Fear and Healing by the Roadside
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"The wild carrot has a leaf which is delicate and curved. We call it Aphrodite’s eyebrow. You have to be very careful though, because the other plant that looks like these is hemlock.”
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Hospital Blues
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‘This is a very serious incident —' said Claudia.
‘There was no incident,’ interrupted the doctor.
The Cherry Tree
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We came on late notice, told that Claudia’s mother was dying. She nearly died a few times during her hospital admission. The doctor was quietly astonished when we agreed to take her home to care for her there.
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Oranges and CSI
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“Why is he worse now than he was before the operation?” John demanded. “Why isn’t he better? Are you telling us he’s not going to get better?”
Read MoreShaking, Falling, Being Held.
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In his new reality in the hospital, he was being captured and taken away, tortured and traumatised, every night.
Read MoreLearning Laughter
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As a young mother in my early twenties my earnestness was so severe it came to feel potentially life-threatening. Something had to crack.
Read MoreYarning with the RAN
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“She walked into the shop and started taking all the Coca-Cola out. I knew what she was doing and so did everyone else, but the shop-owner. He had no idea. He just saw profit coming off the shelf, literally."
“She was throwing it out into the street.”
Read MoreTouristic Travail
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She was psychologically worn down, too -- expected to drink with guests, entertain them and be entertained by them. The bar staff helped by hiding the alcoholic drinks clients bought for her.
Read MoreSmoke and buzzes
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I began to think Terrible Thoughts. I knew that pesticides were poison. As a flame in my throat flared with each breath or swallow, I became convinced that I had accidentally inhaled a toxic dose of the insect spray.
Read MoreGetting a Line In
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I feel grateful to her for allowing me, all those years ago, to slip in and out of her classroom to learn more about the art and science of slipping sharp needles into people’s veins.
Read MoreThe Reluctant Mentor
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I have to admit that I didn’t like the idea of mentoring in the 80’s and 90’s. It seemed to me that if you needed some guidance on a path of greed and corruption, a mentor was the one to help you. You can see my ideas about business were a little narrow.
Read MoreAli's Prize
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I know many of the birds she describes. I have seen how those desert birds rush in wild flocks.
Read MoreMidden Treasures
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As I sat one day on the tall hill of sand and sea grass, I realised that the hill was mostly made of shells. Not just any shells, but large shells of tasty shellfish: oysters, cockles, limpets, pipis and periwinkles. All of them good to eat. Six thousand years of shells.
Read MoreWave of care
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As an alienated adolescent (who would rather do anything but look after – or even look at – sick people and their problems), I stared into the waves at the beach a lot. I knew there was something there for me, if I just kept looking.
Read MoreBig Flag Day at Home
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They are playing that slow-baked game called cricket — the pace of which accommodates inebriation and lethargy so well.
Read MoreItjanu Summer
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Massive storm clouds had been gathering and the long-distance fragrances of hundreds of different desert flowers curled itself around petrichor – the perfume of rain on dusty rock.
Read MoreRented Boxes by the Bay
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It’s a four-and-a-half star hotel, they say. Our room has a spa bath with 2 of the 4 jets working and it is only as loud as a lawnmower. The working jets are oddly placed. My ankles and knees are very relaxed.
Read MoreEducated Dancers
/The old men used to laugh and laugh while their university-educated pupils stumbled along. Now, the men dance with the efficient and compassionate grace of our earthy people.
Read MoreCity Special
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Many of my doctor colleagues work on one part of the body only and get to know that system or that set of organs very well. I used to wonder, as a student, how you could spend a career that way.
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