Stridden's End

[Teresa]

His compact car was packed full of what looked like every piece of clothing he owned; I'd see him some mornings as he emerged, coffee and newspaper clumsily balanced during the struggle to pull on his lab coat which was stained with coffee and mysterious tire marks. At the clinic he kept to himself and often did little real work as was evidenced by unread x-rays hung on viewboxes at 8 am and still remaining -- unread -- at 5 pm. All most of the department knew of Stridden was that he was a Mensa Society member and that he was married to a woman who often spoke on his behalf (he was never available to answer the phone at home) and picked up his paychecks every two weeks. At lunchtime he'd often exit through the back door, walk across the parking lot to a heavily wooded area and vanish for an hour or so then return and pretend to work. This went on for some time before the chief radiologist called me into Dr. Sridden's office to formally witness his dismissal. "Just sign the document," she told him in a room illuminated by harsh white fluorescence, and all the poor guy could say was, "Please, no."

[Gita]

Three words: untreated mental illness. I feel enormous sympathy for the guy.
How overwhelming the struggle must have been to keep up the appearance of normalcy so that the wife could cash a paycheck. If he is real and out there somewhere, I sure hope he got help.

[Robert Crisman]

The guy had all the behavioral earmarks of a dopefiend, likely painkillers. You don't always know they're high, but they sure as hell are.

[Teresa]

@Jenny ~ Unfortunately no one knows what happened to him once he left the medical group. @ Bill ~ You may be right. I wondered about drugs, but he never seemed high or low, just disconnected from the rest of us and as time went on, from his work. He was very incompetent I have to say, and I don't know if this worsened as time went on; I only worked with him on a daily basis during his last year. @Stephen ~ I almost went nuts trying to solve the lunchtime mystery. Bonnie ~ I tried to connect -- impossible. @Jamie ~ It killed me to be in the room and watch him suffer but I was supervisor and the only available choice. I felt like a bully just standing there.

[Jenny]

The geek misfit - why does he have mysterious tire marks on his lab coat? Will this be a CSI-style murder mystery or a Grecian tragedy of hubris? Yes, this one asks for "more please!"

[Bonnie]

I have worked with personalities like this. They are on a completely different realm from the rest of us. Please no - really got me.

[Jamie Hogan]

Last sentence is a dart to the chest. So stark and hard. I want to know more about this guy.