The attending physician asked me to hop up on the exam table. There was a smattering of dried red flakes on the sheet, which he wiped away. “What’s that from?” he muttered. I lay down, and saw the origin of the red flakes: congealed globs of blood, adorning the overhead lamp. “Ummmm…” I nervously giggled. “There’s blood on the lamp.” The doctor apologized and I was ushered into a new room, where I came to…

In a striking departure from convention, a local woman professes to dislike going to hospitals, whether for her own health or to visit an ailing friend. "Oh, I hate hospitals," she confessed to a group of relatives planning to look in on a cousin recovering from surgery as if they were going recreationally and wanted to know if she thought it would be fun. "There's just something about them that creeps me out," she added, as…