Casino Moon

34

TEDDY SAT ON AN examination table. Dr. Josephson, a thin, wiry-haired urologist, adjusted his glasses and looked at his chart.

“I see you’ve already had a checkup, so this is just another step in the process,” he said. “I notice Dr. Lawrence examined you. We went to med school together.” He smiled.

Another bloodsucking parasite, Teddy thought. Doctors and lawyers. Burt Ryan estimated his legal bills would be well into six figures by the end of the year. And who knew how much this clown was going to charge? They were already down to under thirty-seven thousand dollars in the coffers.

“I’m going to give you a prostate exam,” said the doctor. “You’ve had one of these before, haven’t you?”

Teddy shook his head nervously. He’d avoided going to the doctor for years, as much out of superstition as frugality. If they didn’t find anything wrong, there wouldn’t be anything wrong. But since that little breakdown the other day in Burt Ryan’s office, he’d realized he couldn’t put off the visit any longer.

The doctor took a deep breath and slipped on a rubber glove. “Please lower your pants and lie on your side.”

Teddy inched away from him. “What’re you gonna do?”

“It’s a routine digital exam.”

“You’re gonna put a finger in my ass?”

The doctor opened a jar of Vaseline. “I can assure you there’s nothing unusual about it.”

Teddy couldn’t believe his ears. He’d once had a man beaten unconscious with a crowbar for making fun of his weight, and now he had to let this creep stick a finger up his butt. It was like being back in reform school. The things theother boys would do to him in the showers. Uncle Benoit in his first foster home. A little bit of that clammy, weak feeling spread down to his knees. For years, the extra weight had been like a layer of insulation, protecting him from the pain and humiliation. But here was someone trying to get inside him again.

He closed his eyes and bit the interior wall of his mouth. What was this world coming to?