Chapters Twenty through Twenty-Six Summary and Analysis

Abraham has a patient named Cameron Tolliver, an AIDS patient who is in serious pain. Abraham talks of his worry over calling in surgeons, admitting that they are at greater risk in the operating room than he with routine examinations. He says that he tries to call on each of the available surgeons equally. One young surgeon balks until his "crusty" counterpart orders the young surgeon to do his duty with the threat that he - the older man - would do it for him. The young surgeon gives in. In Cameron's case, a woman named Sue McCoy is to be the surgeon and she agrees to have Abraham in the operating room, later confiding that she is always fearful when doing surgery on AIDS patients.

In chapter twenty-one, Abraham describes Norman Sanger, a young...