Callahan's Place 07 - Callahan's Legacy (v5.0) by Spider Robinson Read Free Book Online Page B

pathologist.
    “Well, she’s a good one.   She nailed it, from a single clue.   I am an atypical sufferer of an extremely rare hereditary condition called Riley-Day Syndrome.”
    “Do tell,” I said.   “What are the symptoms?”
    “Doctor?” he said to Solace.
    “Riley-Day Syndrome, or familial disautonomia, first identified in 1949, occurs nearly exclusively in Ashkenazy Jews.   There are approximately 300 known cases in America.   Its symptoms include unstable blood pressure and hypertension, unstable temperature, vomiting spasms, profuse sweating, impairment of vestibular function, a marked tendency to develop erythematous skin rashes, lacrimation deficit…and, most striking, an impaired ability—often total inability—to perceive pain.”
     
    ***
     
    “That’s it, by God!” Doc Webster said.   “I always wanted to meet an example of your syndrome, sir.”
    Zoey said, “Friend, by any chance could I interest you in having this baby for me?”
    “My God,” said Slippery Joe Maser, who has been dealing with chronic lower back pain—and two wives!—for almost a decade now, “You’re a lucky young feller!   I’d take all that other stuff to get that last part.   Hell, I got the blood pressure, the sweating and the rashes already.”
    The newcomer gave another of those startling barks of laughter.   “I’d trade you in a hot minute, Pop.   If they ever get to the point where they can do a nice simple everyday brain transplant, I’ll be happy to swap bodies with you.”
    Slippery Joe looked startled.   “Well, I wish you could.   I’d take a deal like that, by damn.” he said.
    “Not if you were smart, Joe,” Solace said.   “Twenty-five percent of Riley-Day babies are dead by age 10, and fully half by age 20.”
    “Look at those scars on his hand, Slip,” Doc Webster said.   “He’s lucky to have lived this long.”  
    That brought a rumble from the crowd.
    Just think how badly you could injure yourself with no pain system.   Why, you could bleed yourself unconscious before you noticed you were injured.   Being impervious to pain might well be even more of a nuisance than being saddled with a couple of million dollars.
    “ That’s what it was,” Noah Gonzalez said suddenly.   “I knew there was something…I saw your eyes when you come in, mister, and I thought maybe you were in the same line of work as me.   I spent twenty years on the county bomb squad.   You looked the way I always do when I walk into a strange room: looking around for bombs.”
    The stranger nodded slowly.   “Yeah.   Yeah, maybe you know a little about what it’s like.   I’ve always figured I was about twice as scared as anybody else, and more of the time.   But you may have me beat.   My name is Acayib.   Acayib Pinsky.”   He pronounced it, “A kay yib;” I found out how it was spelled later.   It means “wonderful and strange,” which I would have to say is appropriate.
    “I’m Noah Gonzalez, and the fellow that put out your hair is Tommy, and that’s Doc Webster, and that over there is Jake Stonebender—he runs the joint.   That’s enough introductions for now: you’ll meet everybody eventually, if you’re smart.   If you stay around long enough, that is.   This is Mary’s Place, by the way.”
    “Pleased to meet you all,” Acayib said, and offered his scarred right hand.   Noah shook it without flinching.   “Who’s the other doctor, on the Mac over there?”
    “My name is Solace,” she said.
    “Well, I sure could use some,” he said.
    “Then you’ve come to the right place,” I told him.   And I gave him a quick capsule explanation of our toasting custom, and the business about one dollar bills being the only denomination I accept.
    It made Acayib smile for the first time.   “Maybe I have come to the right place.”   He took three singles from his pants pocket, came over to the bar, and set them down.   “Beer, please.”
    I gave him one of