Excerpt from One Night Two Souls Went Walking by Ellen Cooney, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

He felt that my question was excellent, and so was my theory of an inner white cloud. But given the special properties of a soul, it was unlikely to allow itself to be photographed, not even with the finest equipment in the field of radiology. He didn't say what the special properties were, like they were a secret you had to be a professional to know.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But I can't order an X-ray for you, when nothing is suspicious about your health."

After that, I never mentioned souls again, not even when his stethoscope was at a spot on my chest where maybe mine was asleep. We started talking about hospitals and what it's like to go to work in the field of medicine.

The medical center I'd grow up to be part of was not yet built. My doctor's practice was connected to the brown-brick hospital where I was born, like everyone else in my family. Ivy was all over the walls. The entrance had an awning like a fine hotel or apartment building.

I never said no to going along when my parents or sister or brothers had to be treated for something—that was how I learned to say I'd stay out of sports. I could say I was saving myself from all those injuries.

My doctor felt I'd make a good physician. He said so all the time. But which kind? He'd list specialties, like a guessing game. For bones? For blood? For organs? For skin? I'd shake my head. He retired before I had a chance to tell him that the only one he never asked me about was the only one that was right.

Excerpted from One Night Two Souls Went Walking by Ellen Cooney. Copyright © 2020 by Ellen Cooney. Excerpted by permission of Coffee House Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.