The Fever Wards

[capt_facepalm]

Title:  The Fever Wards
Author: capt_facepalm
Rating: PG
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD-Compliant Gaslight)
Characters: Unidentified military hospital staff
Summary: A conversation is overheard
Warnings: (19th century healthcare, racial epithets)
Word Count: 100
Author's Notes: July 19th prompt: While you were sleeping

‘Why did you summon me? You know I do not visit the fever wards.’

‘Forgive me, doctor-sahib. I thought someone should know. This one… his fever has broken.’

‘Impossible. Nobody survives enteric fever.’

‘Perhaps if you examine—‘

‘Gawd, the smell! Cover him back up!’

‘Few can afford your fee for the privilege of fresh linens.’

‘Are you blackmailing me, you miserable muck-wallah?’

‘No, sahib, certainly not! That you are very enterprising is to be admired.’

‘Don’t you forget your place, you brown bastard. You're lucky to have this job. Now, clean him up and move him to the infirmary.’

.oOOo.

Now continued in Topical Ointment

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Comments

[debriswoman]

Scene described very effectively in few words:-(

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Yeah... it's not a pretty picture.
Thanks!

[pompey01.livejournal.com]

NOBODY survives enteric fever? That guy's medical knowledge is second only to his morals and hygiene practices.

Very well written, though.

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Not to worry. Your Dr Ives is a nice man and a dedicated healer. This is not him, nor would he permit anything going on here if he knew about it. I have conjured a nastier version of the fever wards than you did in On Afghan Plains. These OCs live in the shadows.

[pompey01.livejournal.com]

*imagines showdown between Dr. Ives and unnamed doctor from "The Fever Wards"* Yes. That pleases me. ;)

[maestress83.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a great doctor. *rolls eyes* Thank goodness for the second staff member, or poor Watson never would have made it to England.

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I started with the premise that Maiwand was not the worst thing that happened to Watson, and that it was the fever and not the bullets that nearly killed him and wrecked his health.

[hagstrom]

I agree with maestress83, we should all be grateful for that staff member!

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I figure that there are all kinds of people: bad, good, and every shade in between.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the kind of nasty goings-ons that happen whenever a war's on - hyaenas and profiteers pop up all along the chain.

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Indeed. There is always someone willing to cash in on another's misery.
Thanks!

[ancalime8301]

Eep. That doctor is a real piece of work.

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Heh! He is truly despicable, isn't he?
Thanks!