"Cut it off and leave it", I said. He did, and we tied another popper on and continued fishing. Shortly he had to go home, so I fished alone the rest of the day, forgetting about the popper. That evening I returned to the medical school dorm and remembered about it when I began receiving continuous stares fromthe other students in the foyer. I was known to be somewhat "touched", but this was ridiculous. I went across the street to the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, one of the most prestigious teaching hospitals in the country. I checked into the ER and, just my luck, one of my classmates was on duty and pushed through the curtain to where I waited on the gurney. "Oh...it's you......well, what's the problem?" I decided then that being observant was something they had better teach in the fourth year. "AAAAh, well,...this!" I pointed. The smirk wasn't long in coming. He examined it, tugged gently on it, smirk, smirk. "Just get some xylocaine, cut down next to the barb, and it will come right out," I offered. I wanted this over and out of here as quickly and as quietly as possible. "Ahhhh, yesss, wellll...", and he turned his back and left, leaving the curtains parted. Three more of my classmates were milling around out front and saw me. Soon there was a huddle of four, then five, then pointing to the top of one's head, laughing, then a break and they all went off in one direction. I waited. Ten minutes, twenty, thirty. Finally an older resident I didn't know appeared followed now by seven of my smirking classmates. "AHHH YESSS," he said. "It's the old hook in the scalp syndrome". He began unwrapping a minor surgical kit and pulling on rubber gloves, all very professional, no smirk. I don't think even he got it at that point. But from the looks on my classmates faces, there was something up. I was missing it. I scanned quickly, then finally I saw it, the old "dog bites man" irony. Where and how far did they have to go to find this guy, the one person to remove my embedded popper. His name tag read, I swear, "DR. BASS". Trump Doyle McKenzie Flyfishers August 1991
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