Medicine 25 Years From Now
Next evening, I went to Doc’s laboratory.
“Will she become a doctor?” I asked.
“Certainly she will.”
“Well, she was studying hard yesterday.”
“Oh, I see. I guess in the future twenty five years from now or so, she will be a full-fledged physician.”
“So we are going twenty five years into the future!”
“Well yes. By the way, I went to a notary’s office today.”
“Why?”
“I went there to leave my will. Well, I left a will never to sell this house and land.”
“Why?”
“Imagine, this house and land were sold and an apartment house was built.”
“Wow!”
“Then, the house was dismantled and the wreckers might say ‘what on earth is this?’ looking at the Time Age Machine and they will destroy it.”
“So what happens if we go to twenty five years into the future?”
“I can’t imagine.”
“So, you’ve left your will.”
Then we decided to go to a day in the afternoon twenty five years in the future by the Machine. Doc said that doctors are relatively free in the afternoon compared to in the morning in hospitals. And we got in the Machine with the all documents including the excision specimen of cancer in the icebox. And Doc pushed the switches of the Machine. So the ‘Time Machine’ began to zoom and it moved faster and faster. It became darker or brighter outside the machine very quickly. And not only so, it became hot or cold in turn very quickly perhaps because of progressing seasons.
And it took a while to go to twenty five years in the future. Then we got out the machine to find we were in the middle of a building! No, No. It was still Doc’s laboratory since he went to the notary’s office. But the room was dusty and musty and nobody seemed to be there.
“Perhaps nobody lives here. I’m ninety years old if I’m alive. So I guess I’m dead at this time.”
“No. No. Perhaps you are living in a home for elderly people.”
“Well, I might be.”
Then we went out of the house to the garden. It was covered with weeds and seemed to be utterly neglected. On the other hand, there were a lot of futuristic buildings all around.
“The scenery has completely changed.”
“Yes.”
“Well, go and see Arisa. If it has gone well, she will have graduated from a medical school and is a full-fledged physician.”
“How old is she here?”
“It’s a calculation of simple arithmetic. How many years is she younger than you?”
“Four.”
“OK. Seventeen minus four plus twenty five makes thirty eight. Probably she is working in the medical school hospital as a physician.”
“I hope so. And what do you think am I doing here, Doc?”
“You will be an engineer of the latest technology!”
“Really?”
“Aim high!”
Then we decided to go to the medical school hospital. At first, we looked for Doc’s car just to make sure, pushing weeds aside and we found Docs car rotted away.
“It hasn’t been used for many years. Well, let’s take a taxi.”
So we walked for a while and reached a wide street. Then we took a cool futuristic taxi and loaded the documents and the icebox in the trunk, and went to the hospital. When we got out of the taxi in front of the hospital, Doc was very surprised and couldn’t speak for a while, since the taxi fare was very high, probably because of the lift in prices. And the driver was also very surprised looking at the antique bills.
“All the money has gone.” Then Doc said. “We must go back to my house by 'Foxi'.”
“What a hell is 'Foxi'?”
“To go on Foot instead of Taxi. I made the word some decades ago but it is already a dead term.”
Then we entered the hospital and went to the information counter and told the person that we wanted to see Dr. Arisa Suzuki. So she asked us who we were. Then I answered I’m Ichiro Suzuki and am her elder brother. So she gave me a questioning look, but soon called somewhere and said,
“Dr. Arisa Suzuki is giving medical care and she is busy for an hour. Well if possible, please wait in the waiting room.”
So we sat on the very futuristic chair and watched three dimensional TV.
“I felt relieved to hear that Arisa had become a full-fledged physician.”
“I don’t know whether she is an excellent doctor or a quack.”
“Such an excellent hospital, she must be excellent!”
“I hope so.”
“It’s quite obvious.”
“Oh, what a surprising 3D TV it is! See, a sea snake coming in front of you, Doc.!”
“Wow, I hate sea snakes!”
After a while, Arisa appeared wearing a white robe and gave us a questioning look, but soon recognized who we were.
“Hi, Ichiro and Dr. Tabby. But why are you so young… Oh, I see. You’ve come here by the Time Age Machine! Well I’m grateful for your advice in studying, Doc. So I could be a physician.”
“You know about the Time Age Machine, Arisa?”
“You’ve told me again and again, Ichiro.”
“Oh, I see. But I don’t remember.”
“Perhaps you are going to talk to her in the future, Ichiro. Then Arisa, well, we have something so serious to talk to you.”
Saying so, Doc pointed the documents and the icebox.
“So let’s talk about the matter in the medical office.”
So she said and we went to the office. We walked down the corridor and took the elevator to the fifth floor and walked down the corridor again and finally reached the office and we entered. In the office were a lot of desks and in the back was her one. And she arranged two chairs so we sat then she said,
“So what’s going on?”
Then Doc opened the bag of documents including the patient’s record, CT, MRI, and opened the icebox to show the specimen and pathological report. He spoke in such a technical manner and I couldn’t understand very well. And I felt that Doc really was a doctor. While Doc and Arisa discussed about the illness, some young doctors or medical students who were listening to their discussion gathered around them. Then Arisa suggested to go to a conference room so we did. And a ‘clinical conference’ had begun. There Doc made a presentation showing the documents including images and specimens. Then a doctor said, “They are such old-fashioned images.” But Doc ignored the words and kept on speaking.
Of course the topic of the medical conference was how we could save a pancreatic cancer patient in terminal stage. And the doctors racked their brains and the conference lasted for a long time. But unfortunately, they concluded that still it was impossible to save her life with the medicine of the times. But a young guy, who seemed to be a medical student, had a strong interest in the case and said to give him the documents. But Doc denied since it was so important. Then the student suddenly shouted grabbing Doc by the collar,
“Hey! You must give me all the documents or I’ll beat the crap out of you, you son of a bitch!”
And heated questioning and answering continued for a while and Arisa finally said, she would keep the documents and show the student in case he needed. So Doc handed all of the documents to her. And we went back to the waiting room of the hospital, discouraged a little, and Arisa came to see us off. And she said,
“We’re so sorry we can’t save the patient. But the medical student, his name is Koichi Tanaka, is a very smart boy and he works very hard. So I have a feeling that he might accomplish something.”
“Oh, really?”
“Well, what do you think if we meet here in another twenty five years on the same time same day. I believe Koichi would have developed the therapy. Of course I will help him.”
“Well, OK. It’s a good idea.”
We promised to meet again and parted. Then we went to Doc’s timeworn house by ‘Foxi’. And Doc looked around the house where no one seemed to live. It was no more than a ruined house.
“I’m not living here! I must be dead since I’m ninety years old if I’m alive!”
“Don’t freak out. Perhaps you are living in a home for elderly people nearby. Shall I look for it?”
“No! If not, I don't know I could accept the reality. Anyhow let’s go another twenty five years in the future to see Arisa.”
“But I’m hungry. We came back by ‘Foxi’ and there is nothing to eat here.”
“I can smell be the body of a dead mouse or something. So I think we should go to the future soon. Well, I have a feeling that I have to accept the reality since I’ll be…”
“What kind of reality are you going to accept?”
“Don’t worry about that. Well, you are hungry, aren’t you?”
“You are still worried about whether you are alive or not here!”
“Well, another twenty five years later, I will be one hundred and fifteen years old.”
“I guess you’ll live long!”
“I hope so.”
“By the way, we are going another twenty five years in the future then going to the medical office again and Arisa might treat us some fancy food or something such as ‘Chuka-don’, but we have to go there by ‘Foxi’. Then we will be hungrier.”
“I think so too.”
So we decided to go back once to the times we are living. Then, it was evening and I went home, took bath, had supper and studied for a while. Next day I met devil at school. I asked him how his mother was. But she was getting worse and worse day by day. I hoped we could bring the specific medicine as soon as possible.
