Inspired by TN Kerr’s prompts which are
shown below. I chose to allude to the
prompts and not use them as written.
Here’s where the inspiration took me.
The fluorescent lights in the imaging department buzzed like trapped flies. Walker had been shuffling through those antiseptic corridors for nine months now, pushing patients in wheelchairs, fetching charts, pretending the lead-lined walls didn’t feel like a tomb.
But the paycheck was real. First time in two years he’d been able to stash anything away …. a few bills folded into an envelope under his mattress, growing thicker each Friday. Not much, but enough to think about getting out. Enough to make him feel almost human again.
Then the vertigo hit.
It started subtle …. just the room tilting when he stood up too fast, the floor refusing to stay level. Within days, he couldn’t tell if he was standing or falling. His stomach churned like he’d been spinning in circles for hours. Sweat cold on his skin. Headaches, vision changes, occasional slurred speech. The world turned to soup, thick and wrong.
Even before the tests came back, he knew this was the beginning of something far more serious than vertigo. You don’t spend that much time around X-ray machines, even low-dose ones, without learning the symptoms. The envelope under his mattress suddenly felt very thin. Very pointless.
The twisted part? He kept showing up. Kept pushing those wheelchairs. Because sick or not, dizzy or not, that money was the only thing keeping him from disappearing completely.
NAR©2026
The prompts: 1. walk in radiology; 2. got a job and started putting money away; and 3. sick, dizzy and disoriented.
This is “Round and Round and Round” by Buffalo Springfield
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.
The Elephant's Trunk 
A powerful story, Nancy. Walker is a desperate man.
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In a desperate situation. Great comment, Lisa. Thanks!
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Assim é a vida, muito bem feito. Thank you
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That’s for sure and it’s the luck of the draw sometimes. Muito obrigado.
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The world gives and the world takes away, as we get ahead and then it disappears so quickly. Our earthly success, possessions, and pleasures are temporary, often described as fleeting, vapor-like, or passing away and yet we carry on. Nice post, Nancy.
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It can be a very difficult life for many people, trudging daily to a thankless job where they work long hours for little pay and often expose themselves to dangerous conditions which can lead to serious health problems, both physical and emotional. I was in a position that allowed me to stop working after our children were born and for that I am extremely grateful.
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Great write. The terrible things we allow ourselves to endure in the name of a paycheck!
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Thanks, Jodi. I feel for people who are stuck in this awful situation. We live short and die long and too much time is spent just making ends meet. Sucks.
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That’s an awful feeling, drifting in the middle of the nowhere …
“my brain was in a boat
Floating out to sea, overboard and panic-stricken
I wasn’t swimming, barely awake, and drifting
I had fallen, nothing was working, and not talking
She’s crying, I’m sobbing, my heart is dying
And who’s left to row the boat, I’m thinking”
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I feel this deeply, dear Ivor. I’m sure it was a very personal write for you. Thank you, my friend. 🥰
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📖🥰😊
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I think Walker needs to think about a career change before he ends up being pushed in a wheelchair instead of pushing others in them.
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Yep, before it’s too late. Thanks, Fan.
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Poor guy- probably radiation sickness.
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Vertigo can lead to so many other problems, live-threatening ones. Thank you, Sadje.
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Very true Nancy. You’re welcome
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