a leave of absence," Brenda told me.
"I think you're pretty sharp, too."
She was thirty, a ripe, luscious brunette with a zest for making it. I sometimes wondered what she'd think if she knew her lover was an eighteen-year-old fraud. However, I never thought of myself as a teen-ager anymore, save on rare occasions. When I looked in a mirror, I saw a mature man of twenty-five or thirty and that's how I felt about myself, too. I'd been just an adventurous boy when I altered my chronological age, but my mental clock, during the past two years, had set itself ahead to correspond.
Still, I'd always had mature tastes in women. There were several tantalizing candy-stripers among the volunteer staff of the hospital, all in their late teens, but I was never attracted to any one of them. I preferred sophisticated, experienced women in their twenties or older. Like Brenda.
After several visits to the hospital, my initial trepidations dissipated, I began to enjoy my spurious role as a medico. I experienced the same vicarious pleasures, the same ego boosts, I'd known as a bogus pilot.
I'd walk down the corridor on one of the hospital floors and a pretty nurse would smile and say, "Good morning, Dr. Williams."
Or I'd encounter a group of staff interns and they'd nod respectfully and chant in unison, "Good afternoon, Dr. Williams."
Or I'd encounter one of the senior staff physicians and he'd shake hands and say, "Good to see you again, Dr. Williams."
And all day long I'd go around feeling like Hippocrates in my hypocrite's mantle. I even started sporting a tiny gold caduceus in my lapel.
No one tried to put me in a corner. I had no problems at all until one afternoon, following lunch with Granger and Brenda, I was leaving the hospital when John Colter, the administrator, hailed me.
"Dr. Williams! May I see you just a moment, sir." Without waiting for an answer, he headed straight for his office nearby.
"Oh, shit," I said, and didn't realize I'd said it aloud until a passing orderly gave me a grin. I had an impulse to bolt, but suppressed the urge. Colter's voice had not reflected any irritation or doubt. The request, while brusque, seemed devoid of suspicion. I followed him into his office.
"Doctor, have a seat, please," said Colter, motioning to a comfortable lounge chair as he settled behind his desk. I relaxed immediately. He was still addressing me as "doctor," and his manner now was almost ingratiating.
Colter, in fact, seemed embarrassed. He cleared his throat. "Dr. Williams, I'm about to ask you for a very big favor, a favor I have no right to ask," Colter said with a wry grimace. "I know that what I'm about to propose will be imposing on you, but I'm in a box, and I think you're the man who can solve my problem. Will you help me?"
I looked at him, perplexed. "Well, I'll be happy to, if I can, sir," I replied cautiously.
Colter nodded and his tone became brisk. "Here's my problem, Doctor. On my midnight-to-eight shift, I have a resident who supervises seven interns and about forty nurses. He had a death in the family this afternoon, a sister in California. He's left to go out there, and will be gone about ten days. Doctor, I've got nobody to cover that shift. Nobody. If you've been keeping up with the situation here, and I know from your activities that you have, you know we've got a severe shortage of doctors in Atlanta at the moment. I can't find a doctor to replace Jessup, and I can't do it myself. I'm not a medical doctor, as you know.
"I can't use an intern. The law requires a general practitioner or a specialist in one of the medical fields be the supervising resident of a hospital like this. Do you follow me?"
I nodded. I was following him, but in the same manner a jackal follows a tiger. Way back.
Colter plunged on. "Now, Dr. Granger tells me you're pretty well unencumbered here, that you spend a lot of time around your apartment, just taking it easy and playing with the girls." He held up a hand and smiled. "No offense, Doctor. I envy you."
His voice became pleading. "Dr. Williams, could you come up here and just sit around for ten days from midnight to eight? You won't have to do anything, I assure you. Just be here, so I can meet the state's requirements. I need you, Doctor. We'll pay you