Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois has had over fourteen-hundred of his poems and fictions appear in literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad. He has been nominated for numerous prizes, and. was awarded the 2017 Booranga Writers’ Centre (Australia) Prize for Fiction. His novel, Two-Headed Dog, based on his work as a clinical psychologist in a state hospital, is available for Kindle and Nook, or as a print edition. To read more of his work, Google Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois. He lives in Denver, Colorado, USA.
Huge Stone
I passed a huge kidney stone and brought it in for my doctor to have analyzed. When I took it out of the envelope in which I had placed it, his eyes widened. He said: That came out of you? He brought in all the other doctors in his practice, all the nurses and receptionists, even the insurance lady, to show them. No one had ever seen a kidney stone that big.
You are an American Hero, my doctor said. He had previously been a medic in the Army. Any other man would have been brought to his knees in pain, but not you. For you, it was only discomfort.
I said: No, sir. You may not remember, but both my parents were mentally ill. I became used to bearing pain. Then, in the war, I became a prisoner and their torturers had their way with me. You think a lousy kidney stone can perturb me?
He saluted, and all the employees went back to their duties. The sexiest of the nurses stopped on her way out and secretly handed me a card with her name and phone number on it.