I hear him before I see him

And I smell the steak

The patients smell it too

They say so

I’ve been around long enough to not make a fatal mistake

I avert the break room

Though I’m starving, in the shadows I choose to loom

I walk past and see a pamphlet on the table

There’s a tablet too

Also some boxes of tablets and syringes – drugs – brand new

A handsome man in a collared shirt and dress pants walks in

And next a gorgeous woman, tan, tall, and thin

You’d think this is an audition

They go back and forth

Bringing in all the bags of samples

I’ve got a premonition

The salmon and vegetables on the counter along with the steak is ample

You’d think they’re catering

Do I go in there or stay out in the hall

I find myself debating

I don’t want to talk to them

My stomach growls

The lions prowl

I hear them at the table pitch their speech

It sounds good and smells good

Exotic names on a cardboard box

Drug inserts

Amid gourmet desserts

I’m a little flammoxed

Doctors sit and eat like innocent sheep

The next day they prescribe these drugs

How much subconsciously

To depressed patients who can barely breathe

The drugs are so expensive

Most can afford them

But even small sales are big profits

Those who go without go to their coffins

I slipped into the breakroom without making eye contact

I had taken off my white coat

They wouldn’t notice me – I hoped

I heard a coughing then a choking

The salesman’s face was red and swollen

He clutched his throat

Somehow I was the only one in the room with him

My eyes darted to and fro: steak, salmon, veggies, cakes, shrimp

That was it

The well-dressed man was going limp

My eyes searched the table holding all those drugs on market

It took a second

But I found the epinephrine

I quickly unwrapped it from the box

Pulled off the syringe’s plunger

I felt a little dizzy

Maybe from the adrenaline or the hunger

I went toward that man with the syringe in my hand

I was about to shoot him with the remedy as his face was by then so pudgy

Barbie appeared in a blur

She firmly grabbed my hand

Then it felt like she hit me on the head but I wasn’t sure

I woke up in a hospital bed

Hypoglycemia and a concussion

That drug rep wasn’t so lucky

His sales partner had withheld that lifesaving elixir

Believing that sample would have been a wasted profit

Saving his life when he couldn’t buy that drug – she scoffed at it

One more sale for her, many more without him around

I was left on the break room floor when one of my patients found me

She called the authorities

That patient was given a ribbon

Barbie eluded any charges

She became a billionaire from the drug market

While a man died because she didn’t want to lose one profit

I paid the hospital bill but it set me back

I can’t help but wonder still

Was my treatment because of my skin color or my affluence

The patient of mine who intervened

Is nearly living on the street

Because of her medical bills

Lifesaving drugs are great

But what if the people they’re made for can’t pay

While dollar signs appear in other people’s eyes

I must do something about this

Before I die