Future Dialog

By Ford, Frank Bernard

DOCTOR: They'll say what they wish. Always. What's the difference?

PATIENT: Well I mean, if, if you can get it from somewhere else.

DOCTOR: You won't like it, that is the result, any more or less.

PATIENT: Well, I'd still feel...better.

DOCTOR: It's a professional matter, treatment of choice. A lot of thinking went into the final decision, I assure you. The whole team concurred, not just me.

PATIENT: Yeah? Well this whole team of yours will probably be the first to make wisecracks.

DOCTOR: I hope not. I hope they're more professional, more mature, but...

PATIENT: Yeah! But!

DOCTOR: There's always, always has been, a dichotomous, uh, feeling about the region, as there is about sex. We know its serious force, and yet we're titillated by its bawdy aspects at times: the dirty joke where someone plays the asshole.

PATIENT: There you GO! That word! Even you are not immune.

DOCTOR: We can't change the language.

PATIENT: But if one can be cloned from any part, then...?

DOCTOR: We stand by our decision in your case.