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@bluejay, just for fun, here’s part of the first scene of my book. What do you think? What sorts of questions does it make you ask? Is it clear as to setting and characters? Also, I’m off to bed, (I baby sat 4 children under the age of 5 today) so I’ll see you in the morning! 🙂
“Scalpel.”
Evelyn Kendsol responded quickly to her father’s order. Keeping the first two fingers of her left hand on the wounded man’s wrist, she reached for the instrument with her right hand.
Missionary Dr. Malcolm Kendsol took the scalpel and made a neat incision along the length of his patient’s arm, splitting his coffee-brown skin in order to remove the massive tumour that had been festering for so long.
“He should have been brought in ages ago,” the Doctor sighed. “I wish we could get across to these people. They won’t listen! I know it’s a long trek through rocks, mud, and kunai grass, but their health should be important to them. The Papuan people are very stubborn.”
Evelyn nodded. “But they said it was a mark from the gods. They didn’t know it was a medical problem.”
“Well I’ll give them one thing. Their devotion to their gods and spirits is pretty incredible. That tumour’s got to be pretty painful.” Motioning for Eve to pass him the dish, Malcolm carefully placed the remains of the tumour into it.
“Do you want the needle and thread now?”
“Mmm Hmm,” he nodded and reached out to take it from her, glancing down at his patient as he did. “Eve!”
“Yes? Oh, wait, I’ll get the syringe.” The young man was waking up and Eve knew she needed to get some more anesthesia into him. “We’re getting low on our Ethelyn,” she said, shaking at the bottle in her hand.
“Mmm, you can add it to the list for the next supplies trek. When we’re finished this operation.”
Eve carefully inserted the needle into the local man’s arm, watching as the clear liquid seeped into his bloodstream.
The little stilted hut in which they were working was made of strips of bamboo bark, woven together to form tight walls. Eve loved the way the gaps let in chinks of light here and there. The roof was made of long grass called kunai, dried and then placed on the roof in a similar fashion to British thatching. On most houses, the thatching covered the whole roof, making the houses very dark. On the ‘hospital’, however, the roof had a hole in the centre, letting in light and enabling them to work with ease. When not in use, the hole was covered.
“Okay, we’re finished,” Dr Kendsol wiped his hands on a piece of rough cloth and walked over to the doorway of the hut.