Hello folks! This is my favorite part of the story. Today’s episode includes what may be my most favorite Quin and Tannenbaum exchange ever. This is what always pops into my head when I think of Quin and Tannenbaum. As always, thanks for reading. 🙂 Contact me at any time in the comments or at alsothemadhairman@gmail.com -BW
Quin entered the operating room. It was brightly lit, and playlist of old rock and roll hits played on a stereo. Quin approached the head surgeon and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Tannenbaum, we need to talk.” He said.
Tannenbaum was not only on his home turf, an operating theater, he was in the zone. He could cut into people’s heads all day in this kind of mood. He wasn’t exactly what a person would call happy, but he didn’t mind the sensation. He was calm and rational, and could take anything in stride at a time like this, which was exactly what the hospital wanted, an unflappable man with a knife in his hand. Mistaking Quin for some kind of orderly he turned around coolly and looked Quin in the eye. He came within a moment of accidentally dropping the tongs and scalpel into the gaping cavity of the blonde’s forehead.
“Quin! This is a surprise! What are you doing here?”
“Never mind that.” Quin said. “First things first. Can I borrow a dollar?”
“You can’t be in here.” Tannenbaum said.
“Why not?”
“Can’t you see that I’m operating?”
“You are?” Quin asked in surprise. “Is that what you’re doing?”
“Yes.” Tannenbaum answered. “Can’t you see the patient on the table?” he remarked, pointing to the open skull of the woman on the operating table.
“Oh.” Quin said. “I just assumed you were playing that old board game of operation. You know, the one that comes with tweezers and makes that annoying buzzing noise when you make a mistake? I always hated that game.”
“Why on earth would we be playing operation? Does this look like the board game to you?” Tannenbaum cried in astonishment. He was exiting the zone and had lost his cool.
Quin took a second look at the patient on the table.
“Yeah, it does. Just a little though. Say,” he said, “is that brains?” he asked Tannenbaum, while pointing at the woman’s open head.
The other surgeons and orderlies of the surgery team stared in amazement at the calm and detached conversation coming from the surgeon they respected, and some strange young man off the streets.
“Yes, Quin. That is brains.”
“Strange. I always thought brains were supposed to be pink.”
“Why would brains be pink?” Tannenbaum asked.
“How should I know? Brains are always pink in cartoons. Come to think of it, all bodily organs are pink in cartoons. Except the liver. I think it’s brown.”
“Now that we have established that this is an unconscious woman on my operating table with her brains exposed, would you mind leaving my operating room?”
“Those are brains?”
“Yes.”
“Can I poke them?”
“No!”
“Why not? I saw you poke them a minute ago.”
“I’m the surgeon. This is my operating room. I can do what I want.”
“Can I have a dollar?” Quin asked.
“Yes, you can have a dollar, but only after I close this poor woman’s head.”
“Cool. Can I watch?”
Thanks for reading! You have made a writer very happy. Come back every Tuesday and Saturday for more of Quin’s adventures!
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