Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul by Jack Canfield Read Free Book Online

nurses who loved him specially, applied to adopt him.
    Meanwhile, Billy was a happy, gurgling boy thriving as a boarder baby in this nurturing, albeit conspiratorial environment. Every member on the staff was in on the secret. No one even mentioned Billy’s name outside the hospital corridors.
    One day, the Board of Health came to do an impromptu routine inspection of the hospital. Word of the inspectors’ arrival traveled quickly to the maternity ward. The administrator led the inspection team to the opposite end of the facility where each department head delayed the inspectors as much as possible. Billy was spirited away from the maternity ward and taken to the apartment of one of the nurses across the street. Nurses and other staff members emptied his room, moved the furniture to the basement, covered his window with examining-table paper and locked the door.
    The inspector arrived on maternity and inquired about that room. The head nurse explained it was one of the isolation nurseries being remodeled. The hospital passed the inspection, the inspectors left, the room was refurbished, and Billy returned to his home.
    When Billy was fifteen months old, Mrs. B’s application for adoption was somehow expedited and approved. We were all overjoyed when Billy became a sibling of her loving brood. Miss N shared a greater joy when she became his godmother.
    Staff members sent gifts and had parties for Billy on his birthdays and holidays. Mrs. B and Miss N kept us informed of Billy’s progress with pictures and stories.
    And brought him often to visit his family in his “first” home.
    Zaphra Reskakis
     

What Day Is Today?
     
    Sid taught the staff and patients alike that there’s room for life and laughter in a hospice. This wonderful man tried hard to cope with a paralysis that left him highly dependent on his family and the nurses. Though this irritated him immensely, he was a born actor with a wonderful sense of theater. Sid knew exactly how to act out his sense of injustice in the face of his terminal illness. Often he played to the gallery—in this case, the three other patients who shared the same room. His roommates tolerated Sid, although “here-he-goes-again” was a much-used refrain.
    But Sid was also very religious. One morning, I was giving out the medication in his room when he hoisted himself onto his elbows, looked soulfully across the room and muttered weakly (but loud enough for all to hear), “What day is it today?”
    I answered truthfully, “Palm Sunday.”
    Staring up at the ceiling, Sid blurted dramatically, “Then today is a good day to die.” With this he fell back on the bed in such a dramatic fashion, I wondered if he would actually do it then and there! But a few seconds later, he popped opened his eyes, looked at me and sighed.
    Later that same week, when I was back in Sid’s room, he decided to give a repeat performance. Lifting himself onto his elbows again, he asked, “What day is it today?”
    Again telling the truth, I said, “It’s Good Friday.”
    Without looking up from his book, his roommate muttered loudly, “I hope to God he doesn’t die today—he might rise again on Sunday!”
    Dennis Sibley
As told to Allen Klein
     

Fresh Sample
     
L aughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.
Karl Barth
     
    It began as a typical working day. As a registered nurse, I traveled to clients’ homes to complete paramedical health assessments for an insurance company.
    As I entered this lady’s neat, attractive home, I smelled the delicious aroma of pies baking. “Umm, sure smells good in here,” I commented.
    “I just put a couple of lemon meringue pies in the oven. They’re my husband’s favorite,” my client volunteered.
    Returning to the purpose of my visit, we completed the questionnaire quickly. The last section involved collecting a urine sample.
    “I collected it earlier and saved it in the refrigerator,” she said. “I’ll get it for you.”
    As I emptied the