Dr Pershing Becomes a Dinosaur
Dr Pershing Becomes a Dinosaur
An eminent surgeon removes a diamond from the brain of a child. But the diamond is a door to someplace else entirely.
Published in The Storyteller magazine.
This entry was posted on January 26, 2007 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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January 28, 2007 at 7:21 am
Our sense of horror manifests in the usurping of our control by the intentions of unknown forces that hold power over us. For ordinary people, nothing represents that dilemma more then being at the mercy of medical experts in the karmic black hole of a hospital examination room. Suddenly you are a ‘thing’ on a slab that requires treatment by someone looking to make a name for them selves by inventing a new procedure that will ‘cure’ what they tell you is ‘your’ problem. Everything comes to a complete stop and the life you took for granted is now in the hands of someone handing you a ‘waiver of responsibility’ form for you to sign, if you want to get better.
This nightmare mood is captured in the opening of Harry’s story. The clinically impersonal dissection of a victim of the exploitation of our most prized resource. These ‘workers’ find security in the celebration of polluting them selves with the discovery of more profits for their masters. This undiagnosable madness crystallizes into a genetic anomaly that transposes those who come in contact with it to a regressive POV state of a dinosaur battling for it’s survival. I have enjoyed the story so far with this juxtaposition of extremes. I always felt the Olaf Stapleton concept of viewing the world through the eyes of a dog was a brilliant idea. So, over all, the large concepts Harry is dealing with merge well. The good doctor feels very confident he has come upon something that will make him famous, even if it happens to be the unexpected. (But, do I care in the least for what happens to this character? He seems like a slug.)
He returns from his dinosaur ‘trip’ and already he’s addicted. Consequently,like any stoned out tripper of the light fantastic, he starts pacing his room concocting a ‘plan’ concerning how he can indulge his habit without loosing his personal identity, that will shortly be receiving copious amounts of praise from his peers. So far, so good.
What happens next is like ‘Mission Impossible’ on bad acid. I am thrown into a convoluted construct of a wooden bird timed to ejaculate from a Swiss contraption to disrupt a diamond balanced upon swirling toothpaste. I know we are faced with a proximity problem, but the characters solution seems rather out of his normal rational box. Perhaps, the diamond has side effects, other then the sensation of scales, that promotes the ability to function in a non linear creative mode. It left me thinking that perhaps, Harry had dipped into his own stash late at night while the girlfriend uttered unintelligible desires for attention from the bedroom.
I was sad the boy died at the end, like a dead trout. I wanted him to suddenly appear at the docs country home, really pissed off, with a shovel in his hand screaming, “Where’s my diamond you upper class, over educated, rich bastard, soon to be decapitated.” If you thought nasty rafters were scary, imagine a Azerbaijan coming to reclaim a piece of his brain. I was left with a unfulfilled desire to know more about the wife. Was she having an affair now the good doctor had lost interest in the old in and out. What was her drug of preference? Anyway, I hope she got the diamond. She deserved something from that slug of a dinosaur husband. Sounds to me like he needed to mix 500 mg. of Viagra with the diamond. Doctors, kill them all and let god sort it out.
Nice one Harry, the day job, healthy. Just pulling your chain. To extreme writing sports.
February 12, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Bush and the Republicans were not protecting us on 9-11, and we aren’t a lot safer now. We may be more afraid due to george bush, but are we safer? Being fearful does not necessarily make one safer. Fear can cause people to hide and cower. What do you think? Why has bush turned our country from a country of hope and prosperity to a country of belligerence and fear.
If ever there was ever a time in our nation’s history that called for a change, this is it!
We have lost friends and influenced no one. No wonder most of the world thinks we suck. Thanks to what george bush has done to our country during the past three years, we do!