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Annotated by:
- Squier, Harriet
- Date of entry: Jan-28-1997
Summary
This is a light-hearted short story about an attractive, middle-aged female hypnotist who has a minor respiratory infection and visits the doctor. At first she hypnotizes the nurses so that they will put her in the examining room without a wait, and convinces them that her vital signs are different from what they had originally measured.
After this initial, good-natured experiment, the narrator waits a full 45 minutes for the doctor. He is abrupt and impersonal. Out of frustration, she hypnotizes him, and learns that he is afraid to be warm with patients, and is afraid to take time with them, because he needs to maintain control. She has him undress, put on a gown, and then leaves him to shiver in the exam room. She tells him that he will never forget what this humiliating experience feels like.
Primary Source
Vital Lines: Contemporary Fiction about Medicine
Publisher
St. Martin
Place Published
New York
Edition
1990
Editor
Jon Mukand
Page Count
5
Commentary