The place was up on this strip mall off Greenville First time you would eat at this fast casual Indian restaurant They're coming up all over Texas as these suburban Indians live out their Scheme to fatten up all the Native Texans and render them invalids You had to support the brown man And their tubs of clarified butter Marinating the chicken in the back of this place You walk in and there's a big LCD screen and a menu bar A little refrigerator in the front up next to the cash register And another one to the side of the thing Cartons of mango lassi and grape drink The other one had Coke Whenever you go to one of these things You face a 25% probability that the person ahead of you in line Has never had Indian food and is confused by the menu You stand there and watch them hem and haw Holding up the line You remain quiet and pretend to ruminate about the menu choices When you already know that there is no choice at least no reasonable choice other than chicken tikka masala With a garlic naan and a mango lassi If it's a special occasion you will add the saag paneer Today it's a black lady with a strange face that you remember from the Basement floor of the hospital where you work at Deep in the catacombs of this hospital you remember this woman Ambling through the back hallways on the way to the operating rooms By the supply department where they wash all the instruments and the Scissors and the knives and the bladder blades and the scalpels and the Like but you never thought you'd see the same lady from the hallway Standing in front of you hemming and hawing about what to order at This fast casual Indian restaurant She is the only thing standing between you and a hot dinner "Is that spicy? What's in the number 5? Can I get extra sauce? Would I like The sauce? Are you really from India? How long has this place been open? Do you take personal checks?" You feel this sensation. You know what this feeling is. This is what the mystics refer to as "Time Rape" Hospital administrators love this attack It's the equivalent of physical rape, but it is done through subterfuge And squandering of precious time. It is most effective when the perpetrator Is able to create an aura of innocense To project that they don't know that they are in fact raping you of your time Second by second At this point you have a choice - go home without the food or stand there And let it happen, justing leaning into this violation of your personal time. You've done it before. Hell that's what got your career this far. Deep in the foggy trenches of medicine, where diseases lie And where middle aged black women in yoga pants order Chicken tikka masala while everybody waits.
3DEEPERCUTS PUBLISHING 2024
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