This is another of those stories that we really wanted to publish but for various reasons it wasn’t a good fit for the usual posts. It was too good to pass over and so – we give you-
Horton Hears You by Rosemary Grant
The paramedics found him in the snow at a bus stop, nursing what they called a Hennepin Avenue cocktail: grape juice and Listerine, mixed half-and-half. When he got to the emergency department, he did nothing but stand at the door of his room and stare through the glass. I walked in and introduced myself as his nursing assistant. He took off his Horton Hears A Who! t-shirt and said he was cold. I asked if he wanted a sandwich. He replied: “I never killed anyone.”
He stood in the corner of the room as I took his blood pressure and temperature. He didn’t look at me. His arms were circled with lines of round cigarette burns, spiraling down his palm and across his hands. Seven on each finger, four on each thumb.
When I left his room, the doctor was at the door talking to his nurse. He couldn’t stay, the doctor said. He was sober enough to walk and talk. He wasn’t suicidal or homicidal. He burned himself and drank—but that was how he lived—and maybe he acted psychotic, but only God could say for sure, and he didn’t meet criteria for admission, and anyway the hospital was full and the hospitalist would spit in his face if he asked for another bed.
“Should I call a cab?” said the nurse.
“He wants to walk home.”
He walked out into the snow as I was checking in a woman who had three children with the flu. I didn’t see him again.
This story really impacted the team here and so we approached the author to suggest we link to a couple of sites that care for homeless and desperate people.
Madison Street Medicine brings together doctors and healthcare professionals to provide healthcare for homeless people in Madison, WI https://www.madisonstreetmedicine.org/about/.
and
MEDiC is a system of student-run free clinics affiliated with the University of Wisconsin that provides free care to underserved populations, primarily homeless people and undocumented immigrants https://www.med.wisc.edu/education/medic/.
literally stories 
Rosemary
This little piece says more than the endless similar newspaper accounts that really don’t leave a mark on the reader due to their repetitive nature. Those human interest yarns that usually focus on the tragic tale of one person then get out before their hands get too dirty to collect the Pulitzer.
Brilliantly done!
Leila
LikeLike
I found this so very moving and I think the matter of fact delivery was perfect. It’s heart breaking that the richest countries in the world can’t care for their most vulnerable citizens and it’s shameful. Well done and thank you for sending us this important piece of writing.
LikeLike
Weird piece which could have happened. I noticed two things
Impacted
Blood pressure taken while patient is standing up. Not how it is done.
Something which I have not seen in hospitals. Glass doors to rooms.
LikeLike
Actually, that’s not correct Doug blood pressure is sometimes taken with the patient standing – I know this from personal experience. Also allowances should be made for the fact that this ‘patient’ is not relaxed and compliant. I think we should point out that the author is a medical practitioner. Merriam Webster seems happy with ‘impacted’ by the way. I don’t think it infers that the door is glass simply that there is glass in the door. Thanks for commenting as always it’s good to have different thoughts.
LikeLike
Thanks for the correction on blood pressure. I don’t care about M W, I mentioned impacted, didn’t say it is wrong, but I think it is wrong.
LikeLike
Well of course you are perfectly entitled to your opinion. I think it’s right. 🙂
LikeLike
Poignant and believable. Even if it didn’t really happen it has really happened. Glad LS found a way to share it.
LikeLike
Hi Rosemary,
The Homeless situation is simple but complex.
Simply put, it shouldn’t ever be an issue but the complexities of the human stories and unfortunately the politics of each individual nation confuses and bastardises that simple fact.
A perceptive piece of writing.
Hugh
LikeLike
So much contained within this short piece – a lot of the unsaid works well here as do the small details such as the ‘grape juice and Listerine’, etc. A very moving, important bit of writing in this, what is sadly, a vignette of perhaps an increasingly daily occurrence.
LikeLike