We are friends, two primary care internists who teach and who sometimes
write. We are confidantes who count on each other's interest and sympathy
as we cope with the intellectual and emotional challenges of our work. Together
we have gone to conferences and plays, worked on MKSAP questions, and held
dinner parties for people who share our interest in home care for the elderly.
A year or so ago, each of us read a book edited by Steve Moss and colleagues
called The World's Shortest Stories, a collection
of stories each no more than 55 words long. We admired some of the stories
a lot, and both of us were struck by the possibilities of this form for writing
about our patients and our encounters with them. Sometimes together and sometimes
separately, we tried it for ourselves.