The Floating Balloon

A coronary care unit of a hospital in California at night, on a stainless steel tray covered with a pale green cotton drape a thin flexible catheter of ivory-yellow plastic laid in two loose loops, along it small groups of thin black rings, its free end tapering into a short red-brown tip with a tiny balloon swelling translucent, its other end splitting into three short branches with a white three-way tap and two flesh-coloured connectors, two hands in pale rubber gloves pressing a small syringe into one branch, behind in dim light the foot rail of a bed under a white blanket and a bedside monitor with a soft green glow.