ABSTRACT
I thought I was calling Mannie to seek a consultation about a patient. He gets on the phone and greets me with his deep sonorous voice. “Mannie, I’d like to meet with you for a consultation about a patient,” I say tentatively. “Sure,” he says, “Let me go and fetch my book and see what times I have open.” In the brief moment that he speaks, an urgent sense of now or never takes over and I say, “In fact, Mannie, I am the patient—the consultation is about me.” I catch my breath. “I will still need to get my book to see when we can meet,” he says calmly, without missing a beat.
