Welcome back to Carl Buckman’s story. We’ll get back to the Grim Reaper in a few more weeks.
A few interesting notes. A few readers wanted to know if the Bob Turcos character was modeled on the real Bob Turk, a weather reporter on WJZ at the time. Well, while I remembered Bob Turk after I was reminded of him, the reality is that I simply pulled the name Turcos out of my ass. No resemblance whatsoever.
A couple of readers noted that it actually would be possible to tag the sternum, heart, and spine in a straight shot, especially if the bullet fragments. Back when I was taking biology and anatomy, we didn’t get to work on humans but were restricted to the dinosaurs roaming the land. (The dinosaurs kept eating the humans.) I probably heard the sternum-heart-spine linkage on a TV show.
There were a few complaints that a pregnant Marilyn had a drink on the flight to the Bahamas and that Carl should have prohibited this behavior. There was even a demand that I rewrite the scene! Well, you can ask, but you can’t demand. It’s rude, if nothing else. As to the drinking being irresponsible, current medical thought is quite divided on the subject. Everyone agrees that heavy drinking is bad for the fetus, but there is absolutely no agreement on light drinking. The individuals pushing the no-booze-is-safe theory are also the ones pushing the no-booze-is-safe-for-anyone-anytime theory. The rest of the doctors are arguing over whether you can have one drink a day, one a week, and so on. Nobody has researched the limits.
On the other hand, Carl is facing twin daughters and will probably be drinking much more heavily in the future! He has a whole new set of problems starting!