Ray

XXIII

“RAY?”

“Yeah?”

“They got me.”

“Contact, Ed. I’m hearing you.”

“Put your spirit with mine now, old lieutenant. I’m ashes.”

Then he was.

The last time Sister came to me at the clinic, I wrote this record and this prescription.

— Female, 23. She has made one album and her next one is in process.

— Her mother, almost nonexistent.

— Her father, a philosopher.

— Her family. Two sets of twins, one of them recently backed over by a bus, plus two others.

— Her situation. Singer. Uses marijuana heavily. High blood pressure. 150/90. X-ray shows dark spot in the upper left lung.

Prescription:

— Valium, 25 mg. Every four hours until appetite returns. Prednisone, 200 mg. One every other day for two weeks. Then a half-pill every other day. 60 days. No refill.