King's College
Chapter 7- What's In a Name?
The next day of anatomy began with a lecture, covering the dissection of the musculature of the back as well as the dissection of the lower back, which had already been started. This was followed by the presentation of the dissection that had been done. Rosemary Plimpf was incredibly impressed with the work that had been done by her partners at the table.
"And up here you find the thoracodorsal neurovascular bundle which is responsible for supplying the muscles below," Ellingham recited, finishing up the presentation. "Any questions?"
"No questions, Ellingham...you and Chris did a great job...hey Carson, glad to see you're back. Are you doing alright today?" Rosemary ventured.
McMurray had his gloves on and sat on a stool at the edge of the table, but he didn't really look totally comfortable. "It may take a wee bit o' time for me to get up to snuff, but for now, I'm tryin'."
Rosemary had brought with her a purchase she had made at the Tesco's up the street from her apartment. It was a folding stool. With it she could raise herself 10 inches higher in order to be able to see the dissections, but more important she was able to do the dissection too. Her stool lifted her into the rarified air of normal people, out of the cloud below the waist she usually inhabited.
With her new power in height, she turned to look Ellingham in the eye. "Ok, some of us have chosen to discard ridiculous formality at this table...for one, I am Rosemary...not Plimpf. This is not Parsons, but Chris. Are you ok with Carson?" She asked a timid McMurray.
"Aye, fine with me…," was all he had to say.
"Alright then...Ellingham, what can we call you?" she questioned...her focus straight into his face.
"You can call me Ellingham or Mr. Ellingham," he responded.
"No, Ellingham, you're not understanding the question...we won't call you Ellingham...what should we call you?" Rosemary's stare wouldn't back down.
Ellingham almost felt a little excitement in Rosemary's attention to him. Usually no one paid attention or even bothered if he existed. Now, this girl was giving him her undivided attention. "I suppose you can call me Martin," he answered. She jumped off her stool and gave him a hug.
"This is Martin, ladies and gentleman, this is MARTIN," she said. "we have a breakthrough!"
Martin wanted to disappear, he felt so self conscious, but he soon realized it was all in good fun and managed a couple of cockeyed half smiles as everyone offered their congratulations. From a couple of tables down a petite redhead approached him and kissed him square on the lips, holding the sides of his face firmly. It was different and a bit disconcerting but Martin didn't dare question it at a time when he felt OK. He watched as the girl walked away.
Rosemary and Carson proceeded with their dissection of the lower back. Chris and Martin were able to begin their work on the posterior upper leg and hamstrings, but both of them noticed that Carson was not an adept dissection partner while Rosemary struggled.
"Geez, Carson, didn't you even look at the syllabus before you came?" Rosemary finally had to ask in frustration after an hour of struggling.
"No time...I didn't have time," Carson replied.
Martin and Chris looked at each other. No matter how much spiritual distance there was between them, at that moment they knew exactly what each other was thinking. Without being obvious Chris moved up on the table.
"Hey, Rosemary, let me hold that skin while you reflect that fat layer," he said. "It will be fascinating to find out which of our muscles hurt after bending over this table all day," he said. Meanwhile Martin worked through the beginning of their next assignment while Carson fiddled around, without a clue.
The lab was going to close for the morning and the students replaced the parts of their dissection, resoaked and rewrapped the bodies. The tables were closed and it was time for a break. This time Martin didn't disappear as he had in times before. He washed himself and hung up his lab coat at an almost normal pace.
"Martin," Chris questioned. "Do you care to come to lunch with my mates and I on the Common? I don't know about you, but I could eat a horse."
"No thank you," he replied adopting his usual ramrod straight posture. "But you may want to know that there is hard evidence that formaldehyde fumes do cause a definite increase in appetite in medical students. Bit ironic that….."
As he walked away Chris had to laugh. What a strange bit of trivia to know...and he was still hungry as a hippo.
