"If they were anything like me, they just rolled their eyes and said, Another one and eventually realized they wouldn't give him up for anything." The gauze was coming away clean now but for a stripe of blood where the cut was. Time for the antibacterials. "Brace yourself again. This will hurt more."

She put the ointment on a swab and applied it to his face, talking to distract him. "An MD is short for a degree called Doctor of Medicine. It means that I passed medical school. Right now I'm a practicing psychiatrist; I perform therapy and proscribe medications and medical tests as needed."