Category: fiction

The first thing Dr. Seth Queller saw out his window as the plane rattled down the runway was the rusting, worn-out shell of an airplane. It sat by itself, between the lone runway and the single hanger which itself, did not appear to be usable. Why leave a broken-down plane for passengers to see? Random…

For a significant portion of his 32-hour trip he considered one simple question to which he still had no satisfactory answer: “What in the world am I doing here?” It was hard to believe it took so many flights and so many hours to get anywhere. Yet it was almost unimaginable that a mere 32…

Dr. Seth Queller was there to perform cleft-pallet surgeries at the clinic attached to the university. His dean claimed Seth’s French-language skills and his medical specialty would make it fairly easy for him to work there. He was already realizing this was not worth it that there must be another way. If there were any…

Dr. Seth Queller was there to perform cleft-pallet surgeries at the clinic attached to the university. His dean claimed Seth’s French-language skills and his medical specialty would make it fairly easy for him to work there. He was already realizing this was not worth it that there must be another way. If there were any…

As a kid, Seth loved watching MASH off a well-worn boxed set of VHS tapes. As soon as he got home from school, he’d head straight to that built-in shelf to the right of their understated tv in the corner of their living room. Since his parents both tended to be occupied right before supper…

“Maybe what you need to do is try to care a bit less about yourself, and a bit more about others.” Really? That was his advice? Just over 24 hours in the country had already completely overwhelmed him. If his phone had any reception, he would have been contacting someone, anyone, to come get him…

“What are you going to do next?” These words echoed in his mind as he sat on the shockingly heavy eucalyptus-wood chair in his room. He wrestled with this question well into the night. He had not been in a real bed for 42 hours — the thin foam mattress in his guest room didn’t count –…

There was one massive question he couldn’t stop from rolling over and over in his head. “What might I lose?” Besides the obvious. The reality that he had lived a life completely and utterly with himself and his own happiness as the measuring stick of every decision he made finally hit him. His parents would…

There was one massive question he couldn’t stop from rolling over and over in his head. “What might I lose?” Besides the obvious. The reality that he had lived a life completely and utterly with himself and his own happiness as the measuring stick of every decision he made finally hit him. His parents would…

Finally, he headed back to the half-domed structures of the airport. While it seemed like he had just arrived, in ways much deeper and more personal, it felt like he had experienced years of living. Dr. Tom sent him back down to the capital with a hired driver. A ‘taxi’ is what he called it,…