![]() Agatha’s-a thrumming snuffleupagus of sterile linoleum, wheelchairs, high-rising paperwork, hypoallergenic pillowcases, accident victims, cancer victims, moans, kidney stones, sample closets, graywater mop buckets, insurance fraud, viruses, bacteria, prions, fractures, lesions, lacerations, nociceptors firing and relaxing-took a breath. Jonah liked hospitals at that hour, the alleged end of the workday, when patients finished their early dinners and settled in for TV and Toradol and complaining. They took note of who copped to ignorance, and on that person They pounced, eager to impart Their full-tilt no-holds-barred balls-to-the-wall medical pedagogy until he sobbed and sniveled like a little pants-wetting baby girl. It primed the pump for getting pimped, because while the Gods of Surgery might forget your name, forget that you had other obligations, forget that you were a person with a beating heart and an independent will, They always, always remembered your weaknesses. Asking too many questions-even innocuous ones like Where are we meeting or Where’s the bathroom-made you look unprepared. ![]() He had twelve weeks here it paid to take the time to learn his way around. The best way to avoid being needed, then, was to get out of the building supersonic fast. (Attendings didn’t especially care about you at all.) When they needed you, you went. Surgeons-surgical residents, rather-didn’t especiallyĬare that your day had been over for twenty minutes. ![]() If you lingered and got caught, you were SOL. Once your day was over, the only safe strategy was OTD-Out the Door-ASAP. He knew the rules he’d read the Book, heard it from the Ghosts of Third Year Past. For this mess, as he did generally, Jonah blamed himself. Their destruction didn’t bother Jonah per se, except that it acutely underscored his own incompetence-something he didn’t need to be reminded of these days, with people lining up to do it for him. Salient among the novel qualities they had come to possess was the stink of human shit. Befouled beyond repair, they made a squishing noise and left a trail, like overgrown snails. The staid, sturdy Rockport Walkers that had survived two years of theoretical medicine had finally succumbed to its uncontrollably runny realities. He was walking to times square at two forty-five in the morning to buy new shoes. She spread a salve to soothe his aches He suffered from its bitter taste the book of odd thoughts, 5:7ġ Thursday, August 19, 2004. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content. While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. PS3561.E38648T76 2007 2006029522 813'.54-dc22 b o o k d e s i g n b y m e i g h a n c ava n a u g h This is a work of fiction. Published simultaneously in Canada Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kellerman, Jesse. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Copyright © 2007 by Jesse Kellerman All rights reserved.Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd).Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi–110 017, India.Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd).Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd).Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England.Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.).PUTNAM’S SONS Publishers Since 1838 Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
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