The body of Grant Bigsby lay before the class, more open than any psychiatrist could hope for. Tabitha shuddered, less at the cadaver that was Mr. Bigsby and more owing to the cold of the labratory.
Doctor Pilshough, their teacher, gestured into Mr. Bigsby's opened chest cavity. "Using only your eyes, who can tell me why this man died."
The students leaned in, inspecting the man's exposed organs. Tabitha, who was crowded out, found herself stuck near the deceased man's thighs. Not wanting to linger so near a dead man's genitalia, she began to work her way around his feet to the other side when Pilshough called for them to cease their examination.
"Right, so who can tell me, in their best estimate, how this gentleman died?"
The students looked awkwardly at one another, no one wanting to be the first to give a wrong answer.
"Come on, you guys love this stuff. Someone must've seen something interesting..."
Angela shyly raised her hand, "Uh, well his lungs show significant discoloration and, given his advance age..."
"Sorry, it wasn't lung cancer."
"What about a myocardial infarction? There appears to be scar tissue in the heart" another student suggested.
"Nope."
The students went on making suggestions and Dr. Pilshough continued shooting them down until eventually there was silence.
Pilshough waited for more answers but none came. "Well, if we are all out of ideas..."
Tabitha raised her hand and Pilshough nodded at her.
"Doctor, I believe the gentleman died due to an allergic reaction brought on by a jellyfish sting."
Pilshough laughed and started to clap. "Excellent work," he congratulated her while the rest of the class stared on dumbfounded. "I have no idea if she is right; I don't know what killed this man. But does anyone know why I'm clapping?"
The class once again looked around at each other awkwardly.
"It's because Tabitha applied Occam's Razor. Without properly inspecting this man's internal makeup and running a battery of tests, we can have no idea if any of your suggestions are true... but Tabitha perhaps noticed the sting on the man's foot, the sand in his toe nails, and the salt dried to his skin. And she likely heard Angela's comment about his lungs. She may not be right, but she has provided the simplest explanation with the evidence available!"
Dr. Pilshough stopped clapping and pulled on some latex gloves.
"Now, let's dig in and see what the real story is, shall we?"
YOU ARE READING
365
Short StoryA bizarre collection of short stories inspired by a single word (the title of each chapter). Lengths can vary and most are dark, but some are humorous with a little romance, and slice-of-life sprinkled in (genre in title).
