“I wish you’d tell me more about the community reaction,” he said. “How did the administrators and medical staff of the hospital try
to control the panic, considering that this time there were thirty-seven deaths?”
Taking him at his word, Marissa tried to describe the turmoil at the St. Louis hospital. The staff and patients were furious at the enforced quarantine, and Dr. Taboso had sadly told her he expected the hospital to close when it was lifted.
“You know, I’m still worried about getting sick myself,” admitted Marissa with a self-conscious laugh. “Every time I get a headache I think ‘this is it.’ And though we still have no idea where the virus came from, Dubchek’s position is that the virus reservoir is somehow associated with medical personnel, which doesn’t make me any more comfortable.”
“Do you believe it?” asked Ralph.
Marissa laughed. “I’m supposed to,” she said. “And if it is true, then you should consider yourself particularly at risk. Both index cases were ophthalmologists.”
“Don’t say that,” laughed Ralph. “I’m superstitious.”
Marissa leaned back as the waiter served a second round of coffee. It tasted wonderful, but she suspected she’d be sorry later on when she tried to sleep.
After the waiter left with the dessert dishes, Marissa continued: “If Dubchek’s position is correct, then somehow both eye doctors came into contact with the mysterious reservoir. I’ve puzzled over this for weeks without coming up with a single explanation. Dr. Richter came in contact with monkeys; in fact he’d been bitten a week before he became ill, and monkeys have been associated with a related virus called Marburg. But Dr. Zabriski had no contact with any animals at all.”
“I thought you told me that Dr. Richter had been to Africa,” said Ralph. “It seems to me that is the crucial fact. After all, Africa is where this virus is endemic.”
“True,” said Marissa. “But the time frame is all wrong. His incubation period would have been six weeks, when all the other cases averaged only two to five days. Then consider the problem of relating the two outbreaks. Dr. Zabriski hadn’t been to Africa, but the only point of connection was that the two doctors attended the same medical conference in San Diego. And again, that was six weeks before Dr. Zabriski got sick. It’s crazy.” Marissa waved her hand as if she were giving up.
“At least be happy you controlled the outbreaks as well as you did. I understand that it was worse when this virus appeared in Africa.”
“That’s true,” agreed Marissa. “In the Zaire outbreak in 1976, whose index case may have been an American college student, there were three hundred eighteen cases and two hundred eighty deaths.”
“There you go,” said Ralph, feeling that the statistics should cheer Marissa. He folded his napkin and put it on the table. “How about stopping at my house for an after-dinner drink?”
Marissa looked at Ralph, amazed at how comfortable she’d become with him. The surprising thing was that the relationship had developed on the telephone. “An after-dinner drink sounds fine,” she said with a smile.
On the way out of the restaurant, Marissa took Ralph’s arm. When they got to his car, he opened the door for her. She thought that she could get used to such treatment.
Ralph was proud of his car. It was obvious in the loving way he touched the instruments and the steering wheel. The car was a new 300 SDL Mercedes. Marissa appreciated its luxuriousness as she settled back in the leather seat, but cars had never meant much to her. She also couldn’t understand why people bought diesels since they had an uncomfortable rattle when they started and idled. “They are economical,” said Ralph. Marissa looked around at the appointments. She marveled that someone could delude himself that an expensive Mercedes was economical.
They didn’t speak for a while, and Marissa wondered if going to Ralph’s house at that time of night was a good idea. But she trusted Ralph and was willing to let their relationship develop a little further. She turned to look at him in the half-light. He had a strong profile, with a prominent nose like her father’s.