Ben gave the doctor’s table a look of nausea.
“How many have died on that thing?” he asked.
He sat down nervously in a chair by the desk, and lighted a cigarette, holding the flame to the charred end of cigar Coker thrust forward.
“Well, what can I do for you, son?” he asked.
“I’m tired of pushing daisies here,” said Ben.
“I want to push them somewhere else.”
“What do you mean, Ben?”
“I suppose you’ve heard, Coker,” said Ben quietly and insultingly, “that there’s a war going on in Europe.
That is, if you’ve learned to read the papers.”
“No, I hadn’t heard about it, son,” said Coker, puffing slowly and deeply.
“I read a paper — the one that comes out in the morning.
I suppose they haven’t got the news yet.”
He grinned maliciously.
“What do you want, Ben?”
“I’m thinking of going to Canada and enlisting,” said Ben.
“I want you to tell me if I can get in.”
Coker was silent a moment.
He took the long chewed weed from his mouth and looked at it thoughtfully.
“What do you want to do that for, Ben?” he said.
Ben got up suddenly, and went to the window.
He cast his cigarette away into the court.
It struck the cement well with a small dry plop.
When he turned around, his sallow face had gone white and passionate.
“In Christ’s name, Coker,” he said, “what’s it all about?
Are you able to tell me?
What in heaven’s name are we here for?
You’re a doctor — you ought to know something.”
Coker continued to look at his cigar.
It had gone out again.
“Why?” he said deliberately.
“Why should I know anything?”
“Where do we come from?
Where do we go to?
What are we here for?
What the hell is it all about?” Ben cried out furiously in a rising voice.
He turned bitterly, accusingly, on the older man.
“For God’s sake, speak up, Coker.
Don’t sit there like a damned tailor’s dummy.
Say something, won’t you?”
“What do you want me to say?” said Coker.
“What am I? a mindreader?
A spiritualist?
I’m your physician, not your priest.
I’ve seen them born, and I’ve seen them die.
What happens to them before or after, I can’t say.”
“Damn that!” said Ben.
“What happens to them in between?”
“You’re as great an authority on that as I am, Ben,” said Coker.
“What you want, son, is not a doctor, but a prophet.”
“They come to you when they’re sick, don’t they?” said Ben.