you'd be outta here on your ear...

"

Philips remained silent.

"The trouble is," said Goldblatt, with a voice that was losing its angry edge, "you are an outstanding neuroradiologist. Look, Martin, I want you to keep a low profile for a little while, okay? I know Mannerheim can be a pain
in the ass. Just stay out of his way. And Christ! Stay out of his lab. The guy doesn't like anybody in there, anytime, much less sneaking around at night."

For the first time since his arrival, Goldblatt allowed his eyes to roam
around Philips' cluttered office. His jaw slowly dropped in amazement at the unbelievable disorder. Turning back to Philips, he eyed him silently for a
full minute.

"Last week you were fine and doing a wonderful job. You've been
groomed from the first to eventually run this place. I want you to return to
that old Martin Philips. I don't understand your recent behavior and I don't
understand the way this office looks. But I can tell you this, if you don't
shape up, you'll be looking for another position."

Goldblatt spun on his heels and walked out of the room.

Philips sat silently staring after him. He didn't know whether to be angry
or laugh. After all his thoughts of independence, the idea of being fired was terrifying. As a result, Martin became a whirlwind of directed activity. He
ran around the department and checked all the cases in progress giving
certain suggestions when needed. He read all the morning films that had
accumulated. Then he personally did a left cerebral angiogram on a difficult
case, which definitely demonstrated the patient did not need surgery. Getting the medical students together he gave them a lecture on the CAT scanner
which left them either dazzled or totally confused, depending on their degree of concentration. In between he kept Helen busy answering all the
correspondence and messages that had accumulated over the last few days.
And in addition to everything else, he had a clerk rearrange the mass of skull films in his office in a systematic way, so that by three in the afternoon he had also managed to run sixty of the old films through the computer and had
compared the results to the old reading. The program was functioning
superbly.

At three-thirty, he stuck his head out of his office and asked Helen if
there'd been any calls from a Kristin Lindquist. She shook her head. Walking
down to the X-ray rooms, Philips asked Kenneth Robbins if the young
woman had shown up. The answer was no.

By four o'clock Philips had run another six films through the computer.
Once again the machine suggested it was a better radiologist than was
Philips by picking up a trace of calcification that suggested a meningioma
tumor. Looking back at the film, Philips had to agree. He put the X ray aside to see if Helen could trace the patient down.

At four-fifteen Philips dialed Kristin Lindquist's number. It was answered on the second ring by her roommate.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Philips, but I haven't seen Kristin since before she left for the Metropolitan Museum this morning. She missed her eleven and one-fifteen classes, which is not like her."

"Would you try to locate her for me and have her give me a call?" said Philips.

"I'd be glad to. Frankly, I'm a little concerned."

At quarter-to-five Helen came into Philips' office with the day's
correspondence for him to sign so she could post the letters on her way
home. A little after five-thirty Denise stopped by.

"Looks like things are more under control," she said, looking around appreciatively.

"Just appearances,' said Philips as the laser scanner snatched an X ray out of his hand.

He closed his office door and gave her a solid embrace. He didn't want to
let go of her and when he finally did, she looked up and said, "Wow, what did I do to deserve this?"

"I've been thinking about you all day and reliving last night." He wanted desperately to talk with her about the insecurities Goldblatt had evoked that morning, and tell her that he wanted her to stay with him for the rest of his life. The trouble was that he hadn't given himself any time to think, and
while he didn't want to let go of her yet, he wanted to be alone, at least for a while. When she reminded him she had promised to make dinner, he
hesitated. Seeing her hurt face he said, "What I was thinking is that if I can get a good enough head start running these old films, maybe we could drive
out to the island Saturday night."

"That would be marvelous," said Denise, mollified. "Oh, by the way, I called GYN and made an appointment for tomorrow around noon."

"Good. Who'd you talk with?"

"I don't know. But they were very nice and seemed genuinely happy to
accommodate me. Look, if you finish up early why don't you come over?"

Denise had been gone about an hour when Michaels arrived, delighted to