Dr Jew

doctor slash scientist… yes, yes…"
    "Dr. Jew… I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I can't make commitments at this point in time."
    "Ah, silly man, of course you can. Just nod and wink and my people will get in touch with your people and we can let magic happen."
    "That 's not how it works. I don't collaborate anymore. And moreover I am here for your professional services, not your poems. Send your medical fantasies to Reader's Digest ."
    Dr. Jew looked away from Phili p K. Glassdick and stared into the Hieronymous Bosch poster on his wall, glazing into infinity, silent and goggled, and in that thin seam of a mouth and crinkled skin mask, Glassdick saw that he had hurt the doctor. Music for Headaches played on and that music, more than anything, reminded Glassdick that he still had things to learn, things to remember.
    " Hey, Dr. Jew," said Glassdick, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to come out that way. Really. It's just… I get irritable sometimes, and it's happening more and more –"
    "Mr. Glassdick, there is no need to apologize," said Dr. Jew, suddenly more professional and doctor-like than Glassdick could have imagined a minute earlier. "You are right in chastising me. I will do my best to be more professional."
    As if talking to a four- year-old, Glassdick said, "Hey, if you help me with my AIDS symptoms I'll be glad to look at your poems. I'm sure they're great. Maybe we can work together after all."
    "Hmm," said Dr. Jew. "Well, enough of that for now. As you say, let's get down to business. AIDS, eh? Nasty stuff. Tell me about your condition."
    Glassdick was relieved they were finally g etting to the consultation. "Well, Doctor, first of all, I feel sticky…"

XXI.

    Dr. Jew fed his creatures. The television was on in the background. He rarely watched it, but he assumed his pets enjoyed it. People on the screen spoke.
    "Rod, there 's something you need to know about me."
    "Yes?"
    "My nickname in elementary school was basal ganglia."
    "Why are you telling me this now?"
    " Because I don't want any more secrets between us."
    The man and woman kissed.
    Across the room, two naked young people were inside a metal cage. They watched with a kind of agony. The woman was beautiful. The man was angry. They both looked about twenty years old.
    "DR. JEW!" said the man. "Kill us! For God's sake, we beg you."
    "Oh, Adam, not this routine again," said Dr. Jew.
    "You're not human," said the man. "Let us go! How many years will you keep us here? For God's sake."
    "What do you know of God, Adam? It is a word you heard on television. You wouldn't last a day out there. I keep you here for your own protection."
    "Who are you to decide?" said Adam. "Dr. Jew, we know we're different. We're not like the people on TV. But you won't explain anything to us. We are simply… here. What happened to our childhood? What were we doing before this cage? You haven't done a damned thing to help us. You're not human! We don't belong in a cage. We want to go out in the world and eat food and wear clothes and see places and have jobs… like the people on TV!"
    "Yeah," said the woman. "You're a jerk."
    Dr. Jew noticed that the man and woman on TV were dancing on the roof of a bus that flew through the sky.
    "Dr. Jew," said the woman, "This is your last warning."
    Dr. Jew flung himself against the cage and grabbed the bars. "Warning?" he yelled. "Warning? You are warning ME? Me?"
    "Eve," said Adam, "don't you see we can't even talk to him?"
    "I guess you 're right," she said. "He's… mad."
    Mad scientist. They are taunting you with their television tongues. A reminder. Pride. Your Achilles' heel. Yours.
    " If you were a candy bar, what kind would you be, darling?" said the TV.
    " I see she is your puppet, Adam," said Dr. Jew. "Or she is yours. It does not matter. I can't make you understand that I have your best interests at heart. You would be like children out there."
    "Children have to leave home eventually," said Adam. "How many years have we been here? How many years of our life have you stolen?"
    "It is inconsequential," said Dr. Jew.
    "How can you say that?" said Eve. "We're not like your komodo dragons and tiger sheep and other monsters. I think you actually care about them. You don't even feed us!"
    "Yet you live," said Dr. Jew. "Food would only create avoidable waste."
    "This is not life," said Adam. "Let us out, you sick bastard. For God's sake. Let us out."
    Dr. Jew looked at them, beautiful and sad behind the bars. He loved