Alice leaned back on the couch, listening carefully through her stethoscope. Across from her sat Maria, smiling as she watched her girlfriend concentrate.
"Lub-dub... lub-dub... lub... dub-dub..."
"There's that irregular beat again."
Maria laughed. "You sound way too happy about that."
The two of them had an unusual hobby. While most people worried whenever a heartbeat became irregular, Alice and Maria found heart rhythms fascinating. They spent hours learning about arrhythmias, listening to heart sounds, and comparing ECG recordings.
Alice removed the stethoscope and handed it to Maria.
Maria placed the chest piece against Alice's chest. For a few moments she listened silently.
"Thump-thump... thump... thump-thump-thump..."
"Hmm," Maria whispered. "Definitely not perfectly regular."
"That's exactly what I was thinking."
Maria reached for a small portable ECG monitor on the table. She attached the electrodes and waited for the tracing to appear on the screen.
The graph danced across the display, showing slight irregularities between beats.
"Oh, that's interesting," Alice muttered to herself.
Maria nodded. "Very interesting."
Next, Alice clipped a pulse oximeter onto her finger.
Below it, the pulse reading flickered.
82 BPM... 85 BPM... 79 BPM...
"Pretty calm right now," Maria said.
Alice sighed dramatically.
A few hours later they decided to go for a fast run through the park. When they returned, both were breathless.
Alice immediately checked the oximeter again.
Maria looked at her smartwatch.
"Mine is already at 172."
They exchanged excited looks.
The numbers continued climbing.
"One-eighty-three," Alice announced.
Maria placed a hand against her chest.
"Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump."
A minute later she checked again.
"Two hundred and four BPM."
Maria nodded, laughing between breaths.
Alice quickly grabbed the stethoscope and listened.
The heartbeat was rapid and powerful, almost blending into a continuous rhythm.
For a moment, a few beats arrived slightly unevenly.
"Maybe," Alice replied. "Just a tiny one."
The two sat quietly for a while, listening to the fading sound of their racing hearts.
"Thump-thump... thump-thump... thump... thump-thump."
As their pulse rates slowly returned to normal, Maria rested her head on Alice's shoulder.
"You know," she said softly, "most couples watch movies together."
"And we listen to heartbeats."
"Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way."
Neither would Alice. To them, every heartbeat—steady or irregular—told a story, and they never got tired of listening.
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