‘Please, sign this!’

‘Sign what?’

‘Sign that you consent to undergo the operation,’

‘Operation? What operation?’

Dear God! Are these nurses out of their minds? How do they expect me to give them my approval to operate on me? to kill me? Never! Never!

‘Professor Smart!,’ said the surgeon.’ Your appendix is in flame, and we must remove it. Otherwise, your condition will be deteriorated.’

Appendix? I was shocked and I didn’t know what the doctor meant with that word. So a nurse brought me a picture of the human body and pointed to the appendix, a tiny part beneath the right colon. Actually I wanted to know it was not the pancreas,or the kidney or the liver.

‘It is a routine operation.’ Said the doctor.

‘But is it risky?’ I asked.

‘Well, sir! every operation has some risk.’ He replied with a smile.

‘Can you wait till I discuss this with my family?’ I asked.

And soon my family came in.

‘Disaster! A terrible disaster!’ I shouted. ‘Have you heard the sad news? They want to operate on me. Do you believe it, mother?’

‘But son, this is a simple operation. Even children may undergo such a surgery.’ Said my mother.

And I gave in and signed the form.

Immediately I was carried on a wheeled bed with two nurses at each side. The bed was so high that I felt as if I was flying in the air. Minutes later, we reached the theater and the flight came to an end.

An angel in white looked upon my face and asked,

‘Are you professor smart?’

‘Yes, I am.’

‘Is this your signature?,’ he said as he showed me the form which I signed a few minutes earlier.

I nodded.

Then they pushed my wheeled bed into the theater and I started to pray loudly and the nurses thought I was talking to myself or I had lost my mind. Inside, there were many nurses and many doctors in white, and at once, my fears were doubled. Then they gave me a sleeping drought, and I fell asleep, and when I regained consciousness and opened my eyes, I saw many faces looking smilingly at me.

‘Welcome back Professor Smart!’ Said one of the doctors.

Hearing his friendly words I thought I was already dead and was brought back to life and sent back to heaven.

‘Is this paradise?’ I asked and they roared in laughter.

‘Ah,no, sir!,’ said the doctor. This is the theater. Your operation is over.’

And again they carried me on the white, flying bed back to my ward and there, my mother and sisters were waiting and I saw them – though I didn’t know why – smiling.