The other two doctors stopped, looking at one another, as if trying to probe each other's thoughts. Simultaneous smiles spread over their faces. Dr. Needzak stopped walking, when he heard them starting to laugh. He pushed between them with a frown, asking:
"Look, if you—"
Dr. Carson slapped him on the back, hard. Dr. Manville grasped Dr. Needzak's hand and squeezed it with unexpected strength.
"The same thing hit us both at the same time, I'll bet," the older doctor said. "It would be the ideal thing for you."
Dr. Carson was pumping Dr. Needzak's other hand up and down. "Sure. Emergency physician! I don't know why we didn't think of that in the first place. Accidents still happen now and then. It isn't easy to find doctors who are willing to specialize in them, because it isn't steady income and it doesn't pay a whole lot. But you have those screwball ideas about helping people to get well. And that's just what an emergency physician must do."
"I'll talk to a couple of the men on the association board as soon as I can get to a telephone," Dr. Manville said. "I think I can persuade them to assign you to accidents without going through a disbarring procedure, as long as you agree to stay away from general practice. You're willing, I assume?"
Dr. Needzak pulled his hands free and looked at the spots of dried blood that remained on the fingers and palms. He hadn't been able to wash up after the accident. He saw surgeon's hands, healing hands, hands that would never be satisfied to wrap up syrups or count pills.
"I suppose that it's the best thing in a bad deal. But I'm wondering about accidents. Just the other day, I read an insurance company statement. The insurance statisticians said that accidents have become so scarce in the past decade that they'll be virtually non-existent, in another half-century. I'll be 100 by that time, just in the prime of life. If there aren't any more accident victims, what will I do for a living? I couldn't find a job at that age, you know."
The other two doctors shrugged their shoulders, in unison. With the wisdom of age, Dr. Manville said:
"Well, if you find yourself in that situation, you can always go to see a doctor."