AFTER A TWO DAY fast, Kevin was pain-free, though groggy from all the morphine. Herb tapped on the half-open door and saw he was dozing. One hand rested on a manuscript. The other held a ballpoint pen. His eyelids fluttered then lifted.
“Thanks for coming,” Kevin croaked.
Having steeled himself to see Kevin writhing in pain or too somnolent to talk, Herb was relieved.
“I just heard,” Herb began.
He stopped short, fearing whatever he said next would be clumsy.
“This isn’t the end of the line,” said Kevin, completely alert now. “There’s a new a thymidine analogue like AZT. Dideoxy-didehydrothymidine, D4T. And it’s more potent than AZT or DDI. At least in cultured cells it is.”
“Can you get it?”
Herb wished he could have asked that question with enthusiasm, but it was hard for him to believe another drug like AZT wouldn’t also quickly lead to resistance, and he was too poor an actor to pretend otherwise. He had recently heard Rajiv Singh lecture. The scientist’s pessimism about this specific issue had been persuasive.
Failing to note Herb’s subdued reaction or perhaps dismissing it, Kevin said, “A Phase 1 trial is starting soon. I already called NIH and got my name on the top of the list.”
Herb did his best to give a credulous smile.
“Herb,” Kevin said, suddenly downcast, “I have to get over this before I can go back to work, and by then it’ll be time for me to take off for NIH. I can’t keep dumping all the responsibility on Gwen. What should I do?”
Herb considered the dilemma. Glad to have an excuse to think objectively, he paced around the room until an answer came to him.
“I think you should go on sick leave. Make Gwen the temporary division chief.”
“No! That’ll chain her to her desk.”
“I don’t think so. No more than she already is. It’ll give her more weight in negotiating with the hospital and the university. She’ll spend less time spinning her wheels and feeling frustrated. It’ll also give her the authority to appoint Karen or David as assistant director. She can offload running the clinic or supervising the administrative staff to one of them.”
“Ugh,” Kevin groaned. “Those two are finally playing well together. That would totally disrupt the delicate balance of power between them. I guarantee they’ll each find a reason to be jealous about it.”
“Not if she appoints them both as co-assistant directors.”
Scowling, Kevin said, “It’s still going to seem like shit flowing downstream to them. I can’t risk that. Those two are the program’s future. They need more of their time protected, not less.”
“I don’t think they’ll see it as a dump. It’ll be a sign that you and Gwen really trust them and think they’re ready to handle more responsibility.”
Kevin wrinkled his nose.
“You’re right,” he guffawed. “There’ll be a ribbon around the turd she hands them.”
Herb laughed.
“This’ll have to come from me,” said Kevin thoughtfully. “I’ll ask them. I’ll plead. If they’re doing it for me, they won’t resent Gwen.”
“There you go,” said Herb. “A perfect solution.”
“Nice try,” Kevin said and wagged a finger at him. “You almost made me believe I figured it out myself.”
Herb looked away innocently. Then he sat down on Kevin’s bed.
“So, what’s the paper you’re writing?”