Flash by Louella Lester
THE DOCTOR SWEEPS IN
On his way past the assistant’s desk he claws my folder from the counter, calls my name, hovers silently for a minute, then lands his oversized feathered feet in front of me, his snowy-white head of hair level with my chest. “Hello, I’m Doctor Snowyowl. Follow me,” he cries, then skip-waddles the hall, swoops left and disappears. I find him perched on an office chair, in the examination room, those large feet gripping its wheeled legs. His head bobs up and swivels from my records to me, his eyes open wide and round behind his glasses. The doctor peers at me, hoot-barks rapid-fire questions and explains what he will do. He slips from the chair, lays one Arctic-cold claw on my shoulder, pokes in a needle, and with one quick slice the rodent-shaped growth is whisked into a plastic bag. He says he will send it to the lab for analysis and get back to me, but as I leave I catch him eyeing that specimen much too closely.
Louella Lester is a writer/photographer in Winnipeg, Canada, author of the CNF book Glass Bricks (At Bay Press, 2021), contributing editor at New Flash Fiction Review, and is included in Best Microfiction 2024. Her writing and photos appear in a variety of journals and anthologies. Visit her at her website.
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