Right to Die

team came down the aisle. He stopped at Gun’s row and leaned in, armpit in a skinhead’s eyes. A series of grunts was all you could hear, but when the cop walked back up the aisle, the skinheads were facing front and staying quiet.
    Wonsley laid his head lightly on Bacall’s shoulder. “Ah, for the paramilitary life.”
    The white woman on the stage settled the other three into their seats behind the table and moved to the podium.
    As the house lights dimmed, she stood in the baby spot and introduced herself as Olivia Jurick, the manager of Plato’s Bookshop. Jurick thanked a covey of public and private benefactors for helping to sponsor the event before thanking everybody for coming out on a cold winter night for such an important and stimulating topic of our time.
    Then, “Our first speaker will be the Reverend Vonetta Givens. Our second speaker will be Dr. Paul Eisenberg, and our third speaker will be Professor Maisy Andrus. After all have presented prepared remarks, there will be an opportunity for questions from the audience.”
    Jurick turned a page. “Reverend Vonetta Givens is the pastor of All Hallowed Ground Church of Roxbury. Born in Oklahoma , Reverend Givens is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta and attended several theological seminaries prior to her ordination in 1979. She ministered to congregations in Atlanta , Memphis , and Trenton before assuming her present position in 1984. A charter member of Boston Against Drugs, Reverend Givens leads the African-American community’s struggle against the scourge of crack cocaine. She also has been extremely active among the elderly and the infirm.”
    Olivia Jurick’s voice dropped, and I expected to hear Reverend Givens at that point. So, apparently, did Reverend Givens, because she had gathered her papers into a sheaf, almost rising before Jurick continued.
    “Our second speaker, Dr. Paul Eisenberg, is a graduate of Cornell University and the Harvard Medical School . Dr. Eisenberg is currently a member of the Department of Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and adjunct professor of ethics at the Tufts University School of Medicine. Between college and medical school, Dr. Eisenberg served for two years in the Peace Corps in Brazil , and enjoyed staff privileges at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and Philadelphia Presbyterian before assuming his present position in 1986.” Jurick held up a book. “Dr. Eisenberg is also the author of The Ethical Physician in the Modern World.”
    Eisenberg, poring over his notes, didn’t look up at the audience.
    “Our third speaker is Professor Maisy Andrus of the Law School of Massachusetts Bay. A widely known lecturer in the area of legal and societal mores, Professor Andrus is a graduate of Bryn Mawr and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. Prior to joining the faculty at Mass Bay , she taught at Boston College School of Law and George Mason University . Professor Andrus practiced health and hospital law in Washington , D.C. , also serving as a school committee member and a trustee of a battered women’s shelter.” Jurick held up another book. “Professor Andrus is the author of Our Right to Die.”
    Jurick lowered the book. “It is now my pleasure to turn the podium over to our first speaker, the Reverend Vonetta Givens. Reverend Givens?”
    Steady applause began as Jurick retreated to the shadow chair. Parishioners shouted brief encouragement as Givens moved to the mike. Perhaps five three under a beehive wig, even the robe couldn’t conceal the serious tonnage she carried.
    Wonsley whispered, “I’ve heard she’s very good.”
    The mike was on a gooseneck. Givens adjusted it, none too gently, down to mouth level. She spread her notes across the podium, clamped both hands on the sides of the surface, and opened fire.
    “You all have been told this is a debate tonight. I suggest to you it is no such thing. I suggest to you that it is a contest, a contest you shall witness between the forces of God and the forces that are not God’s.”
    A few voices said, “That’s right,” stressing the first word. “The forces that are not God’s are those who would say that life is not for God to take but rather for man. For man to take when man has grown too tired of caring for the sick, too tired of doing for the elderly, too tired of fulfilling the natural and divine duty each and every one of us has to assist his brother and sister in their times of greatest need and