歸妹
“The Marrying Maiden”
She was older but still beautiful. She stood, naked in a vintage pose partially turned away but looking back seductively still revealing one breast. The slight paradoxical movement of the chest conveyed an almost erotic passion, the one visible breast rising with each measured assisted breath.
Her arm rested on one hip but her lower torso was covered by uneven strips of pink tape that secured a chest tube in place. The tubing ran red and away to a Pleur-evac® where bubbles were visible but unheard within the aircraft.
The trauma was extensive, and this struggle the “Humpty Dumpty” desperation with all the king’s horses and all the king’s men. In the dim lights of the fuselage, a swap meet with units of PRBCs and liters of NS and LR being rotated with seemingly little apparent benefit.
When, passing over the mountains, the up and crosswind turbulence make the fluid and blood bags dance, swinging from their carabiners.
Adding to the chaos, air traffic of approach filters into the headsets with a the request from ComCenter for report. Returning the request, report becomes a a true radio edit, reduced to current vitals as an addendum to the known history.
The last PRBC bag is spiked leaving only the ice packs sitting alone in the Styrofoam blood bank container. The unmatched “O” is squeezed inside a pressure bag pouring blood through the filtered chamber of the blood tubing.
Secured for landing the familiar bump of arrival is time stamped and noted as part of the sequential string of events to be relived later in charting. All these little moments, parts of the paradoxical pace where time is faster and events slow, culminating in a final rush. Then with the synchronized backboard stretcher shuffle, the report which is the transfer of care.
The erotic tattoo is exposed again, the pallor starkly accentuating her lines, the faded colors and her pale breast. She seems to be smiling.
Liu: The Marrying Girl. Undertaking leads to misfortune. Nothing benefits.