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.. stuffy German alcoves, butterfly trays to the ceiling, silent portentous smell of uremia seeping under the door, suburban lawns to sound of the water sprinkler, in calm jungle night under silent wings of the Anoph- eles mosquito. (Note: This is not a figure. Anopheles mosquitoes are silent. ) Thickly carpeted, discreet nurs- ing home in Kensington: stiff brocade chair and a cup of tea, the Swedish modern living room with water hyacinths in a yellow bowl -- outside the China blue Northern sky and drifting clouds, under bad water- colors of the dying medical student. "A schnaps I think Frau Underschnitt." The doctor was talking into a phone with a chess board in front of him. "Quite a severe lesion I think... of course without to see the Horoscope." He picks up the knight and then replaces it thoughtfully. "Yes... Both lungs... quite definitely." He replaces the re- ceiver and turns to Carl. "I have observed these people show amazingly quick wound recovery, with low in- cidence of infection. It is always the lungs here... pneumonia and, of course, Old Faithful." The doctor grabs Carl's cock, leaping into the air with a coarse peasant guffaw. His European smile ignores the mis- behavior of a child or an animal. He goes on smoothly in his eerily unaccented, disembodied English. "Our Old Faithful Bacillus Koch." The doctor clicks his heels and bows his head. "Otherwise they would multiply their stupid peasant asshole into the sea, is it not?" He shrieks, thrusting his face into Carl's. Carl retreats sideways with the grey wall of rain behind him. "Isn't there some place where he can be treated?" "I think there is some sort of sanitarium," he drags out the word with ambiguous obscenity, "up at the District Capital. I will write for you the address." "Chemical therapy?" His voice falls Hat and heavy in the damp air. "Who can say. They are all stupid peasants, and the worst of all peasants are the so-called educated. These people should not only be prevented from learn- ing to read, but from learning to talk as well. No need to prevent them from thinking; nature has done that." "Here is the address," the doctor whispered without moving his lips. He dropped a pill of paper into Carl's hand. |
