Thursday November 17th, 2022

The exercise:

Write about: multitasking.

So many balls in the air right now and only two hands. And very poor depth perception.

Just a matter of which one hits the ground first at this point.

2 comments:

Greg said...

I hope you keep all your balls well-juggled then! And that you catch them all on the way down too... :)

Multitasking
The surgery was clean and the steel surfaces sparkled under the fluorescent lights. The room divided into two halves: on the one side was a paper-covered cushioned table for the patient to lie back on and around it were steel tables, dishes holding surgical tools, and a machine that might be a laboratory microscope. There was also a pile of dirty laundry.
The other side of the room was the reception side: here there was a desk with a computer taking up much of the space and a bookshelf above it that contained leather-bound books and a well-thumbed gardening book. An uncomfortable chair sat next to it for the patient, while the desk's primary chair (reserved for the doctor, naturally) was a squeaky swivel chair on which a cat was sat.
The patient, Geoff, cleared his throat and Dr. Doestoomuch shooed the cat off his chair and sat down opposite him.
"Are you sure you're not busy, doctor?" asked Geoff. The doctor was holding a tray of toasted nuts in an oven-gloved hand.
"Multitasking," said Dr. Doestoomuch with a smile. "It's all the rage. There was a paper in the Lancet the other day that claimed that women can't actually multitask better than men at all, they just think they can. It was a good read. I think."
"You think?" Geoff had come to the doctor because his wife had made him and he would have appreciated a little ammunition to go home with.
"I was reading another article at the time about how to mummify people," said the doctor. He set the tray down on top of the computer keyboard, which sizzled briefly. "Now there's something you don't want your doctor multitasking while he's trying to do it."
"Yes doctor," said Geoff. His nosed wrinkled involuntarily: the smell of melting plastic was acrid and stank.
"Now," said Dr. Doestoomuch, "you were here about your period pains, right?"
"No!"
"Hmm. You have cutworms?"
Geoff rubbed his head and wondered if multitasking was really the source of Dr. Doestoomuch's problems.

Marc said...

Greg - well, I think I caught all the important ones. Or most important ones. I think.

Hah, the other good doctor of yours makes a delightfully distracted appearance. I probably only consider it delightful because I'm not his patient, but no matter.