You will find short stories on this site. Most are autobiographical. Some are fiction.

A SECRET

Anton, the head of the Architectural faculty at King Faisal University, had a secret. He kept it secret because he was sure that the dean or rector would choose someone else to be head of the department if they were to know. The only person on campus who knew his secret was one infirmary doctor, that is until another faculty member and myself, found him in his office slumped over his desk. We could not wake him, though we were able to arouse him sufficiently that, with arms around him, were walked him to my car, and drove to the infirmary.

Upon seeing Anton, the infirmary doctor immediately brought a glass of orange juice. He forced the semiconscious man to drink it. With in 15 minutes Anton was alert, however he did not remember anything of the previous 45 minutes.

The doctor gave him some stern advice. He said “You must tell your faculty and the dean that you have type one diabetes. And you must tell them the warning signs of low blood sugar, so that they can come to your assistance when events like this occur in the future.” Anton nodded.

As we were driving back to the college, Anton asked “Please don’t tell anyone about what happened today. And never tell anyone that I have diabetes. We both honored his request.

Several months later as I was having lunch with members of the faculty, I noticed Anton seemed groggy. He had not eaten his lunch. I went to the service counter and ordered a glass of orange juice which I brought to him. He did not touch it. I had a class to teach and had to leave. It would have been strange if, while sitting with the other faculty, if were to insist that Anton drink his orange juice, so I asked him for a private conversation. We stepped away from the table and I insisted that he go back to the table and drink the orange juice. He said he would. I left.

I later learned that when he returned to the table. He did not drink his orange juice. A short time later he passed out. No one knew of his diabetes. They took him to the infirmary. The one doctor who knew of his diabetes was not there. There was a delay while the medical staff tried to decide what to do. They called for an ambulance which eventually came to take him to the emergency room at King Faisal Hospital. More than an hour and thirty minutes had lapsed by the time Anton received glucagon at the ER. Over this period he was declining deeper into a hypoglycemic coma. By the time he received treatment, Anton had probably suffered damage to his internal organs and brain. I was told that he was near death.

Fortunately he recovered. As a result of this incident, it became widely known that Anton was diabetic. Surely the dean had become aware of his condition, and yet he did not lose his position as department chair. His secret was not warranted. It could have cost him his life.