sting like a bee

“We’ll see if it’s minor,” he quipped back. He could already tell that she was a self-proclaimed “expert” when it came to her own medical injuries, which were some of his least favorite types of patients. If they didn’t want an expert opinion or treatment, they might as well just put some duct tape on their injury and call it a day without wasting anybody’s time.

As they stepped into the private room, Levi noticed the poor attempt at a bandage wrap around her knuckles as the blood soaked through the tissue. “Seems like you won,” he remarked. He didn’t know her or her story, but whoever or whatever she fought to earn such bloodied knuckles, there’s no way her opponent could have beat her.

“Do you mind?” he asked as he reached out to take a look at her hands. As he carefully unwrapped the bandages, he said, “I won’t ask how you got these, but as a professional, my opinion would be to not do it again. You could cause some permanent damage.” Once the wrappings were gone, he assessed the damage to her knuckles. There were a lot of superficial cuts, but nothing appeared deep enough to require stitches.

“You lucked out today. I don’t need to stitch you up, but the wounds could still get infected if you’re not careful.” Levi put on a pair of latex gloves before dipping a cotton swab in some disinfectant solution. He began to swab away at the clotted blood surrounded her knuckles and dabbing at any fresh blood with a clean cloth.

“This is not my first time here, you know?“, she sighed with a small nod, “and I think I know my body well enough to know when it’s something major or minor. Plus, all of my organs are still inside, so that’s a win, right?”. If it wasn’t for the fact that her coach wanted everything ‘perfect’, Mikey would probably bandage herself, waiting in hospitals was a nightmare. 

She noticed that he was looking at the bandaging and tried to hide her hands, but then remember that he was a doctor and his job was too look at the bandages so she relaxed again. “It was practice, I got a little carried away”, she answered without really thinking about it. “I’ll probably bruise tomorrow but these were the worst ones”. 

She raised her hands so he could take a better look at the damage, the bandages were too bloodied to save. “Like I said, it was my usual workout. Practice before a match. Please don’t say that out loud, my coach might hear you and he’ll...”, she didn’t want to be on the sidelines, how could she be a good boxer if she wasn’t allowed to be in matches? Maybe a time off would be good but that would mean leaving her alone with her thoughts, which seemed like a bad idea. 

“I told you”, she rolled her eyes, letting the proud smirk come out. “Yeah, I’ll clean them carefully mornings, evenings and at night. I’ll be in top shape in no time, doc”. As soon as the swab touched her skin, she winced and sucked in some breath, “this never gets easier huh?”, she commented before closing her eyes, “fuck, that stings”. 

It was a slow day for Levi. The most gruesome thing he’s seen since his shift started six hours earlier was a broken wrist on a six year old, along with some minor wounds that only needed a few stitches. It sounded a bit sick, but Levi liked the gruesome injuries. It was why he became a trauma surgeon in the first place, so he could be faced with a challenge that required speed and precision that most surgeons lacked. But today was reminding him how boring the job could really be when there was no one in severe physical pain.

He meandered up to the ER desk and took the clipboard sitting in its designated slot. He skimmed over the basics and sighed when it was just another surface injury. He wanted something deep, something gory, but instead he was stuck with some bloodied knuckles.

“Sloan?” he called out without looking up from the clipboard. It seemed as if she was a regular at the ER, given that her last visit was only last week. What is she up to? he thought to himself.

Levi glanced up at the patient now standing in front of him, a dip forming between his brows as he noticed the sunglasses on her face. Strange. “Let’s go assess the damage, shall we?” he asked before turning and leading her into a private room.

She was in the middle of winning yet another Candy Crush level when she heard her name being called, ruining the mood and her streak. “Wonderful”, she mumbled as she got up from her seat and noticed the doctor, she should have asked for a woman, she never forgot but her mind was elsewhere. She felt the fear creep on her back and she took a deep breath, “he’s a doctor, he’s going to help. It’s his job”, she shook her arms to get rid of the nerves, making her wounds sting and some blood drops fall on the floor, “oops’. 

She walked towards him, as slow as she could. “It’s not damage, it’s a minor thing”, she shrugged, unable to keep her thoughts to herself. She took off the sunglasses and squinted at how bright everything was, she hated hospital lightning. Her lips let out a hiss, the light made her eyes hurt and if she moved her fingers, her knuckles screamed in pain. He just had to fix her up and send her home, no small talks, no questions, she could get through this. 

Muhammad Ali and Boston Celtic Bill Russell outside of Russell’s restaurant, Slade’s Original Barbecue in Boston on November 5, 1964.

Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) vs Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight boxing title at Miami Beach Convention Hall on February 25, 1964.

As the 7-1 underdog, 22-year-old Ali defeated Sonny Liston in six rounds by TKO. The fight was almost cancelled due to Ali’s religious beliefs. While he trained in Miami he had his mentor Malcolm X with him. When the promoter threatened to cancel the fight if Ali didn’t distance himself from Malcolm and the Nation of Islam, Ali said, “My religion is more important to me than the fight.” The promoter finally relented when Malcolm agreed to leave Miami and return only the night of the fight. Before the fight, Malcolm X told Ali, “This fight is the truth. It’s the Cross and the Crescent fighting in a prize ring–for the first time. It’s a modern Crusades–a Christian and a Muslim facing each other with television to beam it off Telstar for the whole world to see what happens! Do you think Allah has brought about all this intending for you to leave the ring as anything but a champion?"