“I was beginning to think you’d fallen into a black hole,” said Ralf when he answered the phone after several rings. “I’m sure you know it’s still morning here, and if you recall our schedule, we usually spend this time of day working… I just finished an operation ten minutes ago, and I’m headed over to the E.R. right now.”
“Everything alright?” asked Simon.
“Just fine. I assume you’ll forgive me if I don’t give you a run-through of all the newly admitted patients, but yes, everything is quite alright. Only the usual post-New Year’s Eve injuries and the like: accidents involving champagne-bottle corks, some broken bones, neck sprains from family feuds… There’s one patient who went ice-fishing, hooked a huge fish, and then when he went to clean it, his wet hand slipped across the blade of
