- Last week, Burl Jr. the New Groundskeeper surprised us
with some news, and it wasn't good.
-
- "My mom's having open-heart surgery tomorrow,"
he said as he, Gwen the Beautiful and I took turns trying to start the
riding mower that had been sitting idle for six months.
-
- "What?" I said. "Tomorrow?"
-
- "I didn't know Laurie was having problems,"
Gwen said.
-
- "We didn't, either," Burl Jr. said. "But
Mom started running out of breath and getting dizzy, so my father made
her see Dr. Max. Dr Max sent them to a cardiologist he knew in Fayetteville
for an angiogram yesterday. The cardiologist there said Mom had to have
a bypass ASAP."
-
- "Who's the cardiologist?" I said. "Who's
the surgeon?"
-
- "Whoever Dr. Max sent her to, I guess."
-
- "How do we know they're the best? Maybe your dad
should take your mother somewhere else -"
-
- "Larry -" Gwen said warningly.
-
- "I just think Laurie should get the best treatment
possible. Don't you? We've got to make sure she does."
-
- "And how're 'we' going to do that?" Gwen said.
"We're not part of the medical community. But Dr. Max is."
-
- "Right. But we need a second opinion. We need an
'in.' If there's one thing life has taught me it's that you've got to be
an insider if you want to get the best of - well - everything."
-
- "Is that what life's taught you?" said Gwen.
"Or showbiz?"
-
- "Now that you mention it," Burl Jr. said to
Gwen, "seems to me that Larry B's always said that life and showbiz
aren't at all the same thing."
-
- "This isn't about me and how I view the world,"
I said. "It's about your mother."
-
- And I hurried into the house. Got on the phone. Called
- who else - the insider's insider The Old Billionaire.
-
- "As a matter of fact, I do know the best cardiologist
in the South," the Old Billionaire told me. "And the best cardiovascular
surgical team. The folks who did my quadruple bypass 10 years ago."
-
- "They're good? Really good?" I said.
-
- "I'm still breathing, aren't I?" said the Old
Billionaire. "When I should be six feet in the ground. And just to
make sure other people keep breathing, too, I built these boys their own
hospital wing. That's how good they are."
-
- I wrote down the name. Went back outside just as Burl
Jr. got the mower fired up. "Call your father!" I shouted. "I've
got the name of the best man for the job!"
-
- Burl Jr. took the StickIt note I handed him. "Soon
as I finish mowing," he said.
-
- "Forget the mowing -" I said.
-
- But he trundled off, and Gwen took my arm. "Let
it be," she said.
-
- "But -"
-
- "Let it be. Different people handle their worry
in different ways. You've got to call billionaires. Burl Jr.'s got to work."
-
- I knew she was right, so I let it be. And forced myself
to sit back and do one of the things I do worst in the world - wait. And
one of the things I do best - worry.
-
- I made it through the rest of the day, and the following
morning as well. But I couldn't fully relax until Burl Jr. came over to
the main house a little after noon to tell us, "Mom's doing great.
They did a triple bypass, and everything was routine. The doctor guaranteed
that she'll feel the best she has in years. He even told dad to start buffing
up because he's going to need to be in great condition to keep up with
her now."
-
- Gwen and I sighed with relief. But some business still
was unfinished.
-
- "So who did the surgery?" I said. "Dr.
Max's doctor? Or the Old Billionaire's?"
-
- Burl Jr. grinned. "Both," he said.
-
- "Both?"
-
- "Dr. Max's doctor is the Old Billionaire's doctor.
They went to medical school together back in the day."
-
- Burl Jr. went outside to do some weed whacking. Gwen
put her hand on my shoulder. Gave me a wry smile that meant, "So we
needed an 'in,' huh? To make sure Laurie got the best care?"
-
- And there it was. Another Lesson from Paradise:
-
- One of the best things about living where everyone knows
everyone else is that not only do they know who the good people are, they
even know the good doctors as well.
-
-
- Copyright C 2007 by Larry Brody. All rights reserved.
-
- Author Larry Brody's weekly column, LIVE! FROM PARADISE!
appears on his website, www.larrybrody.com. He has written thousands of
hours of network television, and is the author of "Television Writing
from the Inside Out" and "Turning Points in Television."
Brody is Creative Director of The Cloud Creek Institute for the Arts, the
world's first in-residence media colony. More about his activities can
be seen on www.tvwriter.com and www.cloudcreek.org. He welcomes your comments
and feedback at <mailto:LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org>LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org.
Brody, his wife and their dogs, cats, horses and chickens live in Marion
County, Arkansas. The other residents of the mythical town of Paradise
reside in his imagination.
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