Take My Pulse

There is No Pulse

There is no pulse, he heard the nurse admit as she felt his wrist. He wanted to say, but I am here, I can hear you. There is a distance some people cannot travel. Going back into his body was impossible. They were wheeling his body to the morgue. He could see it on the cart as his body went down the hallway as he chased after it. Why can’t I talk? He body was colder now. He could feel it.

The man pushing the stretcher stopped to talk to a pretty woman who did not seem to notice the dead body. Perhaps when a body is covered with a sheet a body becomes invisible. The woman was more interested in jingling her keys and looking into the eyes of the orderly. He could hear the orderly asking for a phone number, and her responding. He heard it both with his body and the part of him that was outside the body.

Somewhere a loud-speaker was announcing the time. He no longer needed time. Appointments were useless. Already the orderly had taken his watch. The orderly insisted, you will not need it anymore. He wanted to say, I agree.

A pregnant woman went by in a wheelchair. Her frantic husband was imitating the woman’s breathing as a guide as the proper way to breath when you are about to give birth. There was sweat on her face. She was looking at her husband as if to say, what do you know?

The dead spirit thought, this baby would be a good place to go next; a fresh start. The spirit slipped into the womb and became an unborn baby girl. But something was wrong with the baby’s heart. It was about to lose its pulse.