The first room was a waiting room. It was filled mainly with older women, a few accompanied by young children. One middle-aged man had a cast on his leg.

“Please,” Tse said. “If you would wait here I will introduce myself to the doctor.”

There was no space on the crude wooden benches that circled the room’s periphery, so Marissa, Tristan, and Bentley stood. None of those waiting uttered a single word. They merely gawked at the trio as if they were extraterrestrial beings. The children were especially curious.

“Now I know how cinema stars feel,” Tristan said.

Tse reappeared, escorted by a tall, gaunt Chinese man dressed in a short-sleeved Western-style shirt.

“This is Dr. Chen Chi-Li,” Tse said. He then introduced Chi-Li to Marissa, Tristan, and Bentley.

Chi-Li bowed. Then he smiled, revealing large, yellow teeth. He spoke quickly in guttural Cantonese.

“He welcomes you to his clinic,” Tse said. “He thinks it is an honor to have an American and an Australian doctor visit. He asks if you would care to see his facility.”

“What about the transportation?” Tristan asked.

“The clinic has a van,” Tse said. “The van will take us to Shigi. From Shigi he said that we can take a bus to Forshan, then a train to Guangzhou.”

“How much will he charge for the van?” Tristan asked.

“There will be no charge,” Tse said. “We will go with several patients being sent to the district hospital.”

“Fine,” Tristan said. “Let’s see the bugger’s clinic.”

With Chi-Li and Tse leading, the group toured the clinic. The rooms were essentially bare except for crude furniture here and there. The procedure room was especially stark, with a rusted steel table, a porcelain sink, and one ancient glass cabinet full of instruments.

Seeing that Marissa seemed interested in the instrument cabinet, Chi-Li went over and opened the door for her.

Marissa winced when she looked into a tin of nondisposable needles that had become dull from overuse. It made her realize how much she took for granted in her office and at the Boston Memorial. As her eyes wandered to the upper shelf, she saw packages of vaccines, including a cholera vaccine made in the United States. Then she noticed some vials of BCG. She remembered Tse’s having mentioned their use in tuberculosis inoculations. Marissa was curious about BCG, particularly since it had never been proven to be effective in the United States. She reached into the cabinet and lifted one of the vials. Reading the label, she discovered it had been made in France.

“Ask Chi-Li if he sees much tuberculosis,” Marissa asked as she replaced the BCG vial. She glanced at the other contents of the cabinet while Tse spoke with the man.

“He sees about the same as I,” Tse reported.