Michael Tolkin

Seth followed his new mentor through the hospital to the surgery ward, where Piperno turned on the lights in a large operating room. Trays in the middle of the room, under bright lights, surrounded a hospital bed with surgical knives and clamps, and an electrocardiogram machine, an oxygen monitor; everything needed to keep a patient alive during a long operation.

"We set this room up for you." 

"This is where they cut people," said Seth.

"Very good. Yes, this is an operating room. We’ll show you more videos and help you read the books. Do you remember how to read?"

"Read?" Seth didn’t know if the answer should be yes or no. Piperno pointed to a label on the wall. 

"What does that say?"

"It’s not saying anything." Seth lied. The label said "Oxygen."

"It’d help if you could read, but we’ll do what we can with the videos. Until you pass the tests, you’ll sleep here to absorb the vibrations of the room, to bring back the feeling of your training by setting you in the place of your work."

"I’m supposed to become a doctor by sleeping in an operating room?"
 

"Do you know a better way?"