Another Summer - The Life of a Hotel Doctor

A wave of heat poured out of the guest's room as he opened the door.

"Another summer has arrived," I reminded myself. It was 90 degrees outside but certainly more in the room. I remembered with regret that people around the world, Arabs excepted, consider air conditioning unhealthy. They tolerate it as one of the exotic discomforts of travel, but when someone gets sick they turn it off.

This is not a belief amenable to reason, so I go about my business, sweltering in my suit and tie. I rarely take off my jacket because I keep tools (thermometer, tongue depressor, flashlight, otoscope, syringes, prescription pad) in various pockets. Sometimes medicine is hard.