PARTISAN
REVIEW
447
can get any work done here at all, what with all these interruptions
every minute."
He sits at the huge desk. "\Vhcrc was I, lieutenant ... oh, yes,
we were about through for today, weren't we."
"Yes."
"YES!"
he shouts, leaping up so fast he knocks over his chair.
«Yes!
What do you mean,
Yes)
lieutenant? Where do you think you
are? . . . Back in school? . . . It's Yes,
sir)
lieutenant. Got that?
Yes,
sir!"
"Yes, sir."
"Well don't you forget it. Don't get tough with me because
you're educated, lieutenant. You won't get anywhere in this man's
army that way, let
me
tell
you."
His furious face fills with bloody hue. "Don't get high-hat
with me. I'm an M.D., lieutenant.
I
went to school too, you know.
Don't ever forget that, lieutenant. Just don't get high-hat with
me."
He sits back down. But he doesn't remember that his chair has
been overturned. So he doesn't stop going down when he reaches
desk level, but drops out of sight behind it. He falls right on his ass.
Soon the colonel has gotten back together with his chair and
is again seated at his desk, a bit calmer but still flushed. He presses
a black button on his desk top and says, "Now go on out of here,
lieutenant, and get down to business."
"Yes, sir."
I
rise and salute. He salutes back, remaining seated.
Then the WAC appears with the surgical cart.
It
seems to be the
same one, except for the sign on the front, which has been changed:
OUT.
Camera Two
That night I drove into town. Turned right at the liquor store
onto a narrow, blacktop road, striped with gravel and sand rather
than sidewalks. There were no street lamps. Only the lights from
houses sporadically softened the darkness. After about four blocks,
I saw, up ahead on the left, a building which was three stories high
with a red neon sign hanging from its front wall. HOTEL HARLEM.
There were several cars parked in front, so I stopped and parked
on the gravel, about a block away.
