Page 3 of Gamble
He’d managed to go an entire year without a visit to his longtime doctor and friend, Richard Jennings. Now, thanks to a doomed round of golf, he couldn’t put off this visit any longer.
As they wound through the opulent Beverly Hills offices, Elijah thought about how his plethora of visits in the past probably helped pay for a good portion of the office.
“Elijah! I hardly get to see you now that you’ve retired.”
The men shook hands as the nurse who’d escorted him back left the doctor’s private office, closing the door behind her.
“I’m sure my retirement is cutting into your billable hours big time. Sorry if I’m single-handedly responsible for you and Martha not making it on your annual cruise this year.”
Richard had returned to take a seat behind his enormous mahogany desk as Elijah took a seat in the comfortable chair opposite him.
“Actually, I still have a contract with two studios. My income has gone up since your retirement, believe it or not. They’ve brought in a bunch of newbie stuntmen trying to save money. In typical fashion, they’ll end up spending twice as much because none of the new guys are even half as experienced as you are.”
Elijah had kept in touch with a lot of his old friends still in the business and had heard the same thing.
“At least someone is making out good from the bastards trying to cheap out. Between the newbies and CGI, a lot of good stunt professionals are getting pushed out.”
Now that he was sitting in the doctor’s office, he was having second thoughts about making the appointment. The painkillers he’d been popping for the last few days since the celebrity golf tournament had helped. Just not enough.
“So, there must be something big going on to get you into the office. Considering you checked yourself out of the hospital against my orders more than once, I confess to being curious about what got you to come in.”
Elijah didn’t lie. “Now that I’m here, I’m wondering myself.”
Dr. Jennings leaned forward, elbows on his desk and fingers steepled as he gave his long-time patient the once-over.
“Well, I don’t know what it is for sure, but my guess is it’s something that’s been bothering you for some time.”
“Oh? And what makes you say that?” Elijah answered, alarmed at the accurate observation by his physician.
“Because you have the highest threshold for pain tolerance of any patient I’ve ever treated. I told Martha the night I got home after setting your leg after you broke it in that helicopter accident that I was pretty sure you could have handled that without going under.”
“I was so pissed that you knocked me out. Pain, I can handle. It’s the fucking side effects of anesthesia that fuck me up.”
“So, if you can handle pain, what is it that has you here today?”
He hadn’t said the words out loud to anyone yet. He knew if he said them now, he wouldn’t be able to just keep ignoring his symptoms.
“It’s probably nothing, but…”
Dr. Jennings waited patiently, not letting him off the hook until he continued.
“The tingling in my left leg and foot is getting worse.”
“Okay. That isn’t totally unexpected after injuries like you’ve had. Is it daily?”
“Yep, and…”
His voice trailed off, but his doctor raised his eyebrow, waiting expectantly. The men knew each other well.
“And it got worse after I golfed a round last weekend.”
“Golfing. I’m pretty sure that was on the list of activities I told you to cut out last year when I saw you, was it not?”
He was a grown man. He didn’t like getting lectured as if he were an errant teenager.
“There were extenuating circumstances. I couldn’t get out of it.” He argued.
“Aren’t you a bit old for peer pressure?” Dr. Jennings asked with just the exact amount of censure to make Elijah feel like an even bigger idiot than he had when he had made the appointment.
