The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

delusions would be ruling the world." Val was getting into the theory of it now.
    How strange to talk to a man who talked about ideas, not property and personal agendas. Val liked it.A lot.
    Gabe said, "Well, we didn't miss that by far with Hitler, did we? Evolution takes some missteps sometimes. Big teeth worked pretty well for a while,then they got too big. Mastodons' tusks got so large they would snap the animal's neck. And you've probably noticed that there are no saber-toothed cats around anymore."
    "Okay, I'll buy that imagination is an evolutionary leap.But what about depression?" Talking about mental conditions, she couldn't help thinking about what she'd done to her patients. Her crimes circled in her mind, trying to get out. "Psychiatry is looking more and more at mental conditions from a physical point of view, so that fits. That's why we're treating depression with drugs like Prozac. But what evolutionary purpose is there for depression?"
    "I've been thinking about that since you mentioned it at dinner," Gabe said. He drained his wineglass and moved closer to her on the couch, as if by being closer, she would share in his excitement. He was in his element now. "A lot of animals besides humans get depressed. Higher mammals like dolphins and whales can die from it, but even rats seem to get the Blues. I can't figure out what purpose it serves. But in humans it might be like nearsightedness: civilization has protected a biological weakness that would have been weeded out by natural dangers or predators."
    "Predators?How?"
    "I don't know. Depression might slow the preydown, make it react less quickly to danger. Who knows?"
    "So a predator might actually evolve that preyed on depressed animals?" Right and it's me, Val thought. If I haven't been preying on depressed people, what have I been doing? She suddenly felt ashamed of her home, of the pure materialism of it. Here was an incredibly bright man who was concerned with the pure pursuit of knowledge, and she had sold her integrity for some antiques and a Mercedes.
    Gabe poured himself another glass of wine and sat back now, thinking as he spoke."Interesting idea. I suppose there could be some sort of chemical or behavioral stimulus that would trigger preying on the depressed. Low serotonin levels tend to raise libido, right?At least temporarily?"
    "Yes," Val said. That's why the entire town has turned into horndogs, she thought.
    "Therefore," Gabe continued, "you'd have more animals mating and passing on the depression gene.
    Nature tends to evolve mechanisms to remain in balance. A predator or a disease would naturally evolve to keep the depressed population down.Interesting. I've been feeling especially horny lately, I wonder if I'm depressed." Gabe's eyes snapped open wide and he looked at Val with the full-blown terror of what
    he had just said. He gulped his wine, then said, "I'm sorry, I…"
    Val couldn't stand it anymore. Gabe's faux pas opened the gate, and she stepped through it. "Gabe, we have to talk."
    "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to…"
    She grabbed his arm to stop him. "No, I have to tell you something."
    Gabe braced himself for the worst. He'd fallen out of the lofty world of theory into the awkward, gritty world of first dates, and she was going to drop the "Don't get the wrong idea" bomb on him.
    She gripped his arm and her nails dug into his bicep hard enough to make him wince.
    She said, "A little over a month ago, I took almost a third of the people in Pine Cove off antidepressants."
    "Huh?" That wasn't at all what he'd expected."My God, why?"
    "Because of Bess Leander's suicide.Or what I thought was her suicide. I was just going through the motions in my practice. Writing prescriptions and collecting fees." She explained about her arrangement with Winston Krauss and how the pharmacist had refused to put everyone back on the drugs. When she finished,to wait for his judgment, there were tears welling up in her eyes.
    He put his arms around her tentatively, hoping it was the right thing to do. "Why tell me this?"
    She melted against his chest. "Because I trust you and because I have to tell someone and because I need to figure out what to do. I don't want to go to jail, Gabe. Maybe all my patients didn't need to be on antidepressants, but a lot of them did." She sobbed on his shoulder and he began to stroke her hair, then pushed up her chin and kissed her tears.
    "It'll be okay. It will."
    She looked up into his eyes, as if looking for a