"This is an ongoing problem I'm having with the administration," Kim said. "When someone is as sick as your husband was before his surgery, I could not in good conscience allow him to be admitted the day of surgery."

"Well, they said they weren't going to pay," Gertrude said. "And we can't pay."

"If AmeriCare persists, then I'll pay," Kim said.

Gertrude's mouth dropped open. "You will?"

"It's come up before and I've paid before," Kim said. "Now, about your husband. Soon he'll be in recovery. They'll keep him there until he's stable, and then he'll go to the Cardiac floor. You'll be able to see him then."

Kim turned and walked from the room, pretending not to hear Mrs. Arnold calling his name.

Retreating back up the hall, Kim entered the surgical lounge. It was occupied by a handful of OR nurses on their breaks and a few of the staff anesthesiologists and anesthetists. Kim nodded to those people he recognized. Having been working at the University Medical Center only since the merger six months previously. Kim didn't know all the staff, particularly the evening and night people.

Pushing through the door into the men's surgical locker room, Kim pulled off his scrub top and threw it forcibly into the hamper. He then sat on the bench in front of the bank of lockers to unpin his watch from the waistband of the pants. Tom, who'd taken a shower, was busy putting on his shirt.

"It used to be when I finished a case I felt a certain euphoria," Kim commented. "Now I feel a vague, unpleasant anxiety."

"I know the feeling," Tom said.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Kim said. "This all used to be a lot more fun."

Tom turned from facing the mirror and chuckled. "Excuse me for laughing, but you say that as if it were a sudden revelation."

"I'm not talking about the economics," Kim said. "I'm talking about the little things, like getting respect from the staff and appreciation from patients. Nowadays you can't take anything for granted."

"Times are a-changing," Tom agreed. "Especially with managed care and the government teamed up to make us specialists miserable. Sometimes I fantasize about one of the responsible bureaucrats coming to me for a bypass, and I make him get it from a general practitioner."

Kim stood up and pulled off his scrub pants. "The sad irony is that all this is happening when we cardiac surgeons have the most to offer the public."

Kim was about to toss his pants into the hamper by the door, when the door opened and one of the women anesthesiologists, Dr. Jane Flanagan, stuck her head in. Catching sight of Kim's skivvy-clad body, she whistled.

"You came mighty close to having these sweat-soaked pants draped over your noggin," Kim warned.

"For such a view it would have been worth it," Jane joked. "Anyway, I'm here to inform you that your public awaits you out here in the lounge."

The door closed and lane's perky face disappeared.

Kim looked at Tom. "Public? What the hell is she talking about?"

"My guess is you have a visitor," Tom said. "And the fact that no one has come in here leads me to believe it must be female."

Kim stepped over to the cubbyholes filled with scrub tops and bottoms and took a clean set. "What now?" he questioned irritably.

At the door Kim paused. "If this is Mrs. Arnold, the wife of my last case, I'm going to scream.

Kim pushed out into the lounge. Instantly he saw it wasn't Gertrude Arnold. Instead, Kelly Anderson was at the coffee urn, helping herself to a cup. A few steps behind her was her cameraman with a camcorder balanced on his right shoulder.

"Ah, Dr. Reggis," Kelly exclaimed, catching sight of the surprised and none-too-pleased Kim. "How good of you to come to talk with us."

"How the hell did you get in here?" Kim asked with indignation. "And how did you know I was here?" The surgical lounge was like a sanctuary that even nonsurgical doctors were hesitant to violate. For Kim the idea of being confronted by anyone here, much less Kelly Anderson, was too much to bear.

"Brian and I knew you were here thanks to your former wife," Kelly said. "As for how we got up here, I'm happy to say we were invited and even escorted by Mr. Lindsey Noyes." Kelly gestured toward a gray-suited gentleman standing in the doorway to the hall who'd hesitated to come in himself. "He's from the AmeriCare – University Med Center PR department."

"Evening, Dr. Reggis," Lindsey said nervously, "we just need a moment of your time. Miss Anderson has graciously decided to do a story commemorating the six-month anniversary of our hospital merger. Of course, we'd like to assist her in any way we can."

For a moment Kim's dark eyes darted back and forth between Kelly and Lindsey. On the spur of the moment he wasn't certain who irritated him more, the muckraking journalist or the meddlesome administrator. Ultimately he decided he didn't care. "If you want to help her, then you talk to her," Kim said before turning to go back into the locker room.

"Dr. Reggis, wait!" Kelly blurted. "I've already heard the prepared AmeriCare side. We're interested in your personal view, from the trenches, so to speak."

With the locker-room door open a crack, Kim paused and debated. He looked back at Kelly Anderson. "After that piece you did on cardiac surgery, I vowed never to talk to you again."

"And why is that?" Kelly said. "It was an interview. I didn't put words in your mouth."

"You quoted me out of context by editing your questions," Kim fumed. "And you left out most of the issues I said were of primary importance."

"We always edit our interviews," Kelly said. "It's a fact of life."

"Find another victim," Kim said.

Kim pushed open the locker-room door and had taken a step within, when Kelly called out again: "Dr. Reggis! Just answer one question. Has the merger been as good for the community as AmeriCare contends? They say they did it for purely altruistic reasons. They insist it's the best thing that's happened to medical care in this city since the discovery of penicillin."

Kim hesitated again. The absurdity of such a comment made it impossible for him not to respond. Once again he turned back to Kelly. "I have trouble understanding how anyone could say such a ludicrous statement and have a conscience clear enough to sleep at night. The truth is that the entire rationale for the merger was to benefit AmeriCare's bottom line. Anything else they may tell you is rationalization and pure bull."

The door closed behind Kim. Kelly looked at Brian. Brian smiled and gave Kelly the thumbs-up sign. "I got it," Brian said.

Kelly smiled back. "Perfect! That was just what the doctor ordered."

Lindsey coughed politely into a closed fist. "Obviously," he said, "Dr. Reggis has given his personal view, which I can assure you is not shared by other members of the professional staff."

"Oh really?" Kelly questioned. She let her eyes roam the room. "Anybody here wish to make a comment concerning Dr. Reggis's statement?"

For a moment no one moved.

"Pro or con?" Kelly prodded.

Still no one moved. In the sudden silence, the hospital page could be heard like the backdrop of a TV melodrama.

"Well," Kelly said brightly, "thank you all for your time."

Tom slipped on his long white hospital coat and arranged the collection of pens, pencils, and flashlight in its upper front pocket. Kim had come into the locker room and, after removing his clothes and throwing them into the hamper, had gotten into the shower. He'd not said a word.

"Aren't you going to tell me who was out there?" Tom said.

"It was Kelly Anderson from WENE News," Kim said from the shower.

"In our surgical lounge?" Tom questioned.

"Can you believe it?" Kim said. "She was dragged up here by one of the AmeriCare admin guys. Apparently my ex told her where to find me."