Search
The Missouri Review

Nonfiction | July 21, 2023

Night

Adam Boggon

Night  

Adam Boggon  

 The sixty-year-old retired policeman with encephalitis is fidgety in his delirium. This is the fourth cannula he’s pulled out tonight. He speaks, but his words come forth from his infected brain at random. I explain that he needs to stay in hospital so we can treat his infection. He says he has to “kettle, back, ranch, knife.” That’s not on the cards just now. I place another line. I’d better bandage that, or he’ll pick it out.  

I squeeze out of his room to grab some gauze. I’m gone twenty seconds. When I come back, the narrow pink tube I’d slid into his vein has been plucked out and deposited into his drinking cup. There’s a small puddle of blood on the floor. 

If you are a student, faculty member, or staff member at an institution whose library subscribes to Project Muse, you can read this piece and the full archives of the Missouri Review for free. Check this list to see if your library is a Project Muse subscriber.

SEE THE ISSUE

SUGGESTED CONTENT

Secret Link