“With Tanya. Going to the movies. It’s a matinee. They’re cheap.
You know, I get the senior price.” “Unbelievable.”
“I think that’s sweet,” said Shelly, giving Sal one of her sincere
smiles.
“Thank you.” Sal eyed his son. “At least somebody likes my taste
in women.”
Nick grabbed his glass of wine, opting to drink down any further comments.
*****
Shelly sat on a loveseat at the back of Dr. Wall’s office, nervously playing with her fingernails as the Nick and Jerry show spelled out the campaign. At his desk, Dr. Wall sat with his hands clasped, listening to the two ad men pitch their cure-for-cancer proposal. Her earlier thoughts about Dr. Wall being receptive to the idea had faded when she saw the look on his face. She had seen that look before. The first words out of his mouth were not going to be particularly encouraging.
“Are you mad?” Dr. Wall asked. “Is that what this is all about?” “Yes, it is,” said Nick.
Shelly sat up on the edge of the couch, fearful of what would come next. Dr. Wall’s eyes bugged out as he took off his reading glasses and tossed them onto the desk.
“Do you two know anything about the disease we call cancer and how complicated it is? Anything?” Shelly cringed at his rhetorical and condescending speech.
“I know it kills people,” said Jerry.
“That’s the easy part,” said Dr. Wall. “It does that unless we stop it. To think you could come up with some sort of magic potion that just cures cancer is plain crazy.”
“Why can’t it be done?” Nick asked.
“Because it acts differently in every person. Every patient responds in a different way,” he said. “It is any cell whose coding allows it to grow unhindered too quickly and multiply. Cancer travels through the body and destroys everything in its path. It happens on the inside and it’s a goddamn war! We have been trying to stop it since the dawn of man.”