Into the Magic Shop

There's a certain sound the scalp makes when it's being ripped off of a skull like a largepiece of Velcro tearing away from its source. The sound is loud and angry and just a little bit sad. Inmedical school they don't have a class that teaches you the sounds and smells of brain surgery. Theyshould. The drone of the heavy drill as it bores through the skull. The bone saw that fills the operatingroom with the smell of summer sawdust as it carves a line connecting the burr holes made from the drill.The reluctant popping sound the skull makes as it is lifted away from the dura, the thick sac that coversthe brain and serves as its last line of defense against the outside world. The scissors slowly slicingthrough the dura. When the brain is exposed you can see it move in rhythm with every heartbeat, andsometimes it seems that you can hear it moan in protest at its own nakedness and vulnerability itssecrets exposed for all to see under the harsh lights of the operating room.The boy looks small in the hospital gown and is almost swallowed up by the bed as he's waiting toenter surgery.