Early Detection

By Chris Ingram

He’d heard that drowning only sucked at first—that once you got past the agony of water filling your lungs, it was a peaceful way to go. Muscles screaming for rest, he paddled well beyond any previous foray. Stopping, catching his breath, he took in the sun, the open water, the sound of the waves that constituted his world. He was the furthest he could be from the sickeningly sterile medical center where he’d spent the morning. He’d be damned if the white coats would mete out his final days from an orange vial. Diagnose this, he thought, and dove deep.