Authors: Gen LaGreca
Like a death-row prisoner never knowing which meal might be his last, David ravenously performed his nerve-repair surgeries. He feasted on this new banquet of his life. As the first spring crocuses broke through the soil, he completed the second operation on his first wave of patients. Hopelessly injured people were amazingly restored to normal lives. One was a young quadriplegic who had been living on a respirator after a football injury. After David’s treatment, he breathed and walked normally. He took his first tearful steps toward David, whom he almost crushed in an embrace. Other victims of paralysis stood up, folded their wheelchairs, and walked away. A teenage victim of a stab wound that severed his optic nerve regained sight through David’s new treatment.
Neurosurgeons began going to the institute to learn the new technique. With Phil Morgan’s backing, Randy’s business management, and David’s clinical skills, the institution that did not exist was rapidly becoming famous.
Contrary to CareFree’s policies, the patients at the institute paid for their treatment. For those on a budget, Randy offered financing plans to make medical care as affordable as automobiles, furniture, and other widely purchased goods. He had viable ideas for low-cost insurance, which he said was not the kind mandated by a myriad of regulations, making the premiums soar, but the kind offering a myriad of innovations, real choices, and solid financial protection against a serious health problem. Contrary to the CareFree way, the rich received special treatment at the new institute, with luxurious private rooms, gourmet food, and other amenities—and they paid extra for it. Their money increased the profitability of the institute, which benefited all patients, as well as employees and owners. The institute also practiced private charity. The greater its success, the more it could afford to be generous. The only people it would not consider as candidates for charity were those who claimed they had a right to it. Treatment at a reduced fee was available from surgeons learning the new procedures, with their work performed under supervised conditions that were safe for the patients. These policies were molding a top-notch clinical institution that was also a profitable company.
Each time David successfully completed a case, Nicole sent flowers to him at work. As his accomplishments multiplied, his office became a solid blanket of blooms. “This place smells like a brothel,” Phil Morgan commented on one visit.
After their dinner in the park that spring evening, with the scent of lilacs heavy in the garden outside Nicole’s brownstone, the couple climbed the stairs to her apartment. When the door closed behind them, David faced her in the foyer, her short hair glowing like newly minted gold, his eyes burning like liquid metal. Through every bite of their food, every dance, every sound of her laughter that evening, he ached to crush her body against his. He grabbed her by the waist, confessing a desire that had become the urgent need of his life. His mouth covered hers. She felt her head falling back, her mouth opening to his, as she traced the firm lines of his body, from his hips to his chest to his neck. She flung her arms around him with an urgency that answered his. She felt the exciting thrill of his hands dancing over her back, her hips, her stomach, her breasts. She felt his mouth hot against her face, her hair, her neck.
He no longer had to vanish as he had done on their first date. He lifted her in his arms and carried her into the apartment. The lights burning on the theater marquees and in skyscrapers beyond their window were the majestic fire of their gods and a backdrop to their own glorious celebration of a new spring.
THE END
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About the Author
Genevieve (Gen) LaGreca is a Chicago writer whose first novel is
Noble Vision.
The novel won a
ForeWord
magazine Book-of-the-Year Award and was a finalist in the
Writer’s Digest
International Book Awards---two of the most prestigious national literary honors in independent publishing.
Gen is a former pharmaceutical chemist and healthcare writer. Aside from fiction, she also writes social commentary. Her articles have appeared in the
Orange County Register
,
Daily Caller
,
Real Clear Markets
,
Gainesville Sun
,
and other publications. She has been a lively guest, discussing her writings on talk-radio programs.
Asked what moved her to write
Noble Vision
, Gen replies, “After years of working in the healthcare industry, I feel as if I’m witnessing the slow death of something great, something that shouldn’t be allowed to die---America’s gold standard of medicine.” Why did she choose to write fiction? “Ever since I read
Gone With the Wind
at age 13, I’ve been enthralled by sweeping novels that capture a historic moment in an unforgettable way. I wanted to tell the story of what’s happening in medicine today---how it, too, could be gone with the wind---through the spellbinding magic of fiction.”
Gen is currently working on two more novels, and she has completed the screenplay adaptation of
Noble Vision
.
For more information, see:
www.wingedvictorypress.com
.
You can contact Gen at
[email protected]
.
For the print version of
Noble Vision
in quality paperback and hardcover, order on AMAZON, or from the publisher:
Winged Victory Press
P.O. Box 16730
Chicago, IL 60616-0730