Terence was to have a quadruple heart bi-pass. He pretended he wasn’t worried. Bi-passes these days are fairly run-of-the-mill. A few days in hospital followed by a few weeks recovery. And then... a new man!
Still, there was a nagging doubt. What if... There was his wife and kids to think about. He was still a young man.
The specialist had said “You’ll be good for another fifteen years after the operation, and then we’ll review the matter”. Fifteen years! He’ll be only sixty-seven!
The day arrived. He felt a small sniffle in his nose. Was he getting a cold? Would they postpone the operation? A false alarm! The doctor had a nose for sniffing out sniffles, and this wasn’t one.
“You’ll be fine,” the anaesthetist had said. Terence chatted to the anaesthetist as the mask was placed over his mouth and nose. “This,” joked Terence pseudo-dramatically gesturing to the physiognomy of the anaesthetist, “was the last face he ever saw.”
Indeed, it was.