King's College
Chapter 11- What Makes the World Go Round.
Chris and Rosemary stood outside of Ellingham's building. "I don't know if you listened clearly to that, Chris, but what Martin just said spoke volumes," she said as they walked back to the Common.
"I heard it...loud and clear...I heard it and I realize that my lab partner, for all his bluster and knowledge, is a bit of a damaged individual," answered Chris. "I may be poor, but I have a family down in Sussex that cares for me and wants me to do as well as I can. I have no hesitation that they care."
"Same here," said Rosemary. "I wonder if it has occurred to him that somehow everything he does is getting back to his Father? Why the hell would that Biochem professor call him so soon after the class? That bloke no doubt had it up to his ears with Ellingham's hyper vigilance. I wouldn't have bet on an apology so soon. I'm just not sure that it's not connected."
They reached the Commons square. "I have microbiology to study," said Rosemary, looking at Chris. "I'm also hoping my roommate rehearse the practicals that we do in "Clinical Medicine". She did them last year after all."
The young couple shared a soulful and loving kiss, then they went their separate ways. Thus was the style of medical school romance.
Chris wandered back to his flat and devoted the day to Microbiology and Biochemistry. No matter what he did, he couldn't commit the Kreb's cycle to memory and he was half convinced that would be the end of the line for him. His Mum called around lunchtime and he had a totally frank discussion with her, as he always had done. There were a few details that he left out, but overall she had an inkling of what was going on.
"Oh, Chris, you have to invite your mate for the holidays if he is not doing anything else. I feel I could help him a lot." Chris's Mum was never far off and felt that this invite was imperative
.Chris watched a bit of the footie with a flat mate of his. Studying couldn't take up all of his time. As the afternoon went on black clouds and fog settled over the campus making it seem more like 8 pm rather than 2:30pm. He really didn't want to go to anatomy lab, but really wanted to go to sleep for who knows how long.
He arrived at the deserted anatomy lab at 3 o'clock. Ellingham was already here as the bright lights shone over their cadaver, leaving the rest of the lab in darkness. The body was presented and the shrouds had been removed.
"Ellingham? Where are you, Martin? I know you're in here." Chris felt ridiculous talking to no one, but he knew Ellingham was about.
"Shall we continue our dissection, Christopher Parsons?" Ellingham's voice echoed throughout the room.
"You are a wanker Martin Ellingham, let's just get going on this work." Chris wasn't one to mince words. Ellingham took his place at the corner of the table. They spent the next hour and a half cleaning up their ankle dissection. It was a hotbed of arteries, veins and nerves, some of which were not where they should have belonged. Dissecting a crossection of cadavers it was clear that there was no example of "the ideal human". Almost every body had nerves that were in irregular places or blood vessels that did not follow a "normal" path. It drove Ellingham to distraction but Chris took particular pleasure in assuming that a particular blood vessel was a dorsalis pedis artery even if it was no where near where it was supposed to be. There was no better explanation so he had to go with it.
They were reaching the frustrating end of their dissection and returning the muscle layers where they belonged.
"Ellingham, um, Martin….I have to confess that I am seriously having trouble with the Kreb's cycle and glycolysis. Now we are going to start protein digestion and I'm really lost." Chris hesitated to confess this weakness.
"The Kreb's cycle is the absolute basis of the transfer of energy in all living things...plant or animal..it all is based on the creation of ATP." Martin answered.
"OK, so is there any way you could help me...and indeed Rosemary...with some of these concepts? We are both struggling and I hope you realize that neither of us is really stupid. Now, Carson might be stupid but others of us want to understand and make the grade." Chris tried to make his complaint not really cruel...but Carson McMurray was really stupid.
"What do you think about meeting at about 6 pm at my building?" That's enough time to get "Clinical Medicine" out of our system. We can go over what was covered in class. I guess that's better than nothing." Martin looked over at Chris who was a bit taken aback by the offer.
"The caveat is that you might have to help me with "Clinical Medicine". I'm not very good with all this interpersonal claptrap, but I have to pass the course. Maybe you could give me a little coaching? You seem quite good with all the bullshitting and stuff." Martin stared at Chris straight on. The gauntlet had been thrown. Negotiations were ready to begin.
Chris never thought he was particularly adept at the social end of things, but he supposed in contrast to Ellingham he must have seemed like Beau Brummel. He was ready to go.