The Absolved
Illustration: Ansellia Kulikku / image source: Library of Congress. Those Gallant Days Are Long Behind Him
It’s 7:30 in the evening and I’ve been at the office since 8:00 this morning. I’ve seen twenty-three patients thus far—a respectable number, though nowhere near my record of thirty-seven. The average life expectancy is eighty-eight, and the cancer business is booming. People are growing old, yet their golden years are fraught with disability and misery. The American Way, however, is never to give up. We stave off death for as long as we can, come what may.
I’m late to Rachel’s charity event, but I still have one patient left to see, Mr. Toczauer, whom I’ve been treating for three years. Yesterday was his eighty-sixth birthday. He spent it in the hospital, just like he did his eighty-fifth and eighty-third
