Overheard

Sometimes we overhear something that causes our mind to take a step back and replay what we have heard and try to make sense of it. This happened recently when I was a patient in hospital. Because I was in isolation due to a 'golden staph.' infection, I saw very few people yet overheard many conversations emanating from adjacent rooms. On one occasion I heard the 'tea lady' ask another patient what he would like to drink. His reply, I guess, left us both wondering. He said, 'I like my coffee black, unsweetened, and piping hot with sugar and ice-cold milk please.'
On another occasion I overheard a doctor asking the nurse what she meant by a comment she had written in a patient's wound-treatment notes. The comment was. 'The wound is healing in its own juices.' He bluntly told the nurse, 'You'll have to learn how to express yourself,' and, after a pause, added, 'and I don't mean breast milk!'

-- Lionel Hartley