C.: Well, d.c. is STILL working on his book! He texted me and asked me to share the next portion of it with you readers. I will print up to the beginning of the first chapter today, since it may be a while before d.c. is able to join me again. I want to keep some material in reserve for later!
INCEPTION
The instructor stopped at one of the cadavers. “This man died of smoking.” The middle-aged clinical instructor paused for effect. Everyone in his clinical class knew this man’s views on smoking. It added up to “don’t.” It is not surprising for a medical professional to hold this view of smoking. As Jay Magruder listened to his older friend teach his clinical students, though, he knew that there was more to this story than just a warning against the long-term effects that smoking has on one’s body. Jay was one of only two people in the world who knew how this man died. He decided he must do whatever it took to keep the whole truth from being discovered. The truth would be detrimental to both his and his young friend’s life, if discovered by the wrong people.
Jay burst through the door in time to stop Mr. Jones from expounding on his theory.
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As he entered the morgue, Magruder was focused on only one thing. He wanted desperately to keep anyone, other than the two people who were involved with the death of this man, from knowing the whole truth.
Mr. Jones paused, and Magruder followed him closely to obscure the view of the corpse Mr. Jones had chosen to ask about. All but the students in the front row’s view were obstructed, but Jay was too intent on his mission to notice that these students were staring intently at the corpse.
“Mr. Magruder, what can you tell me about this man?” Mr. Jones turned to the young cop and asked him a pointed question.
Magruder was more than a little perturbed. Why must Professor Jones ask about this particular cadaver? Were there not other cadavers in the morgue whose stories would be at least as relevant to the topic Mr. Jones was pursuing? Magruder decided that the only way to placate his friend was to tell as much of the truth as he could, without revealing the whole, untold truth. “I can tell you that he died from smoking. It was not the tar, the nicotine, or the tobacco that caused his death. It was an inert ingredient.”
“And what, may I ask, was the inert ingredient that led to this man’s death?” Professor Jones was on point.
“If I told you that, Mr. Jones, I would need to kill you and everyone in your class.” With that statement, Magruder exited the room.
Jay remembered stories that his friend from his hometown had shared with him. He was now sharing those stories with his clinical class. These were stories from his career as both a hospice nurse and as a nurse at a Texas Correctional Facility. He had seen, he said, patients that were allergic to very unusual things. One declared that he was allergic to Benadryl. Since diphenhydramine is an antihistamine (and is, therefore, a nonallergenic substance) the patient would not have been allergic to the active ingredient. Instead, he was allergic to the inert ingredients in this very useful and versatile drug.
One poor lady, Mr. Jones shared, said that she was allergic to Ivory soap. No one is allergic to pure soap (the commercials for this soap are accurate, it is 99 and 44/100 pure soap. It was the other 0.66% of the popular brand of soap to which this patient was allergic.) Jay knew that it was not an allergy that killed the man in question, but he did not mind his friend leading his students down this path of reasoning. It would distract from the unrevealed truth that Jay was desperately trying to protect.
After the clinical class was dismissed, a young female nursing student approached the detective. His interest was piqued, but he reiterated his stance. The young nursing school student was persistent, and Jay liked her moxie. He tried to change the subject, but she was insistent. She procured a future coffee date with the eligible young cop and left the room. She was intent on learning the truth about the cadaver in question. Jay obliged her request for a coffee date, because he had been infatuated with the nursing profession since he was a young child. He was determined, though, to keep his secret at all costs. Even at the cost of not getting to know an interesting young nursing school student. He could not reveal his secret to ANYONE, even someone he considered to be an ideal candidate for a dating relationship.
After the young lady left the room, Jay Magruder was left alone with his thoughts. He alone knew the whole story as to how this man died.
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