His Purkinje System By Gerry Doyle

When I was about seven years old I tried to re-animate a pig’s heart my dad had bought for lunch using the transformer from my train set, electrical wire and two crocodile clips. I cut two pieces of wire, which I connected to the transformer’s positive and negative terminals, attached crocodile clips to the ends of the wires, and switched the transformer on. I placed the heart on my dad’s workbench, attached the clips to its arteries and turned the power dial on the transformer to ten: nothing.

Dad came home later smelling of Bruichladdich. When he saw the heart on the workbench he looked at me strangely. He removed the wires, picked it up and took it downstairs to the kitchen.

© 2013 Gerry Doyle

Gerry Doyle writes short stories and flash fiction. He lives in Melbourne Australia, but is originally from Scotland. He graduated from Edinburgh University and works in Criminal Justice as a Social Worker.

Comments are closed.