Flash! Fiction 3 by Peter McMillan - HTML preview

53

"Yep, now stick out your tongue and say 'Ah' ... again. Now hold still. I'm gonna look in your ears. Now your eyes. This may tickle a bit. I'm gonna tap your funny bone to check your reflexes."

He didn't talk about the Navy, but there were pictures on the wall. I saw them up close when I got on the scales. One was a framed letter with a medal, and next to it was a wide photograph of a bunch of men in green uniforms, 'fatigues,' Daddy called them. I was confused.

"But isn't Navy blue, Daddy?"

"Doc Baxter was a surgeon in a field hospital not on a ship," he answered, and of course he had to explain that one to me, because for me a field was either a corn field or a football or baseball field.

Meanwhile, Doc Baxter had been going over the paperwork at his desk. Before I could ask any more questions, he was congratulating me and patting me on the back.

"You're a healthy and inquisitive young man. Hang on to those two things. And be sure to say hello to your momma for me. You know I was her doctor when she was your age?"

First published in Beyond Imagination Digital Literary Magazine, Issue 2, March 2014.