Dr. Smith had always prided herself on being able to think on her feet, especially when it came to answering difficult medical questions. She had seen it all in her years of practice, from the mundane to the downright bizarre.
One day, as she was finishing up a particularly grueling shift at the hospital, a patient approached her with a question that stumped her momentarily. The patient, a young woman, asked, "Doctor, why do people say 'be there or be square'?"
Dr. Smith was taken aback by the question. It had nothing to do with medicine, and she had never given much thought to the origins of the phrase. But being the quick thinker she was, she didn't let it show. She replied, "Well, if you're not there, you're not a-round!"
The patient laughed, and Dr. Smith breathed a sigh of relief. She thought that would be the end of it, but as luck would have it, the next patient who approached her had an equally difficult question.
"Doctor," the patient said, "why do we get goosebumps?"
Dr. Smith smiled to herself. She had actually studied this in medical school. "Goosebumps are actually an evolutionary response that our ancestors had when they were cold or scared," she explained. "It's a way to make our hair stand on end and trap warm air close to the skin."
The patient nodded, impressed with the doctor's knowledge. Dr. Smith felt her confidence growing with each successful answer.
But just when she thought she had seen it all, a man approached her with a truly bizarre question. "Doctor," he said, "why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?"
Dr. Smith couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the question. But she didn't let it deter her. "Well, sir," she said, trying to keep a straight face, "it's because you're a Disney princess in disguise."
The man looked at her skeptically, but then a grin slowly spread across his face. "You know what, Doc? I think you might be right!"
Dr. Smith had done it. She had cleverly answered another difficult question and even made her patient laugh. As she walked out of the hospital that day, she couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction. Being a doctor wasn't just about treating patients, it was about making them feel heard and understood.
And who knows? Maybe one day, she'd even be able to answer the age-old question: "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
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