040. Have you guys noticed anything weird?

It had been a bad day at the morgue.  More than a dozen bodies had been pulled out of a train wreck and everyone needed a drink. As it turned out, they needed more than one.

Dr Marcus was the first to say it aloud.

“Have you guys ever noticed anything weird during an autopsy?”  She asked, then signalled the bartender to bring another round. “You know, like something comes out. Something other than vitreous humour and cerebo-spinal fluid, I mean.”

No-one knew what to say. Dr Parkanus cleared his throat. Mike, the second-year intern, traced a line in the condensation on his glass.

Dr Marcus was already regretting bringing the phenomena up, but it was too late to stop now.  “It’s like…” she started, “It’s like we don’t keep emotions where we’re supposed to.”

The drinks arrived, and everyone took a bigger sip than they needed to.

“Take logic, for example. Everyone think it’s in your head, but it’s actually in the kidneys. And kindness isn’t in your tongue, it’s in your cheeks.  Shame sticks to your teeth – there's a film of it.”  She sighed. She should have kept quiet. The others were going to think she was losing it. “Then there’s freedom – ”

Dr Parkanus looked down at his feet, involuntarily, and Mike shook his head. “Nope, not your legs,” he chimed in. “Your lungs, actually.”

Dr Parkanus raised an eyebrow. Dr Marcus smiled. It was nice to have someone standing with her on the edge of crazy.

“Everyone thinks love’s in the heart,” she went on. “But it’s not. It’s in your hair.  Of course, that’s a stupid place to put it. It takes so much time, and it grows so slowly.”

She took another sip. “And it fades and gets brittle in the sun.”

No one said anything.

“But it smells good,” she finally admitted. “Like apples.”

Dr Parkansus gave her a weak smile and changed the subject. It was unkind to brush his colleague off, but the conversation had made him uncomfortable. Medical examiners weren’t supposed to be poetic. And besides, his hair was thin and brittle and his cheeks were hollow. He had so little love and kindness to give.