The three of us—Susan, Kim, and I—are chatting in my office on a rainy November morning. It’s “Welfare Wednesday,” the second-to-last Wednesday of the month, when income-assistance checks are issued. In the drug ghetto it’s Mardi Gras time. The office is quiet and will be until the money runs out on Thursday and Friday—and then a large group of hungover, drug-withdrawn patients will descend upon the place, complaining, demanding, and picking fights with each other.
