“You know, dissecting animals is kinda fun!” Spoke miles.

I glanced over at him, giving him an odd look. Miles had always been sort of weird. Everybody said he was some sort of weird kid psychopath. But as I had gotten to know him, he didn’t actually seem that bad. I agreed with him and we swung in silence for a while; enjoying the creaking of the swing set and the warm air brushing past us. After a while he spoke to me again. Saying:

“What do you think about human dissection?”

I forced myself to think in a more regular way, rather than a biased hateful way like I had been taught, forcing myself to think it was just some sort of scientific hobby rather

than some psychopathic desire.

“I suppose it’s alright just so long as the person consented to it or wanted their body to be donated”

“No I mean live dissection.”

This made me freeze and I looked over at Miles who was still swinging carefree with a little smile on his face. Maybe he was talking about surgery.

“Why do you ask? Do you want to become a surgeon or something?”

“No, I think that’s boring. They’re under anesthetics and all that dumb stuff. I want a live specimen that can squirm and struggle.”

At this point I had stopped swinging and was just staring. He noticed me and giggled

“Just kidding!”

His face fell a bit as he spoke further

“My hands are too unsteady to be a surgeon.”

I suddenly felt bad for judging him and sympathetically murmured

“I think you’d be a great surgeon.”

His face looked hopeful as he turned and questioned; looking a bit weary

“Really? You mean that?”

I took a moment to think about it and realized how he had dissected the little frog in class earlier today. The focus he had, the way his brow furrowed as he gently but firmly cut the stomach. What the hell am I doing? Get it together Autumn. I looked up at him and gave a sincere smile.

“Yeah, I do think you’d be a good surgeon.”

He smiled sheepishly in return and mumbled a thank you. Huh. Maybe I had judged him too quickly. This kid wasn’t so bad after all. I started swinging again and smiled at him. We spent the afternoon messing around and talking. After we said our goodbyes I lay in bed and thought: “maybe he’s not so bad after all.”