Chapter 39: Overwhelmed

March 22, 1989, Chicago, Illinois

"Steve, you have to come see this!" Elyse called from the great room.

"What's up?" I asked walking in.

"They had a clip on CNN, but I switched over to ESPN. Some hockey player had his jugular vein and carotid artery sliced by a skate on the ice."

"That's pretty much fatal," Jessica said. "Maybe if you had a trauma surgeon right there..."

"He lived," Elyse said. "They don't have too many more details, but the team doctor and some other doctors stabilized him and got him to the hospital. ESPN showed the blood on the ice. I swear, it looked like four or five gallons!"

"It had to be no more than a litre or so. More than that and he'd never be able to skate off the ice like that. We get some bloody traumas and you'd swear there had been an explosion in a red paint factory. If we're giving them transfusions because of blood loss, it's even worse, because you're replacing what's leaking out all over the place."

"How do you even deal with that?" Elyse asked.

"It takes some getting used to. Quite a few medical students faint or lose their lunch the first time they see a real trauma. Those of us who don't, end up working in the ER or doing surgery! If you don't like gore, there are plenty of specialties where you never see any."

"I missed the name," I said. "Did they say who it was?"

"Clint somebody, a goalie for the Sabres."

I smiled, "The gear was a dead giveaway for his position, and that giant, blood-covered Buffalo on his jersey gave away the team. I don't know their roster though, so I'm not sure who it was."

"Smart ass as always," Elyse said. "There, they put up his name. Malarchuk."

"I think I'll leave all that blood and gore to my wife, the doctor."

"Wimp!" Jessica giggled.

"When Spring comes, we'll go out to Ottawa and jump out of airplanes. Then you can tell me who the wimp is!"

"You're thinking about doing that again?" Kara asked.

"Maybe. It's a matter of time. Just like everything else. Probably not this year, because I'm more or less booked solid until Sensei Jim returns from Japan."

March 25, 1989, Chicago, Illinois

"God, what a mess," I sighed, tossing the front section of the Chicago Tribune onto the kitchen table.

"How much oil was spilled?" Kara asked.

"Something on the order of half-a-million barrels," I said. "The Exxon Valdez could carry 750,000 barrels according to the article, and it seems like it was full."

"How many gallons is that?" Jessica asked.

"It's 42 gallons per barrel, according to the article, so figure twenty million, give or take," I said. "It's going to be insanely expensive to clean it up, and who knows how much environmental damage will be done."

"I'm just curious, because I'm sure you oppose regulation, how you deal with something like this?"

"Insurance and strict liability. If Exxon can't get insurance from Lloyd's of London, or someone like that, then they shoulder 100% of the risk. And nobody is going to invest in a company like that. Nobody will lend them the money to buy a ship that can't be insured."

"Interesting. So what about banks?"

"Same thing. Ditch FDIC insurance and let the banks buy depositor insurance on the open market. Or, let depositors buy it themselves. The insurance companies would rate the banks and set their rates appropriately. And investors would know how risky a bank was based on the insurance rates."

"I'm not sure how well that would work. What if an insurance company went bankrupt?"

"There's something called 'reinsurance' that helps spread the risk. And insurance companies want to stay in business, and they're good at evaluating financial risk. And there are independent companies that evaluate and rate insurance companies, and bonds, and stuff like that."

"And who evaluates them?" Jessica asked.

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" I chuckled.

"Exactly. Who watches the watchers?"

"I didn't say I had this all thought out! You asked about a possible solution and I just gave it to you off the cuff! You've heard Pete's comments, which usually come down to something along the lines of 'somebody has to protect you libertarian idiots from the bad guys', or something similar. I'm not an anarchist. I just want smaller, more local government so I can have a better chance of controlling it, or, if I don't like the local conditions, I can move."

"But you don't like self-regulating things like Medical Boards and the Bar Association, either."

"Only because they're effectively government sanctioned monopolies which have too much self-interest. My solution for AT&T was not creating a bunch of smaller government-sanctioned monopolies, but for separating the physical plant from the services. Let one company maintain the physical plant because it's the most efficient way to do it, and it's economically silly to duplicate it. Then have them sell access to that plant to any and all comers to provide services. Instead of having Ameritech be the only game in town, I might be able to buy services from three or four companies."

"Who makes sure it all works together?"

"They all do! Who would sign up for a service that wouldn't let them call subscribers on other systems? And the company controlling the physical plant would set standards. But my point is, the goal should be competition, not monopolies. We only have one option for phones and one option for Cable TV. That means they can more or less do whatever they want in terms of the services they offer and the prices they charge. Unless, of course, you put in insane amounts of regulation. And that leads to regulatory capture, where the regulators are under control of the monopoly, instead of the other way around!

"Think of it like the Defense Department. Do you think they control Lockheed and Boeing? Or is it the other way around? Or banks and regulators. Look at the S&L mess that's going on right now and the fact that the FSLIC became insolvent. That was a highly regulated industry where the banks basically co-opted the regulators. On the plus side, we're getting some business from that."

Jessica laughed, "Ever the capitalist! What kind of business?"

"A totally corrupt Savings and Loan in Michigan, Regency, run by the Quinlan family, was taken over by the FSLIC. When FSLIC failed and was subsumed into the FDIC, they inherited the problem. Regency used a PRIME 750 to do their processing using PRIME Information, which is a database and programming language. The programmer at Regency told the FDIC that she wanted $200 an hour to help out. Al Crowhurst from the FDIC called us and we quoted a rate less than half of that. One of us will spend a couple of days a week for the next couple of months in the FDIC office in Chicago converting that data to the FDIC's NCR system."

"Most of that sounded like gibberish!" Jessica laughed. "Now I know how you feel when I spout off medical terms. Kara, what do you make of this claim of what they're calling 'Cold Fusion'?"

"I don't know what to make of it just yet," Kara replied. "It seems like it's out of left field, but then again, so was the discovery of high-temperature superconductors. Nobody thought that was even possible. And I've heard of Martin Fleischmann. He's an important electrochemist. If I were an electrochemist, I'd have wanted to study under him. He's retired now, but he won awards for his research. That said, I don't think it makes sense. There have been experiments with palladium and deuterium going back to the 20s. And in the 50s, some researchers looked into 'muon-catalyzed fusion'. You might have heard of Andrei Sakharov, Steve."

"Sure. The Russian dissident."

"Yes. Anyway, they had real trouble making it yield sufficient energy to be useful. This is kind of like that, but with a different method, at least as far as we can tell. The details haven't been completely released, but we talked about it yesterday in all of my classes. It was the ONLY thing we talked about! You know how much research IIT does, and we all think it's unlikely to be true. But we could be surprised, like everyone was about high-temperature superconductivity."

"I'll take your word for it," I laughed. "The three of us really do have VERY different knowledge bases. Medicine, Chemistry, and Computer Science. We all took more or less the same core courses as undergrads, but the rest is really highly specialized. The same is true for Elyse with finance and Jackie with architecture."

"And Bethany, Kurt, and the rest of our friends," Kara said. "What's interesting is that we all have common interests that override our specialties. But, there's one thing for sure — we can almost always find someone who has the knowledge to explain things that are outside of our own training."

"What are your plans for today?" Jessica asked.

"Well, karate, and avoiding Angelique," I chuckled. "But otherwise, I have the afternoon free. It's Guys' Night tonight. What are you girls doing?"

"We haven't decided yet," Kara said. "We were talking about seeing Lean on Me, but we might go to a Jazz club instead. I prefer the Jazz club, but getting Penny in might be tough. She's still only nineteen. And Tasha is only twenty. So we have to take that into account. There's a club that serves food that we can go to, but it's really crowded and I don't think Josie made reservations."

"Penny can marry, have a baby, and join the military, but can't go to a jazz club that doesn't serve food. Just how stupid is that?" I groused.

"Worse, she can buy cigarettes and smoke them, and that's FAR worse than one or two drinks for her baby and her. As a physician, I'd rather Penny had two shots of vodka than a puff of a cigarette."

"Yes, Dear," I chuckled.

"You're following Doctor Barton's rules?" she asked.

"Yes. I promised Al to limit my pipe smoking and cigar smoking and I'm doing that. The problem is, it's like the toddler to whom you give a cookie. He'll come back for another one. I acquiesced to Al's demands and I'm sure he's going to try to tighten up the reins again. He's already giving me grief about soft drinks!"

"Sugar is bad for you, in any form. I'd rather you had a nice piece of marbled steak than a Coke, Tiger. And the switch from cane sugar to high-fructose corn syrup didn't do anyone any favors. Fructose is tough on your liver. It's OK to get it from eating fruit, but drinking it straight? Probably not a good idea."

"Physician, heal thyself!" I retorted. "You drink 7-Up!"

"Everyone has a vice! Yours are alcohol, tobacco, AND soft drinks!"

"Is this what I'm going to have to deal with for the next seventy or eighty years?" I chuckled.

"That depends on whether or not you listen! The more you listen, the longer you live! And the longer you live, the more you have to listen to me!"

"Ouch," I chuckled.

"It's not a big deal now, Tiger, but twenty years from now, you won't be able to burn off all those junk calories as easily as you do now. I personally don't want a husband with a beer belly!"

"Don't worry, Jess, Steve doesn't like beer very much!" Kara giggled.

"Are we doing anything for Easter tomorrow?" Jessica asked, mercifully changing the subject.

"I hadn't planned to," I said. "We basically honor the Orthodox calendar, and Pascha isn't until April 30th this year."

"Do you plan to go to church that week? I know you said so before what happened last Fall."

"I was thinking about it. I'm not sure how often Jennifer and Josie will let us take Jesse, but I'd at least like to go on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday."

"Thursday was when they read the 12 Gospels?"

"Yes."

"We should try. I'm off work by 5:00pm and services don't start until 7:00pm on Thursday, right?"

"Yes, but remember, they're at 5:00pm on Friday."

"I should be able to get the time off. You're done in time, right Kara?"

"Yes. It'll be right before finals, but I'll manage. The Paschal service isn't until 11:00pm, so I can still meet with my study team that afternoon and evening."

"The 'Chemistry Mafia' brooks interference from neither God nor man," I chuckled.

We cleaned up our breakfast dishes and made some tea, and hung out in the Indian room until it was time to go to karate.

March 28, 1989, Chicago, Illinois

"Happy birthday, Kara!" I said when the alarm went off at 4:45am.

"It's too early for that," she groaned, turning to snuggle with Jessica after I got out of bed.

I quickly dressed for my run with Jacquelyn, and when I came home, the girls were still in bed. They stirred when I closed the door and began undressing.

"Happy birthday, Kara!" I said again.

"How can you be so happy at 4:45am and at 6:15am?" she groaned.

"Tiger is a morning person," Jessica teased. "The most evil, mutant, deviant type of human being on the planet!"

"When did you two become lazy?" I teased.

"You try carrying a baby!" Jessica said.

"And I was studying all Sunday evening," Kara said. "You know, it only gets worse, Jess."

"Well, gee, THANKS for that 'good news', Kara. That's piling on!"

"I thought you LIKED it when Steve piles on us!"

"That's how I got like this in the first place!"

"Oh quit complaining!" Kara giggled. "You want to have the baby!"

"Yes, but if I could skip the next three months or so, I'd be VERY happy."

"Your boobs are bigger," Kara said, placing her hand on Jessica's chest.

"Hey, I like the way this is going! Mind if I join you?" I asked.

"Ewww! Go take a shower, Tiger!"

"For a doctor who works around blood and gore all the time, you sure do have 'princess' sensibilities at times!" I chuckled.

I went into the bathroom and showered, and by the time I came out the girls were out of bed, so I was disappointed. I started dressing while they went to the shower.

"I see how it is," I complained. "Fine. I'll just get my hugs from someone who cares!"

I went over to the crib and picked up Birgit who was already stirring.

"Hi, Pumpkin," I said. "You love me, right?"

"Dada!" she gurgled and planted a wet kiss on my cheek.

"Yes, Birgit loves Dada," I said. "Mama is being mean!"

"Want Mama!" Birgit said insistently.

"Another traitor," I sighed, walking into the bathroom with my daughter.

Jessica and Kara finished their shower and after they dried, Kara took Birgit from me and let her nurse. Birgit was mostly eating baby food these days, but she liked to nurse first thing in the morning. Even after three kids, I still marveled at the sight of my baby sucking on her mother's breast. Of course, Birgit wasn't going to be the baby of the family much longer, because both Elyse and Jessica were going to have babies over the Summer.

Kara handed Birgit to me to burp so she could dress. Once she'd dressed, she took her back and we went down to the kitchen. I started making breakfast while Kara nursed Birgit on the other side, and Jessica scanned the newspaper.

"Did you know they were having elections in Russia?" Jessica asked.

"Yes. I talked to Colonel Anisimova last week. I have to say I was surprised that they allowed actual contested elections for their parliament. That said, the parliament has always been a rubber stamp for the Supreme Soviet, so I'm not sure how much this matters. I think the agricultural reforms they announced about a week ago are far more important. The idea that you can lease land for life is a huge change. Things are really moving much more quickly than I expected."