12
TALES FROMTHE FUTURE
private people… or to one private person…
His whole life, Heitzman had never been a vain person. He’d led a healthy
life, as they say, didn’t drink or smoke, followed healthy diets and worked
out every day. It was only in the last six months that he’d stopped going to
his workout room. For half a year he’d been lying in bed in one of his spa-
cious bedrooms that was chock full of ultra-modern medical equipment. In
the room next door, doctors were on duty twenty-four hours a day, working
in shifts. But John Heitzman didn’t trust modern medical science. He saw no
need to even talk with the doctors. The only person he would occasionally
favor with short answers was a certain psychology professor. Heitzman
wasn’t even interested in knowing the doctors’ names, including this pro-
fessor’s, although he took note that this one was the most sincere and hon-
est of the bunch. The professor talked a lot, but what often came across
when he spoke were not only medical assertions, but also his own thoughts,
and his desire to find out what was causing Heitzman’s illness.
“I was thinking about your condition last night and this morning. I can
see it now. I’ll figure out what’s causing your illness and then, once we’ve
eliminated the cause, you’ll get well in short order. Oh, excuse me, Mr.
Heitzman, I forgot to say hello. Good morning, Mr. Heitzman. I was a little
distracted by my own thoughts.”
The billionaire didn’t respond to the professor’s greeting and didn’t turn
in his direction, but that was how he acted with all the doctors. And some-
times when a doctor came in, Heitzman would give a signal – a slight move-
ment of the wrist – and everyone knew that this signal meant, “Go away.”
He didn’t give this signal to the professor, and so the professor excitedly
continued sharing his train of thought:
“I disagree with my colleagues who say you need liver, kidney and heart
transplants. It’s true that these organs aren’t functioning as effectively as
they should. Hmm. Yes. Not as effectively as they should be. The cause of
this lies in your deep depression. Hmm. Yes, your depression. I’ve read your
chart over several times. And I think I’ve made a very important discovery.
Your primary care doctor is amazing – he noted down everything in great
detail. Every time he examined you, he also made notes about your psycho-
