Poker Face

Bone marrow biopsies go crunch. I can’t do anything about the face I make when I hear it. It’s a gruesome noise. Crunch - the soft red honeycomb of a bone’s innards. Sometimes you’d need a poker face.

Recently I got to stick a needle into a scrotum and draw out the fluid. It was satisfying. Like a spot that you could just keep on popping. I think I was smiling as the slippy yellow fluid filled the syringe and leaked onto my gloves. Sometimes you’d need a poker face. I sort of forgot the balls were attached to a person. Jim. When the sac was empty the doctor told me to carry out a testicular exam. I rolled each testicle carefully between my fingers, checking the contours and the consistency. Then I remembered Jim was there. I zoomed out and saw the big picture. Jim reclining with his jeans around his ankles. His hands under his head. Smiling an odd sort of smile. I hastily dropped his balls and snapped off the gloves.

“Thanks Jim, you can dress yourself back up now.”

Jim could have done with a poker face too.