Sand

Outside, before the accident, they were a ceramic jar but under the harsh artificial light of the emergency room, you could see the cracks on the surface. Maybe they don't go that deep you assure yourself. Maybe like the glaze of pottery that didn't cure right the cracks are real but they don't extend beyond what you can see. You remind yourself that you know how to fix those. You have the tools and know where to start. But, being an ER doctor, you know not to take your eyes off those cracks. Not to leave them to chance. You know to watch them closely. You know that if they are deeper than you think, the pieces will be sharp but being ceramic, they will be large enough to catch. And plus, this hospital is full of baskets to safely hold the pieces until they can be put back together—the specialists. Like any good ER doctor, you order a CT scan. After all, it's how you lift the lid of the jar to see what's inside and inspect the surfaces you can't see. Just to double check that the cracks don't extend beyond the glaze. You scroll as the images load and the sight of the cracks sends shivers down your spine. The kind of “oh shit” cracks you couldn't see from the surface that come before the breathing and circulation concerns of most sick patients. Reaching for a basket big enough to catch the pieces you run to sound the alarm, to call in the cavalry. They arrive, you are safe. They know how to lift the lid and go after the deep cracks. But the alarm was more piercing and shrill than you expected. And worse, the jar that you thought was ceramic was actually glass. The frequency of the alarm combined with the rhythm of the cavalry's steps was just right to vibrate the glass and, with the touch of their blades instead of calming, it shattered. When it shattered, the pieces were small, too small. They might as well have been the sand that was once melted to make the glass. As they slip through your hands and fall through the weaves of the basket, they disappear as they scatter on the floor, and you are left there standing next to the basket wondering if there was a bucket that you could have reached for instead. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.