Read Online Strong Medicine by Arthur Hailey - Free Book Online
Authors: Arthur Hailey
Tags: Fiction, General, Fiction - General, Medical, Thrillers, Fiction / Thrillers, General & Literary Fiction, drugs
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her lying with Celia, and the two of them
together were so at peace it was beautiful to sec."
52
As she had said she would, Celia took a year off from work to give her
attention and love to Lisa. She also used the time to continue organizing
their Convent Station house, which proved to be everything she had foreseen
and promised. "I do love it," Andrew observed glowingly one day.
' At the same time Celia kept in touch with Felding-Roth. Sam Hawthorne had
moved upward to become assistant national sales manager and had promised
Celia a job when she was ready to return.
The year was a good one for Felding-Roth Pharmaceuticals, Inc. A few months
after the publicity concerning Dr. Andrew Jordan's dramatic use of
Lotromycin, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for
marketing. Lotromycin went on to become successful and praised worldwide,
and one of the more profitable products in Felding-Roth's history. Celia's
own contribution to the Lotromycin launch caused executives of the company
to endorse Sam Hawthorne's willingness to have her return.
Beyond the company, in terms of history, 1959 was not a spectacular year.
Alaska became a state in January, Hawaii in July, To the north, during
April, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened. In May, Israel's Premier David
Ben-Gurion promised the world that his country would seek peace with its
Arab neighbors. Later the same month two monkeys made a 300-mile-high space
flight aboard a U.S. army missile, and survived. It was hoped that humans
might someday do the same.
One outside event which aroused Celia's attention was a series of hearings,
begun during December, by a U.S. Senate subcommittee chaired by Senator
Estes Kefauver. During earlier hearings about crime the senator, a
Tennessee democrat with presidential ambitions, had gained wide attention
and was hungry for more of the same. The target at the new hearings was the
pharmaceutical industry.
Most industry officials dismissed Kefauver as a nuisance, but unimportant.
The industry's Washington lobby was strong; no longterm effect was
expected. Celia, though confiding her opinion only to Andrew, disagreed.
Finally, late in the year, Celia resumed her duties as a detail woman,
again with her sales territory in New Jersey. Through contacts at St.
Bede's she had found an elderly retired nurse who came to the house daily
and took care of Lisa. Typically, Celia tested the
53
arrangement, by going on an out-of-town trip with Andrew and leaving the
older woman in charge. It worked well.
Celia's mother, Mildred, occasionally visited from Philadelphia and
enjoyed filling in, and getting to know her granddaughter, when the daily
nurse was away.
Mildred and Andrew were on excellent terms, and Celia became closer to
her mother as time went by, sharing an intimacy they had rarely known in
earlier years. One reason, perhaps, was that Celia's younger sister,
Janet, was far away-in the Trucial Sheikdomshaving married an oil company
geologist, now busy overseas.
Thus, with support from several sources Celia and Andrew were once more
able to take pleasure in their separate careers.
In the case of Andrew's career, only one thing marred it slightly, and
just how important that worry was, Andrew himself was uncertain. It
concerned Noah Townsend.
Andrew's senior partner had, over a handful of widely separated
occasions, exhibited what could have been signs of emotional instability.
Or perhaps, when Andrew thought about it, bizarre behavior was a more
accurate description. What puzzled Andrew was that both characteristics
were alien to the nature of the older, dignified physician as Andrew had
observed it day by day.
There were three incidents that Andrew knew of.
One was when Noah, during a conversation in his office with Andrew,
became impatient because of a telephone call that interrupted him. After
a brusque response to the call, he yanked the telephone cord from the
wall and
together were so at peace it was beautiful to sec."
52
As she had said she would, Celia took a year off from work to give her
attention and love to Lisa. She also used the time to continue organizing
their Convent Station house, which proved to be everything she had foreseen
and promised. "I do love it," Andrew observed glowingly one day.
' At the same time Celia kept in touch with Felding-Roth. Sam Hawthorne had
moved upward to become assistant national sales manager and had promised
Celia a job when she was ready to return.
The year was a good one for Felding-Roth Pharmaceuticals, Inc. A few months
after the publicity concerning Dr. Andrew Jordan's dramatic use of
Lotromycin, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for
marketing. Lotromycin went on to become successful and praised worldwide,
and one of the more profitable products in Felding-Roth's history. Celia's
own contribution to the Lotromycin launch caused executives of the company
to endorse Sam Hawthorne's willingness to have her return.
Beyond the company, in terms of history, 1959 was not a spectacular year.
Alaska became a state in January, Hawaii in July, To the north, during
April, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened. In May, Israel's Premier David
Ben-Gurion promised the world that his country would seek peace with its
Arab neighbors. Later the same month two monkeys made a 300-mile-high space
flight aboard a U.S. army missile, and survived. It was hoped that humans
might someday do the same.
One outside event which aroused Celia's attention was a series of hearings,
begun during December, by a U.S. Senate subcommittee chaired by Senator
Estes Kefauver. During earlier hearings about crime the senator, a
Tennessee democrat with presidential ambitions, had gained wide attention
and was hungry for more of the same. The target at the new hearings was the
pharmaceutical industry.
Most industry officials dismissed Kefauver as a nuisance, but unimportant.
The industry's Washington lobby was strong; no longterm effect was
expected. Celia, though confiding her opinion only to Andrew, disagreed.
Finally, late in the year, Celia resumed her duties as a detail woman,
again with her sales territory in New Jersey. Through contacts at St.
Bede's she had found an elderly retired nurse who came to the house daily
and took care of Lisa. Typically, Celia tested the
53
arrangement, by going on an out-of-town trip with Andrew and leaving the
older woman in charge. It worked well.
Celia's mother, Mildred, occasionally visited from Philadelphia and
enjoyed filling in, and getting to know her granddaughter, when the daily
nurse was away.
Mildred and Andrew were on excellent terms, and Celia became closer to
her mother as time went by, sharing an intimacy they had rarely known in
earlier years. One reason, perhaps, was that Celia's younger sister,
Janet, was far away-in the Trucial Sheikdomshaving married an oil company
geologist, now busy overseas.
Thus, with support from several sources Celia and Andrew were once more
able to take pleasure in their separate careers.
In the case of Andrew's career, only one thing marred it slightly, and
just how important that worry was, Andrew himself was uncertain. It
concerned Noah Townsend.
Andrew's senior partner had, over a handful of widely separated
occasions, exhibited what could have been signs of emotional instability.
Or perhaps, when Andrew thought about it, bizarre behavior was a more
accurate description. What puzzled Andrew was that both characteristics
were alien to the nature of the older, dignified physician as Andrew had
observed it day by day.
There were three incidents that Andrew knew of.
One was when Noah, during a conversation in his office with Andrew,
became impatient because of a telephone call that interrupted him. After
a brusque response to the call, he yanked the telephone cord from the
wall and
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