Wheatley wiped his forehead. "I--dear me! I never realized--" "We have to _think_ about those things," said the doctor. "Now, the problem here is to find out _why_ you have the pain in your toe. It could be inflammatory. Maybe a tumor. Perhaps it could be, uh, functional ... or maybe vascular!" "Perhaps you could take my blood pressure, or something," Wheatley offered. "Well, of course I _could_. But that isn't really my field, you know. It wouldn't really _mean_ anything, if I did it. But there's nothing to worry about. We have a fine Hypertensive man at the Diagnostic Clinic." The doctor checked the appointment book on his desk. "Now, if we could see you there next Monday morning at nine--" * * * * * "Very interesting X rays," said the young doctor with the red hair. "_Very_ interesting. See this shadow in the duodenal cap? See the prolonged emptying time? And I've never seen such beautiful pylorospasm!" "This is my toe?" asked Wheatley, edging toward the doctors. It seemed he had been waiting for a very long time. "Toe! Oh, no," said the red-headed doctor. "No, that's the Orthopedic Radiologist's job. I'm a Gastro-Intestinal man, myself. Upper. Dr. Schultz here is Lower." The red-headed doctor turned back to his consultation with Dr. Schultz. Mr. Wheatley rubbed his toe and waited. Presently another doctor came by. He looked very grave as he sat down beside Wheatley. "Tell me, Mr. Wheatley, have you had an orthodiagram recently?" "No." "An EKG?" "No." "Fluoroaortogram?" "I--don't _think_ so." The doctor looked even graver, and walked away, muttering to himself. In a few moments he came back with two more doctors. "--no question in _my_ mind that it's cardiomegaly," he was saying, "but Haddonfield should know. He's the best Left Ventricle man in the city. Excellent paper in the AMA Journal last July: 'The Inadequacies of Modern Orthodiagramatic Techniques in Demonstrating Minimal Left Ventricular Hypertrophy.' A brilliant study, simply brilliant! Now _this_ patient--" He glanced toward Wheatley, and his voice dropped to a mumble. Presently two of the men nodded, and one walked over to Wheatley, cautiously, as though afraid he might suddenly vanish. "Now, there's nothing to be worried about, Mr. Wheatley," he said. "We're going to have you fixed up in just no time at all. Just a few more studies. Now, if you could see me in Valve Clinic tomorrow afternoon at three--" Wheatley nodded. "Nothing serious, I hope?" "Serious? Oh, no! Dear me, you _mustn't_ worry. Everything is going to be all right," the doctor said. "Well--I--that is, my toe is still bothering me some. It's not nearly as bad, but I wondered if maybe you--"