Shape of Snakes

Letter from Dr. Joseph Elias, psychiatrist

at the Queen Victoria Hospital, Hong Kong-dated 1999

QUEEN VICTORIA HOSPITAL

Hong Kong

Dept. of Psychiatry

Mrs. M. Ranelagh

Jacaranda

Hightor Road

Cape Town

South Africa

February 17, 1999

Dear Mrs. Ranelagh,

Goodness me! So it's home to England at last. I shall await your news with bated breath. Yes, despite my incredibly advanced years, I still have a small consultancy in the hospital, but only because my patients seem to prefer the devil they know to the devil they don't.

And what of your devils, my dear? Somehow I doubt that justice for Annie will be enough for you. But who am I to criticize when my friend the rabbi would say: To win the peace you must first fight the war?

As requested, I enclose the notes I made in 1979.

Yours fondly,

J. Elias