Chapter 1 King's College
August 1979...Guy's Campus...King's College School of Medicine….Lecture Hall A. "So, ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to your second year at the School of Medicine here at King's College. I am Dr. Ezekiel and I am in charge of your introduction to the School of Anatomy. Last year you concentrated on the basic science of organic chemistry, physics and advanced mathematics with a dabbling of statistics and psychology. This semester, you will be introduced to your true patients...human beings. I know you still have the study of biochemistry, microbiology and social studies, but the next 10 weeks studying anatomy and having the privilege of dissecting a human cadaver will likely be all encompassing. There will be lecture and presentation 3 mornings a week and you will be dissecting and preparing your presentation most of the other time. I suspect a great deal of your time will be spent in the labs. You will hear this repeatedly, but to remind you, these living people bequeathed their remain so that you future physicians can learn and be the best physicians you can be. Never forget that. Be humble in the face of the gift they've given. Alright, Group one to Lab 101...Group 2 to Lab 102."
Christopher Parsons looked down at the scheduling slip he had obtained. He was in Lab 102 and picked up his heavy pack with his lab coat, dissecting kit and ridiculously heavy copy of Gray's Anatomy and filed to the basement with the rest of the class. Why he had brought the ridiculously heavy tome he wasn't sure. He was overly conscientious and promised himself he'd always be prepared. He had been accepted to King's College at the very last minute last year when another candidate had opted to go to Cambridge. He never doubted his innate intelligence or dedication to the purpose of being a physician, but being of limited means he had attended a middling sixth form college in Sussex and did fabulously well. He just didn't have the lofty credentials that many of his colleagues had. Not to worry, his grades the year before were solidly in the upper middle of the class and by this time felt quite comfortable in his standing.
The class picked up their workbooks and their syllabi, .unloaded their belongings and put on their lab coats before entering the cavernous, cool, almost gymnasium size laboratory with rows upon rows of covered stainless steel tables. The room reeked of formaldehyde which made a few people a little heady, but the professors and teaching assistants assure the pupils that they would soon get used to it and would only notice when their clothes and lab coats were thrown in the laundry bin at their apartments on the weekend.
At table 97 stood 4 students. One was Chris Parsons. The other was a short sturdy woman named Rosemary Plimpf. The third was a handsome bloke, with a ponytail and a Glaswegian accent almost too thick to understand. He introduced himself as Carson McMurray. The fourth student was a tall, lanky, ramrod straight young man named Martin Ellingham. For some reason his name rang a bell with the rest of his lab mates, but they weren't sure exactly why that was quite yet. Martin had ridiculously short hair and an undeniably big head, with a set of ears which were…...prominent. All in all he was a different looking bloke but no one said anything, as it was not a beauty contest. He towered over his teammates and oddly enough, wore a tie...hardly practical when dissecting. He had his sleeves rolled up and his tie tucked in but still appeared rigid and unrelaxed.
Professor Ezekiel approach their table with his class list. "Alright, Table 97...Parsons, you and Ellingham will be Team A and will start dissecting today. Plimpf and McMurray, you're Team B and will start your primary dissecting Wednesday after these 2 present theirs. By the way, Ellingham, I was a teaching assistant back when your father roamed these halls. I remember him well." "A lot of people have said that, Dr. Ezekiel, I'll pass it on to him," stated Ellingham. "I doubt he'll remember," added the Professor. "He was pretty busy back then." He departed with an odd expression that none of them knew what to think about.
The diener was named Mr. Wadsworth and he was the individual in charge of the care of the bodies and all the embalming. In these labs, the dieners were king. Do anything...anything wrong to their cadavers and they would be all over you like a bad suit. Make a joke...neglect to wrap your cadaver in adequate formaldehyde soaked cloths or even do a careless dissection and they would have you skewered. And never, never, was a piece of human flesh to leave these rooms. The team noticed after a couple days that Mr. Wadsworth always wore the same bright yellow trousers which made them speculate whether that was a "diener uniform". It was a source of amusement for the next ten weeks.
Mr. Wadsworth made his speech and reiterated the gratitude and respect for these individuals who donated their bodies to science so the students could learn. There was a moment of silence in thanks. "Ladies and Gentlemen, you may open your tables," he announced...and all the teams did.