gathering blue roses

My two patients are resting not very comfortably. There's a miasma of barely suppressed agony suffusing the house.

My throat is killing me, and my sinuses aren't much better.

I am Esther (1), wishing I were Gem (2).

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1. Originally published in 1972 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I read this Pamela Sargent short-short story most likely in an anthology more than twenty years ago, and I've never forgotten it. If you've never read it, you should.

2. This episode of TOS is rarely seen in syndication. During the webcrawl I did for this post, I came across a lot of dumping on the ep for its low budget, but I did occasionally see a positive review. I think the reason a lot of Trek fans don't like it is it is atypical for the series. Much like "City on the Edge of Forever," there's nothing of the Federation, there's barely any Entrerprise scenes, and the character's behaviors aren't pegged to the specific Kirk/Spock/McCoy quirks that the fans love. In these eps, they are stand-ins for the Everyman hero and his sidekicks. When I was little, "The Empath" freaked me out. When I saw it again many years later, I loved it, and I still do.