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others to pass.  “What are you girls looking so glum about?”  Before the women could answer, The Bishop ordered them in.  Jen gave SSgt Brown a look of utter fear.  He hadn’t seen her look that scared in a few weeks.  He whispered to her that he would wait.
    Indira shut the door behind her.  She felt like she was locking herself in the ring with a raging bull.  Her heart was pounding away in her chest.  She had been told what this man was capable of.
    “Sit,” he said to them.  His voice was quiet, almost soothing.  He slid a couple of sodas across the desk to them.  Jen noticed he didn’t ask them if they wanted something, or even what they would like.  It was as if he was ordering them to take the gifts that he was providing.  They did.
    “Don’t,” he began.  Again his voice was even and quiet.  His eyes betrayed the anger he felt.  “Either of you contradict me ever again; especially, not in front of my men.  Please keep in mind that you two are guests on my island.  If there is something that is bothering you to the point of rudeness and insubordination, then I suggest you pack your things and leave.”
    “Sir,” Jen began.  She was putting on the diplomatic face she often had to use with uncooperative patients.  “We didn’t mean to be rude.  We simply wanted to illustrate the gravity of the situation.”
    “And what, pray tell, is the situation?”  He made her feel as if she were having a conversation with a cobra.  She could almost hear Nagaina’s voice:  “If you move I will strike.  If you don’t move I will strike.”  But, unlike the little mongoose from the movie, she didn’t think she had anything to bargain with.
    “Well, there are several people who have chronic conditions that need medications.  Many of them haven’t had them in a month.”
    “Then they must not really need them do they?”
    Jen was astonished.  She was used to hearing non-complaint patients talk about not needing their medications because they felt better.  But she’s never heard of people in power denying medications simply because nobody has died without them yet.
    “Are you telling me that the diabetic doesn’t need his insulin, or that the person with high blood pressure doesn’t need medications to control that?”
    “I’m tellin’ you that these people have gone this long without them.  They can go a little longer.”
    “Sir,” Indira added.  “There is no way of knowing that.  We have no idea if the person with high blood pressure is going to have a stroke today tomorrow, or next year.  But, we do know it will happen sooner or later.”
    “Well, let’s just hope it’s later.  Shall we?”
    Jen knew this was going nowhere.  She had never run across someone so dense.  Usually as the medical expert, she could at least get patients to agree with her, even if they didn’t follow through. This guy was just bull-headed.
    “Sir, you have a diabetic who is dangerously close to going into a life-threatening condition known as DKA.  If we don’t get his sugar under control he will eventually die.”
    “How do you know that?”  He asked accusingly.
    “We could smell it on him,” Indira quickly answered.  “People who are going into DKA begin to blow ketones off in their breath.  You can smell the fruity sweet smell on them.”
    He eyed the two girls suspiciously.  Jen could tell he didn’t believe them.  He opened his mouth to ask a question, but was cut short.  Joe burst through the door.  He didn’t even acknowledge The Bishop.  “Come quick!”  He was panting from the short sprint.
    The scene in the clinic was utter pandemonium.  There on the table was a silver-haired man with his shirt ripped open in the front.  Donaldson was franticly performing CPR on the man while the other paramedic tore through drawer after drawer.  Miscellaneous supplies went flying as he dug into the mostly empty supply drawers.  Finally he found what he was looking