University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Graduate School Professional Papers 2018 Cut and Run Hamish Rickett Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Part of the Fiction Commons Recommended Citation Rickett, Hamish, "Cut and Run" (2018). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 11154. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/11154 This Professional Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Cut and Run by Hamish Rickett Chapter One My cases, they've gone on to recover. Picked up their crutches, their prescriptions with instructions stapled to white paper sacks, their pills tucked into bottles with childproof caps. Even now, my hernias, my hips, my gallbladders are being seated in wheelchairs, delivered to curbs. Helped into cars by waiting loved ones, else put on medical buses, holiday vans and shipped home, post-haste, lest they die on our watch. Mine was a transactional generosity, if I was honest with myself, which, let's face it, none of us ever are. Everyone's generosity hinges on personal gain. True generosity—of the type one never sees—expects no recognition, no return, no benefit. A selfless act? No. I'm afraid the self was all too present. As Maggie had refused my request for one last favor, I'd driven myself.