Longevity -- Fiction; Physicians -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
After a moment, she rose and walked slowly into the dressing cubicle.
When she emerged, she ignored the doctor, unlocked the door with her
own hands, and walked into the reception room, sobbing softly.
Dr. Needzak cleaned up rapidly, and hustled into his main office to see
his next patient. No one was there. He grumbled to himself and opened
the door into the reception room. Blinking, he saw that it was empty.
It had been filling rapidly, not a half-hour earlier.
The doctor had heard no noises indicating a commotion on the street
outside; and that was the only reason he could think of for the sudden
disappearance of his patients. To make sure, he strode through the
reception room, walked briskly down the short hall, and stuck his head
through the door leading into the street. Everything appeared normal in
the bustling business district, until a large, black sedan ground to a
stop at the curb in a no-parking zone. The receptionist climbed from
the vehicle, two men behind her.
"Miss Waters!" Dr. Needzak exploded, when she reached the building's
entrance. "What do you mean by leaving without my permission? All my
patients have left. They must have thought that office hours were over."
The receptionist gave him one baleful look, and shoved past him into
the building. And Dr. Needzak suddenly recognized the two men.
"Bill Carson! And Pop Manville! What brings you big doctors down here
to see a small-time pill-dealer like me?"
"Let's go into your office," Pop said, softly. He was old, tall and
gaunt with a perpetual look of worry. Dr. Carson, younger and bustling,
evaded Dr. Needzak's eyes.
Miss Waters was shoveling personal belongings from her desk into a
giant handbag, when they reached the reception room. Dr. Needzak felt
her eyes upon him, as the other two physicians kept him moving by the
sheer impetus of their bodies into his consultation room.
"Where is it, Walt?" Dr. Manville asked, looking gloomily around the
consultation room.
"Where's what, Pop? The drinks? I keep them--"
"The door to your operating room," Dr. Carson interrupted, hurriedly.
"Let's not drag this thing out. It's going to be painful enough, among
old friends. Your private office has been wired for sight and sound for
the past three weeks. You shouldn't have tried to get away with that
kind of practice in a big city."
Dr. Needzak felt the blood draining from his face. He reached for a
drawer. Dr. Manville grabbed his arm with a tight, claw-like grasp,
before it could touch the handle.
"It's all right, Pop," he said. "Nothing but gin in there. I'm not the
violent type."
Dr. Carson pulled open the drawer toward which he had reached. He
pulled out the tall bottle, slipped off the patent top, and sniffled.
Handing it to Dr. Needzak, he said:
"Okay. You need some. Then save the rest for us. We'll feel like it,
too, when we're done."
Dr. Needzak coughed after three large swallows. He looked at the other
two doctors. "Who ratted?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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