A short story told through the diary of a young doctor working at a remote rural hospital. After he is given a morphine injection to ease pain, he begins to rely on the drug, and the story follows his growing dependence as it affects his work, his relationships and his sense of himself. Written in a plain, clinical and intimate voice, it is a sober and unsettling portrait of addiction, isolation and the pressures of the time. It draws on the author's own medical background and is one of his most personal early stories.