Author: KokkieH

Autopsy

Doctor Leichmann looked at the body on the table.

“Female, Caucasian, 5.7 metres, red hair, late twenties,” he began his dictation. “Preliminary examination indicates COD is a single gunshot wound to the chest.”

He measured the entry wound at the back, swabbed for gunshot-residue, and measured the exit wound at the front. Why did they want him to do an autopsy? Cause of death was excessively obvious. Besides, these type of things were usually handled by the county medical examiner, not the Chief of Medicine at a research hospital.

“Making Y-incision.”

Not that it was strictly necessary. A shotgun at close range opened you up pretty effectively, and by the looks of it pulverised just about everything you’re supposed to check during one of these. He removed the internal organs, or what was left of them, one by one and measured, weighed, recorded and sampled for the lab.

Something was not right. He carefully checked inside the chest cavity and studied the X-rays again. That was really strange. Even with a through-and-through you’d expect at least some of the pellets to remain, lodged in a rib or vertebra. But there was not one. Not a single one.

And what was that strange smell? He was used to the metallic tang of blood, the sour smell of the stomach-contents and the methane stink of the guts. But this was strangely sweet, almost like the apple scent you get with diabetics, but not quite the same.

As he contemplated the remains he thought he saw a movement under the skin by her left temple. That was impossible. He leaned closer to get a better look.

On the road again

The wife and I have made the very impulsive decision to go on holiday. I say impulsive because we usually plan something like this months in advance and this decision was made with days to go before departure.

So, we’re exchanging the icy cold Free State for the icy cold and wet south coast. By tomorrow evening I’ll have the ocean before me and mountains covered with indigenous forest at my back. And the best part is we’re not paying for accommodation, so we can stay for the entire school holiday if we want.

Hopefully this change of scenery will be what I need to get my studies and my writing back on track again. And even if it doesn’t, at least I’ll have been in one of my favourite places on earth again (and quite close to where we spent our honeymoon).

On Marriage

Hands with wedding rings They say there are three rings in marriage: the engagement ring, the wedding ring, and the suffering. Four years ago today the wife and I exchanged the second of these rings. The third started much, much earlier, but that’s a post for another day.

I consider this an accomplishment for which we’ll welcome congratulations, as many people don’t even make it this far. In most of the Western world it is known that between forty and sixty percent of marriages end in divorce. I once read that a very high percentage (I cannot remember the exact figure) of these marriages that fail, fail within the first two years. That tells me the wife and I have already beaten some considerable odds to get where we are today.

And it hasn’t been easy. There have been days where neither of us have spoken a word to each other. There have been days when I stood at our fourth-storey window, not admiring the view, but measuring the distance to the ground and calculating whether it is high enough for a lethal fall or whether I should try and lure her onto the roof. I’m sure there have been days where both of us simply wanted to walk out. But we didn’t, and for that I am extremely grateful. Continue reading “On Marriage” →

On why I blog

This blog has been pretty much hit-and-miss since I first started it on Blogger a year ago and it wasn’t until a month ago that I really began to make a point of posting something every day. Even when I went away for the past long-weekend I didn’t miss a beat thanks to pre-scheduled posts.

Then yesterday came and went and I didn’t post anything without even a twinge of guilt. I can make the excuse that we were hosting my mom’s friends for her birthday, or that I had a lot to do, what with going for a tetanus shot (my dad’s scotty wanted to see what my ear tastes like), taking my wife’s car to the shop and taking an old television set to the pawn shop (they didn’t want it), and simply didn’t have time. But that would be a lie. Continue reading “On why I blog” →

Song Title Challenge #4: Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer – Randy Brooks

It’s time for this week’s Song Title Challenge.

Write a short piece of fiction, around 300 words, using the song title as your story title but don’t listen to the song. Remember to link back to this post so I can find yours.

If you would like to suggest a song title for a future post, you can do so from the challenge page. You can also leave a suggestion on the Facebook page.

This week’s song is Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer by Randy Brooks and originally performed by the husband and wife duo of Elmo and Patsy Trigg Shropshire in 1979. I’ve embedded the music video below my attempt, but don’t watch it until you’ve written your own.

Have fun with this one!