Absence of Faith by Anthony S. Policastro Read Free Book Online Page B

sounded pretty ridiculous telling one of my colleagues
that a patient's symptoms are an act of God. I think if I were you,
I would have reacted the same way. It's just that Graber has a
pretty good reputation around here - a lot of doctors respect him,
and I suspect his head has gotten a bit too big for his shoulders.
You took a stand against something you didn’t believe in and I
liked that."
    "Well, I did think his statement
was ridiculous, especially when I had identical symptoms," Carson
replied. "We're not talking about hypothetical situations here - I
experienced it first hand."
    "Yes, I know and that scares me,"
Stokes said.
    "You? What do you mean?"
    Well, first I'd like to say that I
misjudged you. For years now, doctors like yourself would come
here, stay for a while to get experience, and leave. There are
always plenty of residencies here because we are the last choice.
So we get all the interns that couldn't get a residency anywhere
else. I feel like we're used all the time. They all leave for the
bigger hospitals. I thought you were that type of person. But after
I witnessed your determination to save Mrs. Whitehead, I was
convinced that you really cared about Ocean Village and its
residents, even if we are a bunch of holy rollers with graying hair
and polyester pants," Stokes explained. "As for Graber, he's a bit
too much with religion. He takes it too seriously sometimes. What
scares me is that I used to be just like him."
    "You were? What changed that?"
Carson asked.
    "Vietnam. I was one of the lucky
ones - my lottery number was 386. We lost fourteen from Ocean
Village. Fourteen young men, boys I should say, and that convinced
me that religion wasn't the most important thing in life - life is
much more important and how you live it. The clincher was that of
those fourteen, some were very religious and some were not, yet
they all died, so it didn't matter if they went to church every
Sunday. What mattered is what they did while they were alive and
what they did for this community and the people who live here. What
mattered is how they treated others and what they did for
them."
    "Why are you telling me all
this?"
    "Because things are happening here
that have no explanation and it's got me rattled," Stokes
said.
    "You? Rattled?" Carson blurted
out.
    Stokes' face was a mask of
stone.
    "A man died here about fifteen to
twenty years ago. He was hysterical just like you and Mrs.
Whitehead, and he had the same symptoms," Stokes explained. "And
just like you and Mrs. Whitehead, his blood was clean, nothing that
could cause the symptoms..."
    "Do you remember his name?" Carson
asked.
    "Never knew his name. I just heard
about it through the other doctors. I often thought of looking into
it, but I was always too busy."
    "Maybe we can pull his records and
see if there is a correlation," Carson said. "Do you remember the
year?"
    "Around 1985 I think."
    "That's close enough. We can start
at that year and go back to 1980 and forward to 1990."
    "It's an awful lot of records. Are
you sure?" Stokes asked.
    Carson nodded.
    "Okay then, I’ll have accounting
pull the records for you between those years. That's what I like
about you, Carson - we think the same. You have a lot of work ahead
of you. Nothing was computerized then. You'll have to sift through
the records by hand. I don't know where you are going to find the
time."
    "When will they have the records?"
Carson asked. "I'm on call tonight, so I might be able to get
through some of them. We have to know if there’s a correlation. We
have to try to find out what it is."
    "You're right. You're going to do
well here," Stokes said. "Again, I apologize for misjudging
you."
    "Thanks. What did he die of?"
Carson asked.
    "He was cooked. His skin had
2 nd degree sunburn and all of his internal organs were
cooked as if he were in a microwave.

Kyle Mabus - Chapter 8

    T he woman
struggled to reach the top shelf of her bookshelf to retrieve the
box of Tarot cards. Her stubby fingers