Acrostic

(Acrostic*  (a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in with certain letter in each line form a word or sentence.)

ACROSTIC

By Deborah J Lindsey

“TUNDRA”

Time Unveiled Nature’s Desire:  Reindeer Always

Stephanie Foster smiled.   Truly, this wasn’t her best Acrostic effort but it would have to do.  She was tired.

Her thoughts wandered to Robert. He’d noted her love for puzzles when they first met 6 months ago.  The Acrostic exchange was a delightful game between them.  His words were always thought-provoking and words he knew she would have to research a bit to answer.  Her words. On the other hand, tended to be silly and fun.  Her choice today was simple-just her name, Stephanie.  She was curious to learn what he would do with it.  She thought she was falling in love with him and hoped this might offer a clue to his feelings. It was an opportunity anyway, she thought.

Stephanie glanced at the table where her pager and stethoscope lay ready for a quick retrieval.  She was on-call until 4am.  “On call” meant staying in hospital and that meant grabbing a bite to eat and a nervous nap.

She’d managed a couple of hours this shift and was thankful for a few moments to rest body and spirit.

The call room she’d been assigned to was better than most.  This one had a shower and a door that locked.  Three gray lockers ran down one side of the wall and a worn desk with a folding metal chair filled the corner.  The “bed” was nothing more than a gurney that could be pressed into service at any time.

Stephanie checked her watch, sat up and pulled her crutches into position. She made her way to the desk and flipped through her charts.  She added a notation here and there and a signature where needed then straightened the pile.

She checked her watch again, rose and tossed the salad dish into the trash.  She fished her nurse’s shoe from beneath the gurney with the tip of a crutch and pulled in near.  The other shoe stood alone- stiffly upright and permanently affixed to the flesh-colored prosthesis that served as her other limb.

She’d heard that Robert had a similar shoe.  She could certainty sympathize with him and longed to know the details but knew she would never ask. He would have to share with her in his own time. She wished that he would only trust her.

Stephanie inserted her stump into the prosthesis.  She felt the familiar gush of air as the vacuum took hold. She stood and pressed firmly seating the appliance in place. She opened her locker and stowed her night things on the shelf.  Then propped her crutches against the locker wall.  She took out a clean lab coat and pulled it over her scrubs.  A quick brush to her hair and she was out the door on her way to morning rounds and Robert.

He smiled when he saw her.

“There’s the solution to your Acrostic and my next contribution to the game.”  He winked and quietly slipped two folded notes in her hand.

It was much later in the day before she had a chance to see what

Robert had written. She pulled the notes from her pocket and lay them on the lunch table.

“Stephanie” was written on the outside of one note. She opened that one first.

STEPHANIE,

Some TImes Every Precious Heart Announces New Intentions – Enduring?

Stephanie’s heart soared.  She smiled and carefully re-folded the note.  She held it in her hand a moment and then on impulse, she put it to her lips and kissed it before returning it to her pocket.  

How could things be any better?  She thought as she reached for the remaining note.

Tears filled her eyes as she read Robert’s new Acrostic clue-

"PROSTHESIS"

C Copyright May 2017 by Deborah J Lindsey

a·cros·tic  əˈkrôstik/

noun

1.     a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words.

This story resulted from a writing promp:

May 16 word list prompt
You know how it works. Write 300-500 words about any topic as long as you use the following words:

Salad
Shoe

foster
sympathize
tundra
spirit
stethoscope

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