Phlebotomist

by Claire Scott

In that vial
on that day
held in that young girl’s
trembling hand
the girl feeling first life
smiling secretly
despite bruised eyes of exhaustion
knowing the treatment worked
that her life just took a turn
that would change it forever
no idea that that vial of blood
held in her fluttering hand
was from a woman
who hikes five miles a day
and takes her grandkids to the Galapagos
to see the giant tortoises
teaching them about preserving
the priceless living laboratory
that the girl lazily labels the tubes
and places them on a tray
dreaming of mobiles and lullabies
no idea that the white cell count
in that vial leaning crookedly
to the left would mean lymphoma
that that woman’s life
just took a turn
that would change it forever