Theatre in the Dermatology Waiting Room
Maybe he is six. He sits next to his mother, a little brother on her other side, playing on an iPad. After watching assistants enter the room and call out a first name, the boy asks, Mom, what would happen if she called a name and two people had the same name? This leads to a conversation about what would happen if two people have the same first name and the same initial letter of the last name? what if they have the same last name? the same birthday? the same time of birth? the same license plate number (his idea). A few minutes later an assistant enters and says, Carol? Two women stand. The action occurs behind him, and he misses it. His mother tells him what happened. How it was solved by the initial of the last name. His face does a happy dance—his eyes the stars you sometimes see on cartoon characters. He sharpens his attention with a squint. Minutes later another assistant enters and says a name no one appears to hear, but two people stand up, a man and a woman. The boy’s demeanor now resembles that of a research scientist, clipboard in hand. The man strides across the room, saying Bruce? The assistant shakes her head and says, Ruth? And with that, the woman comes forward. After that, two assistants enter the room and call out two different names at the same time, and two women sitting together, but not “together,” get up and walk in opposite directions.
Unbroken #48: Soaring Gloriously in the Sky, January, 2026.
