Robin Cook - Fatal Cure

"Bull," Steve said. "The more people the more fun."

"Why are you going to New Hampshire?" David asked.

"It'll be the last weekend for foliage for sure," Trent said. "It's different over in New Hampshire. More rugged scenery. Some people think the foliage is even more spectacular there."

"I can't imagine it could be any prettier than it is right here in Bartlet," David said.

"Waterville's fun," Kevin said. "Most people know it only for winter skiing. But it's got tennis, golf, hiking, even a basketball court. The kids love it."

"Come on, David," Steve said. "Winter will be here soon enough. You've got to get out and take advantage of fall as long as possible. Trust us."

"It sounds okay to me," David said. "I'll run it by Angela tonight, and I'll give one of you guys a call."

With that decided, the group joined the others to finish their basketball game.

That night Angela was not enthused when David mentioned the invitation. After the experience of the weekend at the lake combined with being busy around the house, David and Angela had not socialized much. Angela did not want to participate in another weekend of off-color jokes and sexual innuendo. Despite David's feelings to the contrary, Angela continued to wonder if their friends were bored, especially the women, and the idea of being together in such close quarters sounded a little too claustrophobic for her.

"Come on," David said. "It will be fun. We should see more of New England. As Steve said, winter will be here all too soon, and for the most part we'll be imprisoned indoors."

"It'll be expensive," Angela said, trying to think up reasons not to go.

"Come on, Mom," Nikki said. "Arni told me Waterville was neat."

"How can it be expensive?" David questioned. "We'll be splitting the condo four ways. Besides, consider our income."

"Consider our debt," Angela countered. "We've got two mortgages on the house, one of which is a balloon, and we've started paying off our student loans. And I don't know if the car will make it through a Vermont winter."

"You're being silly," David said. "I'm keeping close tabs on our finances, and we are doing perfectly well. It's not as if this is some extravagant cruise. With four families in a condo it will be no more expensive than a camping trip."

"Come on, Mom!" Nikki cried.

"All right," Angela said at last. "I can tell when I'm outnumbered."

As the week progressed excitement about the trip grew. David got one of the other CMV doctors, Dudley Markham, to cover his practice. Thursday night they packed to leave the following afternoon.

The initial plan was to leave at three P.M., but the difficulties of getting five doctors away from the hospital in the middle of the afternoon proved impossible to overcome. It wasn't until after six that they actually departed.

They took three vehicles. The Yarboroughs took their own van with their three children; the Yansens and Youngs doubled up in the Yansens' van; David, Angela, and Nikki took the Volvo. They could have squeezed in with the Yarboroughs, but Angela liked the independence of having their own vehicle.

The condo was enormous. Besides the four bedrooms, there was an upper loft where the kids could sleep in sleeping bags. After the trip everyone was tired. They headed straight for bed.

The next morning, Gayle Yarborough took it upon herself to wake everyone early. She marched through the house drumming a wooden spoon on the bottom of a saucepan, calling out that they were to leave for breakfast in half an hour.

Half an hour turned out to be an optimistic estimate of the time of departure. Although there were four bedrooms and a sleeping loft, there were only three and a half baths. Showers, hair drying, and shaving were a traffic control nightmare. On top of that, Nikki had to do her postural drainage. It was almost an hour and a half before the group was ready to go.

Climbing into the vehicles in the same order as the night before, they motored out of the valley with its circle of mountains and headed up Interstate 93. Driving through Franconia Notch both David and Angela were taken by the riotous beauty of the fall foliage silhouetted against stark, sheer walls of gray granite.

"I'm starved," Nikki said after a half hour of driving.

"Me too," Angela said. "Where are we going?"

"A place called Polly's Pancake Parlor," David said. "Trent told me it's an institution up here in northern New Hampshire."

Arriving at the restaurant, they were informed there would be a forty-minute wait for a table. Fortunately, as soon as they finally started eating, everybody said the wait had been worth it. The pancakes, smothered in pure New Hampshire maple syrup, were delicious, as were the smoked bacon and sausage.

After breakfast they toured around New Hampshire looking at the leaves and the mountain scenery. There were arguments about whether the fall foliage was better in Vermont or New Hampshire. No one won. As Angela said, it was like comparing superlatives.

As they drove back toward Waterville Valley on a particularly scenic stretch of road called the Kancamagus Highway, David noticed that high cirrus clouds had drifted over the vast dome of the sky. By the time they got back to Waterville the clouds were thicker, effectively blocking out the sun and causing the temperature to plummet into the mid-fifties.

Once they were back at the condo, Kevin was eager for a game of tennis. No one was interested, but he managed to talk David into playing. After driving most of the day, David thought that some exercise would do him good.

Kevin was an accomplished player, and he usually beat David with relative ease. But on this particular occasion, he wasn't up to his usual game. To Kevin's chagrin, David began winning.

With his keen competitive nature, Kevin tried harder, but his intensity only caused him to make more mistakes. He began getting angry at himself, then at David. When David called a shot out, Kevin dropped his racket in a show of disbelief.

"That was not out," Kevin yelled.

"It was," David answered. David circled the mark in the clay with his racket. Kevin walked all the way around the net to look.

"That wasn't the mark," Kevin said angrily.

David looked at his officemate. He could see the man was angry. "Okay," David said, hoping to defuse the tension. "Why don't we play the point over?"

When they replayed the point David won again, and in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, he called out: "Cheating shows."

"Screw you," Kevin called back. "Serve the ball!"

Any enjoyment that David derived from the game was destroyed by Kevin's poor attitude. Kevin got more and more angry, contesting almost all of David's calls. David suggested they stop. Kevin insisted they play to the bitter end. They did and David won.

Walking back to the condo Kevin refused to talk, and David gave up trying to make conversation. A few sprinkles urged them on. When they arrived Kevin went into one of the bathrooms and slammed the door. Everyone looked at David. David shrugged. "I won," he said and felt strangely guilty.

Despite a cheerful fire, plenty of good food, and lots of beer and wine, the evening was overshadowed by Kevin's gloom. Even his wife, Nancy, told him he was acting childish. The comment sparked a nasty exchange between husband and wife that left everyone feeling uncomfortable.

Eventually Kevin's despondency spread. Trent and Steve began to lament that their practices had fallen to a point where they had to think seriously of leaving Bartlet. CMV had already hired people in their specialties.

"A lot of my former patients have told me they'd like to come back to me," Steve said, "but they can't. Their employers have negotiated with CMV for health coverage. If these patients see me they have to pay out of their pockets. It's a bad scene."