Essay/Term paper: Creative story: in short

Essay, term paper, research paper:  English Literature Essays

Creative Story: In Short


It all started not so long ago. In fact, though I can't be completely
sure about it, I think it was only five months ago. My name is Jeff Washburn
and I am a surgeon. Not that long ago my life under went a huge change.
Unfortunately a huge misfortune had to take place first. Not that long ago, I
had a terrible thing happen to me. A misfortune led to my being expelled from
the hospital and my medical license being revoked. Two patients died on me. I
might have gotten away with only one but the board of directors are good at
finding patterns. Don't get me wrong, I want these people to die. I just
happened to be drunk at the time. Now I drink even more just to soften the
constant hangover. The hearing were probably the worst part of whole ordeal.
Three weeks of being put in the spotlight.

Every inch of my life was put under a big magnifying glass. Every mistake I
made in the last fourteen years was read bunch of know-nothings who sit and
pretend to run a hospital. The mistakes weren't very frequent, at least, not
until I started to drink.

I suppose you want to know the reason I started to drink. Well, I mess
up big time during a triple bypass and killed a patient. That's when the
drinking started and the drinking lead to the death of another patient. Now I
drink even more and remember even less which means its working.

About a month ago I left England, which is where I worked, and moved
here to a small fishing island off the coast of France. There is no doctor on
the island so they welcomed me, sort of. I scare them I suppose. They're afraid
they might catch me when I'm to drunk to work properly.

But now things are different. About three weeks ago I had a big wake-up
call. I was sitting in my normal Sunday drunken stupor when a man was brought in
to my office. This man had been seriously injured by gun shot wounds.
Apparently he had be found in the ocean by a group of fishermen. I knew that I
could not perform the necessary surgery in my present condition. I bandaged him
up and stooped the major bleeding. Then I took two hours and did all I could to
dry out. With my condition a little better I performed the most delicate
surgery of my life. For another hour I scrubbed at the wound in his head.
Cleaning it as best I could. One wrong stroke and it would be all over. Any
evidence of intoxication still left in me disappeared at that point more out of
fear then need. Once his head was cleaned I made a small incision and attempted
to remove the bullet that was lodged inside. I then closed up the wound. From
there it was touch and go. He had a fifty percent chance of living. For the
next two weeks I tried my best to stay sober. When I couldn't stay sober I at
least cut down the amount I drunk.

Then one day he woke up. We started a small conversation in which I
asked him his name. Amnesia. He had amnesia. I tried to help him remember
anything I could about his old life. And in some respects we made some progress.
I thought it was finally time for him to leave. I gave him whatever money I
could muster up and he went off in search of his life.

It wasn't till after he left that I realized I had not taken one drink
since he woke up. And ever since I have been sober. It stuck me then that some
people can have a very big effect on other people. Since he left I was rehired
by the hospital. I am doing pretty good for my self and I just hope my former
patient is finding what he was searching for.