Jan 9
Do not pursue what is illusory - property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and can be confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life - don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918 - )
Life, Ducky mused, was a tricky beast.
Autopsy was semi-quiet at this time of the morning. The perpetual hum of the freezers and the buzzing of the lights had long ceased to distract him. The cold in the air soothed rather than hardened him after so many years. He was alone apart from his guests, something comforting. No one to worry about pleasing with mundane matters, only a desire to find the truth in order to achieve justice for the poor souls who graced his tables and had to put up with him learning their most intimate secrets.
He gave General Anderson a gentle smile as he reached for his scalpel. Such a sorry story. The man had longed for money and a position, apparently railroaded as many people as possible in the pursuit of his dreams, only to drop dead of a massive coronary after the IRS has conducted an audit and found a few irregularities.
Ducky was content with his lot. He did not have to work – he could have drawn a pension long ago and settled down somewhere to live out the rest of his days in peace – but he chose to fight for justice for the deceased individuals he met and to teach the next generation. He had loved and lost many times, and had few regrets, choosing to triumph over life than let it get the better of him. He chose to stay with his friends and support them however he could.
As he began to poke inside the General, he wondered which story to regale him with. The one involving the Egyptian prince seemed most apt.