Second Innings

Saint Jude, the Patron Saint of Lost Causes, isn’t having much luck in the dire geriatric hospital which bears his name. The hospital is a Terminus of Life, the end of the line, where nearly all the inmates are carried out feet first.

Stanley hopes that he will be one of those lucky ones before too much longer. Trapped in a body that is less than optimal, he only has his brain for company and too much time to think.

Then he gets an offer he can’t refuse: the Medical Consultant to the hospital has stumbled on a drug that could revolutionise geriatric medicine. Unfortunately, it is so expensive to manufacture that only the rich – the extremely rich – will be able to afford treatment. But the drug still needs to be trialled on someone, and the brighter inmates at St. Jude’s are seen as the ideal solution. Everything goes swimmingly until the unwitting guinea pigs find out what’s been going on…

Warning: Humour can get a little earthy.