In The Morgue

First cut is from the top slice down the sternum add side excursions just above the breasts to meet the pectorals. Flip open and inspect, the gross anatomy, then search for fluids in the cavities, and grab the ladle and the jar mark all containers with the patient's name. Observe and scrutinize each nook and cranny, all secret places, just as well take sample slivers from the liver and the spleen, the lungs and all the rest. Dissect the coronaries inspect the valves, and note all scarring and lost patency for sure. Then take from waiting hands the saw for bony parts, all stainless steel and shiny then slowly, and with care but sheer indifference cut off the top so it will look like soldiers' helmets do. A delicate procedure to separate the brain from its so crowded home and do present it, well intact onto a plate, where it will sit, to be first photographed then weighed with all the rest then probe the convolutions, note vessels that may leak and peel the great pituitary with surgeon's fingers from the bony seat, the sella turcica. It's all, as you might say the work I do each day, and nothing special, just routine engulfed in formalin, we make our jokes, our laugh can chase the silence and the ghosts away. And now and then, I do reflect, and really wonder about the soul beyond the flesh and whether life was good and long enough for them. It's when I stuff the rags and paper towels, and the local paper, hospital notes and news and rubber gloves back into what had been and not too long ago a real human, just like me. I sew him up and know that all the dead would understand the sense of humour that I need to do it all.