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The medicine men take these noxious substances and go into convul- sive states. Their twitchings and mutterings are thought to have prophetic significance." ) "I had a Yage hangover, me, and in no condition to take any of Browbeck's shit. First thing he comes on with I should start the incision from the back instead of the front, muttering some garbled nonsense about being sure to cut out the gall bladder it would fuck up the meat. Thought he was on the farm cleaning a chicken. I told him to go put his head back in the oven, where- upon he had the effrontery to push my hand severing the patient's femoral artery. Blood spurted up and blinded the anesthetist, who ran out through the halls screaming. Browbeck tried to knee me in the groin, and I managed to hamstring him with my scalpel. He crawled about the floor stabbing at my feet and legs. Violet, that's my baboon assistant -- only woman I ever cared a damn about -- really wigged. I climbed up on the table and poise myself to jump on Browbeck with both feet and stomp him when the cops rushed in. "Well, this rumble in the operating room, 'this un- speakable occurrence' as the Super called it, you might say was the blow off. The wolf pack was closing for the kill. A crucifixion, that's the only word for it. Of course I'd made a few 'dumheits' here and there. Who hasn't? There was the time me and the anesthetist drank up all the ether and the patient came up on us, and I was accused of cutting the cocaine with Sanifiush. Violet did it actually. Had to protect her of course.... "So the wind-up is we are all drummed out of the industry. Not that Violet was a bona fide croaker, nei- ther was Browbeck for that matter, and even my own certificate was called in question. But Violet knew more medicine than the Mayo Clinic. She had an extraordi- nary intuition and a high sense of duty. "So there I was flat on my ass with no certificate. Should I turn to another trade? No. Doctoring was in my blood. |
