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Sharing the empty space with me was an elaborately decorated aquarium that housed a dozen or so fish of various species.
Pacing in a perpetual circle, they too seemed to be waiting for a revelation that might never arrive.
As chief ER physician in this very hospital, I wondered how many patients I'd directed through these doors. How many families had to endure the silent torture of waiting I now suffered.
I found myself, again, bending before the tabletop coffee machine, surprised I hadn't single-handedly drained its contents by now. I wandered over to the fish tank and knelt. Steam from the Styrofoam cup licked the glass, leaving droplets of moisture on its cool surface. Using the pinky side of my hand to wipe the slate clear caused the orderly school procession inside to suddenly scatter for recess.
All but one curious fellow. A puffer fish, who appeared to be the only one of his kind in the little community, glided towards me. We inspected each other through the transparent barrier that separated my world from his. The glass was not unlike the invisible membrane that humans drape around themselves to guard their secret thoughts. Their desires. Their fears.
Among the colorful angel fish, the puffer was uniquely unattractive with his dark green, sludge-like color and spiny warts. Still, his behavior was friendly, despite the gruesome appearance. Then I noticed his eyes. One was turquoise, the color of a calm sea.
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