David noticed four patients sitting in the waiting area reading magazines. He looked to Kelley for an explanation.

"You'll be sharing this suite with Dr. Randall Portland," Kelley explained. "He's an orthopedic surgeon. A good guy, I might add. We've found that sharing receptionists and nurses is an efficient use of resources. Let me see if he's available to say hello."

Kelley walked over and tapped on what David thought was merely a mirror. It slid open. Behind it was a receptionist. Kelley spoke to her for a moment before the mirrored partition slid closed.

"He'll be out in a second," Kelley said, rejoining the Wilsons. He then explained the layout of the office. Opening a door on the west side of the waiting room, he gave them a tour of empty, newly redecorated examining rooms. He also took them into the room that would be David's private office It had the same fabulous view to the south as the waiting room.

"Hello everybody," a voice called out. The Wilsons turned from gaping out the window to see a youthful but strained-appearing man stride into the room. It was Dr. Randall Portland. Kelley introduced them all, even Nikki, who shook hands like she'd done with Dr. Pilsner.

"Call me Randy," Dr. Portland said as he shook David's hand.

David sensed the man was sizing him up.

"You play basketball?" Randy asked.

"Occasionally," David said. "Lately I haven't had much time."

"I hope you come to Bartlet," Randy said. "We need some more players around here. At least someone to take my place."

David smiled.

"Well, it's nice to meet you folks. I'm afraid I have to get back to work."

"He's a busy man," Kelley explained after Dr. Portland left. "We currently only have two orthopedists. We need three."

David turned back to the mesmerizing view.

"Well, what do you say?" Kelley questioned.

"I'd say we're pretty impressed," David said. He looked at Angela.

"We'll have to give it all a lot of thought," Angela said.

After leaving Charles Kelley, the Wilsons returned to Caldwell 's office. He insisted on taking David and Angela on a quick tour of the hospital. Nikki was left in the hospital day-care center, run by pink-frocked volunteers.

The first stop on the tour was the laboratory. Angela was not surprised to find that the lab was truly state-of-the-art. After he showed her the pathology section where she'd be doing most of her work, Caldwell took her in to meet the department chairman, Dr. Benjamin Wadley.

Dr. Wadley was a distinguished-looking, silver-haired gentleman in his fifties. Angela was immediately struck by how much he reminded her of her father.

After the introductions, Dr. Wadley said he understood that David and Angela had a little girl. Before they could respond, he raved about the local school system. "My kids really thrived. One is now at Wesleyan in Connecticut. The other is a senior in high school and has already gotten early acceptance into Smith College."

A few minutes later, after bidding Dr. Wadley goodbye, Angela pulled David aside as they followed Caldwell.

"Did you notice the similarity between Dr. Wadley and my father?" Angela whispered.

"Now that you say it, yes," David said. "He has that same kind of poise and confidence."

"I thought it was rather remarkable," Angela said.

"Let's not have any hysterical transference," David joked.

Next on the tour was the ER, followed by the Imaging Center. David was particularly impressed with the newly acquired MRI machine.

"This is a better machine than the one at Boston City Hospital," David remarked. "Where did the money come from for this?"

"The Imaging Center is a joint venture between the hospital and Dr. Cantor, one of the staff doctors," Caldwell explained. "They upgrade the equipment all the time."

After the Imaging Center, David and Angela toured the new radiotherapy building which boasted one of the newest linear accelerators. From there they returned to the main hospital and the new neonatal critical care unit.

"I don't know what to say," David admitted when the tour was over.

"We'd heard the hospital was well equipped," Angela said, "but this is far better than we'd imagined."

"We're understandably proud of it," Caldwell said as he led them back into his office. "We had to significantly upgrade in order to land the CMV contract. We had to compete with the Valley Hospital and the Mary Sackler Hospital for survival. Luckily, we won."

"But all this equipment and upgrading had to cost a fortune," David said.

"That's an understatement," Caldwell agreed. "It's not easy these days running a hospital, especially in this era of government-mandated competition. Revenues are down, costs are going up. It's hard just to stay in business." Caldwell handed David a manila envelope. "Here's a packet of information about the hospital. Maybe it will help convince you to come up here and accept our job offers."

"What about housing?" Angela asked as an afterthought.

"I'm glad you asked," Caldwell said. "I was supposed to ask you to go down to the Green Mountain National Bank to see Barton Sherwood. Mr. Sherwood is the vice chairman of the hospital board. He's also president of the bank. He'll give you an idea how much the town supports the hospital."

After rescuing a reluctant Nikki from the day-care center where she'd been enjoying herself, the Wilsons drove back to the town green and walked to the bank. Typical of their reception in Bartlet, Barton Sherwood saw them immediately.

"Your applications were favorably discussed at the last executive board meeting," Barton Sherwood told them as he leaned back in his chair and hooked his thumbs in his vest pockets. He was a slight man, nearing sixty, with thinning hair and a pencil-line mustache. "We sincerely hope you'll be joining the Bartlet family. To encourage you to come to Bartlet, I want you to know that Green Mountain National Bank is prepared to offer both first and second mortgages so that you'll be able to buy a house."

David and Angela were stunned and their jaws dropped in unison. Never in their wildest imaginations had they thought they would have been able to buy a house the first year out of their residencies. They had very little cash, and a mountain of tuition debt: over a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Sherwood went on to give them the specifics, but neither David nor Angela could focus on the details. It wasn't until they were back in their car that they dared to speak.

"I can't believe this," David said.

"It's almost too good to be true," Angela agreed.

"Does this mean we're coming to Bartlet?" Nikki asked.

"We'll see," Angela said.

Since David had driven up from Boston, Angela offered to drive home. As she drove, David perused the information packet Caldwell had given them.

"This is interesting," David said. "There's a clip from the local paper about the signing of the contract between Bartlet Community Hospital and CMV. It says that the deal was consummated when the hospital board, under the leadership of Harold Traynor, finally agreed to CMV's demand to provide hospitalization for an unspecified monthly capitation fee, a method of cost control encouraged by the government and favored by HMO organizations."

"That's a good example of how providers like hospitals and doctors are being forced to make concessions," Angela said.

"Right you are," David agreed. "By accepting capitation the hospital has been forced to act like an insurance organization. They are assuming some of the health risk of the CMV subscribers."

"What's capitation?" Nikki asked.

David swung around. "Capitation is when an organization is paid a certain amount of money per person," he explained. "With health plans it's usually by the month."

Nikki still looked puzzled.