The Sweetman Curve by Graham Masterton

Author:Graham Masterton [Masterton, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838935764
Publisher: Head of Zeus

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Doctor Pickaway’s house was a mile or two up the canyon towards Woodland Hills. The doctor palpated and probed John’s ankle and foot, and then said, ‘You’re fine. It’s nothing worse than a bad bruise. I’ll give you a spray to ease the swelling, but it shouldn’t worry you for longer than two or three days.’

Mel said, ‘Do I have to keep him in bed and feed him with beef tea?’

Doctor Pickaway smiled. ‘You should get him to run up and down the canyon a few times. He should do that anyway. Being fit is the best preventive medicine there is.’

‘I couldn’t bear to give up my cars,’ John said, swinging off the examining table and resting his foot tentatively on the floor. ‘Exercise is fine, but people don’t turn their heads when you go by in running shoes like they do when you go by in a ‘fifty-nine gas guzzler.’

Doctor Pickaway shrugged, a little prissily. ‘Well, Mr Cullen, I’ve always been a believer in people taking care of the human machine. Most of the ailments that I have to deal with here could have been avoided by people in good physical condition. People eat too much, drive too much, smoke too much, drink too much. Look at you, Mr Walters, you’re at least sixty pounds overweight, and that’s going to tell against you when you grow older.’

‘Oh, come on, doc,’ said Mel. ‘Different people have different physiques, different ways of life. Some fat people last for ever.’

‘That’s true, to a certain extent. But these days, you can tell which fat people are going to die at an early age, and which ones are going to survive. In fact, you can predict medical life expectancy within a three-year bracket.’

‘How do you do that?’ John asked.

Doctor Pickaway raised his eyebrows indulgently, castered chair and examined his bookcase with a slight frown. He pulled out a copy of a medical magazine, and then wheeled himself back to his desk.

‘This is Analytical Medicine. It only has a circulation of two or three thousand, but I like to keep in touch with some of the really advanced medical techniques.’

‘I’m a Rolling Stone man myself,’ said Mel, with a grin.

Doctor Prickaway raised his eyebrows indulgently. He leafed over the pages of the magazine, and said, ‘This issue came out about a year-and-a-half back, but there’s been correspondence about it in every issue since. Mind you, it only appears once every three months.’

‘We really have to go now, Doctor Pickaway. We have a meal waiting for us back home,’ John said.

‘This won’t take a moment,’ Doctor Pickaway said, ‘and it’s really very interesting. Here it is. “Demographic curves for the accurate prediction of human physiological and psychological development.’”

Mel looked across at John, and pulled a face.

‘What it means in simple terms is that computerised graphs can be prepared which can predict the probable life expectancy of any individual, according to his or her parentage, physical type, life-style, medical history, home environment, and about two hundred other factors.

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