King - I Crawl Through It

1. Place frog in tray, ventral side up.

2. With forceps, lift the skin of the lower abdomen. Cut with scissors.

3. Slide scissors into the opening and cut to below the lower jaw.

4. Cut the sides just posterior to the forelimbs and anterior to the hind limbs.

This is my seventh frog dissection this year. Mr. Bio lets me help with the freshmen if theyre dissecting. I am the best frog surgeon he knows. Thats our joke. I bet hed make me a name tag that says BEST FROG SURGEON if he could, but hes not very artistic. Im his assistant, and I help hand out the forceps and scalpels while the students get into their lab coats and put on their goggles. I cant actually hand out the frogs, though, because Im always surprised by how dead they are.

Lifeless.

Gray-green.

Bred so we could cut them open and find their livers and draw them for points in a notebook.

Mr. Bio told me in ninth grade, Youre going to make an excellent doctor one day.

Thats the plan, I said.

Its a good plan.

I want to help people, I said.

Good.

I know I cant help everybody, but even if I can help just one person, you know?

Yep, he said.

Im thinking about going into the army, I said.

Mr. Bio made a horrible face. Why?

Did you ever watch M*A*S*H? I answered. M*A*S*H is a late-twentieth-century TV show about a mobile army surgical hospital unit during the Korean War. It reruns on cable a lot. The main character is Benjamin Franklin Hawkeye Pierce. Hes a surgeon from Maine.

Of course, Mr. Bio said. I grew up with M*A*S*H.

Thats why, I said. I didnt tell him Hawkeye Pierce is my mother. No one would understand that. Hawkeye Pierce was a man. A fictional man. Most people would think he couldnt be anyones mother. Except hes mine. He puts me to bed every night. He makes my dinner. He teaches me about the world and hes always honest.