Short Story – She Came to Save Me

I had come down suddenly with serious appendicitis and was now lying in a hospital bed, waiting to be prepped for surgery.

I was very anxious and scared, wondering what would it be like to go under anesthesia? What it would be like to be cut open and sewn up again? Would the doctor ‘forget’ something inside me? Would I die?

As I pondered these life and death questions, a small, extremely somber-faced young woman quietly appeared before me. She regarded me with sad, mysterious eyes for a few moments, then she said in a quiet voice,

“I will save you.”

My heart lurched with panic. Save me? Who was she? Why was she here to save me? And save me from WHAT? In my confusion and fright I said nothing but simply stared at her.
She frowned slightly and moved closer to the bed.

“I want to save you.”

She said again in that mild, slightly falsetto voice.
Finally, I said hoarsely,

“Save me from what?”

A look of perplexity came over her face. Then she brought out a small satchel of surgical blades.

“ I have to save you before doctor come.”

THEN I GOT IT! SHOOT! She’d come to SHAVE ME! (Hahahahaha! As in, shave my lower abdomen in preparation for the surgery!)

I was too weak to laugh that day but man! Afterwards, and ten years later I still laugh whenever I remember the solemn faced little Yoruba lady who came to ‘save me’.
God bless all the beautiful accents of the world.