The Patchwork Man

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PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

“What the hell is this?” Matthew’s new eyes flickered across the macabre collection of “get well” gifts by his hospital bed.

“I would think it’s obvious, Sir.”

He called her “Big Nurse” but the woman’s nametag said “Louise.”

“I’m back from the dead and my friends send me crap?” He tried to sit up in bed, but morphine-blunted pain restrained him.

“Sir, you have no friends,” said Louise bluntly. “You’ve outlived them all. These are from your doctor.”

“What’s his problem? I pay him well enough.”

“It’s just that he doesn’t like harvesting your clones merely to keep you alive.”

It’s Wednesday and once again time to participate in Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ 27 June 2025 edition of Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.

I haven’t had much sleep and am still swilling coffee, so when I saw Rochelle’s photo, to me it looked like the sort of get well gifts you’d send to someone who’s the victim in a horror movie.

I thought about them being sent to someone whose limbs and organs were being harvested to transplant into a wealthy recipient, but that was too gross. So I took a note from the 2005 film The Island and had him be the wealthy recipient who is harvesting his clones. Yuck.

You may have picked up the “Big Nurse” reference from Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. In the 1975 film, Big Nurse is played by Louise Fletcher.

moggie noir 3

Cover art for “Dames, Derringers and Detectives: Moggie Noir”

To read other stories based on the prompt, visit inlinkz.

My crime noir short story “Last Wish of a Dead Man” is now available in the Raconteur Press anthology Dames, Derringers and Detectives: Moggie Noir. The story requirements included a hard-boiled detective, a murder, and especially a cat. The third in my “Margie Potter: Haunted Detective” series made the cut.

Also, my horror short story “Haunting Chloe” is now available in the ghost story anthology Haunted Places (universal link) by Blackbird Publishing. Pick up a copy of each, give them a read, and don’t forget to leave honest reviews at Amazon and Goodreads.

29 thoughts on “The Patchwork Man”

  4. A glimpse into a not too distant future. Great story. I wonder if the clones will fight over who’s organs he gets to take next.

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  5. James, I like the dark humor undertones of this. Yes, it would be easier to have the guy get better than to have to butcher a clone just to switch out some organs. Great story. 🙂

    -David

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