The Jekyll Revelation

by Robert Masello

leave a cavity, if you will, in the chest?’ ‘Well observed, Mr Stevenson. And that is why we will fill the vacuum with paraffin wax.’ Fanny looked highly dubious, and no doubt so did I. Before I could ask it myself, Fanny said, ‘And once the lung has been deflated and the paraffin introduced, how long before the lung is restored?’ Dr Rüedi tilted his head this way and that. ‘Several weeks. Perhaps a month. Or two. Much depends upon the patient.’ Subjecting myself

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Rüedi replied. Though it was not out of keeping with his character, I was nonetheless taken aback by his rudeness, as was my wife. ‘If you have come to me for idle conversation,’ he said, thwapping the pointer like a riding crop against the palm of one hand,