Like a Fox on the Run, стр. 111
“Goddamn!” the man croaked out, as he fumbled and nearly dropped the Derm-Aid bowl and brush, with which he’d been applying the skin treatment coating to the side of Gideon’s face. With an indignant scowl, he turned to shriek at Junior. “Get out of here, you damned cretin! Can’t you see I’m trying to treat this man?”
“Relax, Doc!” Gideon interjected. “He ain’t got much upstairs, I begrudge ya that. But, he’s my son. I’m stuck wid him.”
“Oh, well … alright!” The young medic was regaining his composure. He turned back to Junior. “Still, you sit down over in that chair there and be quiet while I finish treating your father.”
“Yes … sir!” Junior replied, rather sarcastically, as he gave the young man the stink eye. He wasn’t used to anybody, with the obvious exception of his father and brother, giving him orders. Nevertheless, he complied.
As the doctor finished up with the Derm-Aid, and began to apply the Medi-Seal bandage, Gideon observed his youngest carefully. He could tell from his sly smile and almost childish fidgeting that the boy had something to tell him, and it was driving him crazy that he was having to delay whatever revelation he had.
The doctor, satisfied that the Medi-Seal was properly in position, activated the shrink-fit agent in the bandage, and it began to conform to the side of his face. The cooling AloCaine gels of the bandage felt good to his burnt flesh, and the local antibiotics and painkillers immediately began to absorb into his skin.
After allowing it a few minutes to set, the exhausted sawbones was satisfied with his work. “Well I think we’re good to go. Let’s allow that about a week to heal. I’ve sent the pharmacy some prescriptions you’ll need to pick up on the way out. Painkillers … antibiotics.”
“I can do with some painkillers,” Gideon grinned slyly.
Of course, the stodgy little college boy failed to see the humor, although he himself was hopped up on roadrunner in order to make the triple-shifts he was working. “The plastic surgeon will be in here a little later to take molds of your other ear so we can get the missing one replaced.”
“Well, how long is that gonna take?” Gideon fumed. “Hell, I’ve already had to turn tha page on my calendar once since I’ve been in here.”
“I apologize, sir. But I’m the only doctor assigned to the ‘government-subsidized’ section tonight. It is unfortunate, but there’s not a whole lot I can do about it.”
“In other words, get offa your sorry ass and get a job with insurance, that what ya sayin’, boy?” Gideon had the look of a rattlesnake in his eyes now. Fuckin’ little punk!
“Sir, that’s not what I was saying.” The young man looked flabbergasted. He was not used to patients talking to him that way. Most were more gracious. After all, he was a doctor. A demigod. How dare him!
“Get out!” Gideon growled. “Get out before you end up in this here cubicle beside me waiting twelve hours on some snotty-nose punk like yourself.”
Behind him, the bewildered man had become aware that Junior had stood up and now stood behind him. It was no longer just a matter of an irate patient upset with his care. It had become physical intimidation. He decided his best strategy was strategic withdrawal.
“Very well,” he said and turned to go. “I do hope you get to feeling better.”
“Oh, Doctor,” Gideon stopped him.
“Yes?”
“I ‘spect that there plastic surgeon in here in the next thirty minutes. And if’n you got any ideas about sending security in here to put us out a’fore that happens … lemme assure ya … I’ll have Junior here look ya up and break every bone in yer dainty li’l doctor’s hands. You’ll be living on assistance right along aside us.”
The kid looked from Gideon to Junior and the look on the young man’s face told him instantly it was no bluff. Not only would it be done, but he knew instantly the man would do it with purposeful zeal. He looked back to Gideon and gave a simple nod.
“Oh, and Doc,” Gideon wasn’t finished with him yet. “Make shore that prescription for pain meds has double what you give everybody else. I’m kinda a puss when it comes to pain.”
After the man had left, Gideon turned to Junior. “You foegit to piss ‘fore ya come back here, or ya got somethin’ to tell me?”
“Paw! Have I got some shit to tell ya!” Junior blurted out. It had been killing him the whole time, not being able to share the news. “You remember my cousin, Betty Sue?”
“Of course!” Gideon’s eyes suddenly brightened. “Works in administration here!”
“That’s right! Works in the maintenance department,” Junior added. “I wasn’t sure how much pull a seckertairee would have with somethin’ like this …”
“Hell, boy, with tha lips on that gal she could find out where that Hoffa feller is buried if’n she wanted to. Girl could suck the chrome off a SkyLiner.”
“Damned if she couldn’t!” chuckled Junior. “That little gal was a wildcat even back in junior high! Always did like sump’n in her mouth. Dunno if she ever knew it or not but she used to kill me watchin’ her lickin’ on a sucker.”
Gideon laughed. “Oh, she knew it alright. She knew it all too well!”
“Well, I figgered I’d give it a shot. So, I called her to see what she might be able to do. Turns out she was quite useful. “Appears she knows her way ‘round the hospital’s computer system about as well as she knew her way ‘round the boy’s locker room in the ninth grade.”
“So, what’d tha li’l dicklicker have to say?”
“I asked her to get me tha scoop on