
“Well then...think of what medications you’re on.”
“Why? What is this, Lisa? You can’t read thoughts.”
A hand still on her head, she insisted, “Yes, I can. Please just do it. Think of your medications.”
So, Thomas did as instructed.
After each medication he thought, Lisa verbally named it.
Thomas, the doctor, and the nurse looked at her like she’d sprouted wings.
Lisa pointed at the doctor. “You. You think of something.”
With a big smile, he thought, “this is fucking incredible.”
“This is fucking incredible,” Lisa repeated.
Lisa pointed at the nurse. “You. Your turn.”
“No, I don’t want to play this game.”
But Lisa heard her think, “I killed two patients yesterday.”
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