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The Doctor (by Drew Katronick -- 8th grade)

It was just another day in the busy life of the Doctor.  He bent carefully over the side of the operating table closely observing his patient’s open cut.  Surgery was not pleasant work.  The machines beeped constantly: the patient was healthy.  While none of his nurses were looking, he picked up a small vial and pushed its contents into the arm of his patient.  A grim smile formed on the Doctor’s face.  One more victory for him, one gone for the children.  He knew he had accomplished something important.

 Outside the dark operating room, the patient’s parents bit their nails in anxiety for their thirteen-year-old boy.  He had been through a lot in his life, and most of it was pain.  Ever since he had been diagnosed with that rare brain disease he had hardly a moment of joy.  His life became a grim countdown to the day the disease would finally finish its siege.  However, new hope was flashing towards him, the Doctor promised he could cure the disease.  The parents were cautiously hopeful.  But, they knew the great risks of brain surgery.  All of their hopes and dreams were with their poor boy John.

Early the next day, as the sun peeked over the horizon, the Doctor walked up to his office from his expensive convertible.  He carried his briefcase over to his practice’s flagpole and raised the American flag.  He thought himself a very patriotic man.  One to start a new revolution.  Then, with determination, he turned his back to the flag and walked up to the door.  Upon opening the door he found his clients already waiting and as distressed as ever.  In his mind the child, a young girl of twelve, was really quite ugly.  As they walked into the operating room, he thought of the hard work ahead of him.  At least it paid him well.  Sitting down, he put the girl, named Alexis, under anesthesia.  Her parents walked out of the room, sighing.  Their situation was just as sad as John’s parents, actually almost the same, though they came from opposite sides of the country seeking help from the doctor.

Inside the operating room everything went just as normal.  The Doctor picked up a vial and put the shot into the girl’s arm.  Now that was why he really came to work each day.

By an unusual twist of fate, John and Alexis went to the same college.  Of course, this meant that they had both survived their very risky brain surgeries.  In fact, they had both recovered exceptionally well.  Unfortunately, most of the Doctor’s patients never made it out of their anesthesia.  It’s a miracle that both John and Alexis’ parents went with the Doctor despite the risks.  Anyway, the two lucky grads eventually married each other and Alexis became pregnant.  They bought a house and their future seemed so bright.  As the sun set one day, Alexis’ heart suddenly stopped beating.

Shock was the only word that can describe the next few days.  In fact, no word can do justice to those sad times.  John began to feel weird, though.  Everyone else thought it was nothing.  Yes, just shock.  Hard shock.  John didn't think that, though.  He was scared.  He felt that his symptoms were the same as the pain that Alexis described a few days before her death.  John wished that they hadn’t dismissed it as nothing.  He was willing to bet that it was something.  After all, the coroner hadn’t been sure what had caused Alexis’ death— but he was certain that it wasn’t because of the pregnancy or the brain disease, which was cured. 

The morning of the funeral of Alexis a man walked into the church where it was to be held.  He wore a fine black suit, the perfect fashion, and obviously very expensive.  He was the Doctor.  Attending his patients' funerals was just one of the many things he did to advertise his care for them.  However, something seemed amiss as he entered the great building.  Whispers circled around him.  For a moment the Doctor had some regret, but he quickly regained his aplomb.  Then someone broke the tension: John was dead too, and from uncertain causes.

A year passed as John and Alexis’ parents mourned their children’s death.  Yet a secret still remained: one of the parents once was a CIA agent, another an author.  Suddenly, around the country a new book appeared in all the Barnes and Nobles.  It was called “The New Jungle: One Man’s True Story of Fraud in the Healthcare Industry”.  One can only guess what happened to the Doctor.