Medic 1: So, I like your columns.—and so on and so forth. My kid brother had about the same off-puttingly nonchalant response from Navy medics at Fallon NAS when he showed up for treatment after a rattlesnake bite received at the conclusion of a tennis match.
JC: Uh, thank you.
Medic 1: Yeah, I particularly liked the one—ah, what have we here?
JC: Excuse me?
Medic 1: Very interesting.
JC: Excuse me?
Medic 1: Very interesting. Hey, Fred! Come over here and take a look at this!
JC: Um...is something wrong?
Medic 1: Fred, this is Jon Carroll, you know? The Chronicle columnist?
Medic 2: Pleased to meet you. Hey, I love your stuff!
Medic 1: So...whaddya think? Brown recluse?
Medic 2: I liked the one about—oh, yeah. Unmistakable. I liked the one about—
JC: Pardon me, would that be the "deadly brown recluse?"
Medic 1: Think you and Cathy can make it over Saturday night?
JC: Excuse me, but about the brown recluse?
Medic 2: Oh, not a problem. Listen, that time you called Reagan a "moral midget"...
cordially,