Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam Read Free Book Online Page B

Okay, but she didn’t put it back! I can’t believe she just misplaced it like that, like it doesn’t matter, and then she didn’t even put it with the other half? It’s with the omentum.”
    â€œHow many have you had?”
    â€œMy mother told me that alcohol can build and then burn bridges between people.”
    â€œYour mother.”
    â€œWell, it’s done now. I’m gonna go get the head.”
    â€œAw…Sri.”
    â€œI gotta get it, put it back on.”
    â€œWhaddya mean, come on, wait—”
    Already walking away, Sri said, “I gotta go—”
    â€œHey, wait.” Chen, still holding a beer, went down the stairs after his friend.
    Â 
    In the anatomy lab, Chen summarized the story: “Yeah, I looked it up for you. Mark 16. So after Jesus is crucified the women go to wash and prepare Jesus’ body with spices. On the road they realize they won’t be able to move this huge stone door in front of the tomb. But when they get there, surprise! The door is open and there’s no body. Don’t be scared, says the shining angel who’s there. Jesus has risen, so tell the disciples that he will comfort and lead them. The women are scared. Jesus appears to Mary. She tells people about seeing him, but they think she’s crazy, sohe has to keep on showing himself to people until they’re convinced. Anyhow, Jesus says that things are really going well, and all his people will do incredible, wonderful things, and be protected even from drinking poison. He says that his followers will be healers by putting their hands on people. Then he goes to heaven to sit with God.” Chen put his beer down next to Murphy.
    â€œIs that really what it says?” asked Sri.
    â€œRoughly. I looked it up, but I am paraphrasing.”
    â€œIt’s good stuff.”
    â€œYou still want to put the head back on,” said Chen.
    â€œYeah.”
    They unwrapped the stump neck and took the left side of the head from inside the chest where they had left it to keep it moist. They found the right side in the omentum bag, and the right and left sides didn’t match up exactly anymore because of the dissection. They put the two pieces on top, and Chen could see that Sri wasn’t happy, so he wrapped some gauze around the neck to hold things in place.
    â€œHe’s a bit dry.”
    â€œNeeds a drink. Bless you, Murphy.” Instead of taking the formalin spray bottle, Sri took the rest of Chen’s beer and poured it gently and slowly from the lips to the open belly.
    â€œYou don’t drink, do you?” said Chen.
    â€œNot usually.”
    â€œYou have a knack for it.”
    â€œWhy do you think Murphy chose Mark 16?” Sri closed his eyes. “It’s a weird passage. Is that the end of the Jesus story?”
    â€œI guess a pilot would have figured there wouldn’t be a body left for anyone. Nothing left for his girlfriend, or mother. Maybe Mark 16 made him feel better about that.”
    â€œHe was wrong,” said Sri, bowing his head, his arms stretched to the usually shining table now dull with the running of liquid. Beer dripped into the bucket between Murphy’s feet. “He’s here for us.”
    Sri wound a strip of yellowed fabric up the neck, pulled it tight over the chin so it wouldn’t bunch, then softly over the eyes, and the coldness of the eyelids vanished under the cloth. Murphy’s hair had continued to grow for a little while after being shaved, and Chen held up the stubbled head so Sri could work. Sri wound the fabric around the top of the skull, and tied it onto itself snugly with a slipless knot under the angle of the jaw. Sri stood back and noticed that the tip of the right ear protruded. He tugged gently at a fold of cotton and settled it around the ear, where it would stay.

 

    HOW TO GET INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL, PART II

    MING’S PARENTS THOUGHT THAT SHE VOLUNTEERED at the