[h2]Never Lose Hope Hospital, Harlem, New York[/h2]

[u]"Well, Mr. Oberschmidt, it seems you're perfectly healthy, with no sign of damage to your tissues or nerves. Now, we'll just give you a quick x-ray, and we can see what's causing you this trouble, okay?"[/u]

"Sure thing, doctor. Hey, if it's not anything to do with the skin, what could it be?"

[u]"Well, I suppose something could be wrong with your heart or lungs. It could also be an issue with the way your ribs are oriented. Have you been struck in the chest hard enough to cause immense pain or received CPR recently, sir? No? Please follow me."[/u]
Fargus got to his feet and followed the doctor a ways down the hall to a relatively-isolated apparatus. On a shelf nearby were a set of thick, lead-lined aprons.

[u]"Please put this on, and step into the machine... there we go. You might feel a light tingling sensation, but it's nothing to worry about."[/u]

The apparatus hummed and whined, an LED on the top of one of its many lenses glowed red. After a few seconds, the humming stopped and the doctor waved Fargus out of the apparatus. The doctor bid Fargus to stay here for a while, as she collected his X-rays. After a few minutes, the doctor came back with a rather concerned look on her face.

"So what's the diagnosis, doc?"

[u]"Your ribs are oriented normally, but it seems that your right false rib is [i]significantly[/i] denser than the others. In most cases when a piece of bone is different than the others, it's due to the bone recently healing or it's cancerous. However, [i]your[/i] rib is wholly condensed. I suspect it's at least a 50% increase in compact tissue, that's replaced most of the rib's cancellous tissue. Since this is a less-important bone, you should be fine. However, if this condition spreads to, say, your pelvis, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do short of replacing the bone entirely. I'll have to prescribe you some painkillers for now, but you should get used to the pain within two months. Please come visit us again if you experience any similar pain in other parts of your body. Now, on to the matter of your bill..."[/u]

Several minutes of discussing health insurance later, Fargus stepped out of the hospital, none the worse for wear. He pulled a cellphone out of his pocket and made a few calls.

"Hey, brother, it's Fargus! Yeah, thanks again for getting me the same coverage; it's really saved my life here! ...Yeah, come on down to the park when you get off, the boys and I are going to celebrate our good fortune, and I want to thank you personally for your generosity. ...One hour, good to know! I'll see you later, man. ...Love you too, bye."

Fargus hailed a cab, and gingerly stepped in, massaging his ribs. As the cab drove on to Central Park, Fargus texted Gunther and Peaches.
[quote]Going 2 Central Park meet there in 1 hr
going 2 clbr8 appointment
see u soon![/quote]