"Doug had gotten very good at hiding disappointment over the years, but that doesn't mean this didn't hurt. The pharmacy might be officially his, but nothing else was changing.
But despite what you might think, Doug found great comfort in being a pharmacist: studiously counting medication, filling prescriptions... He was good at what he did. I saw it every time I came in. But I could also see that Doug Varney wanted something more. And while he could probably never put it into words, maybe it had to do with being a man who provided solutions for everybody but himself.
As the one pharmacist in a small town, Doug knew a little bit about a lot of people. But he was always professional, never judged, and his customers always listened to him.
Customers like Donald Zucker. Donald had battled a weight problem his whole life. Doug gave him Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium) as well as some dietary advice, but then Donald had never been a very good listener (buys along some chocolate candy bars).
Amoxicillin. Zoloft (sertraline). Metformin. Setrol (sodium tetradecyl). Doug was there with whatever they needed.
Kate Tashman was a loving mother, but because sometimes love just isn't enough, Doug was there with the Xanax (alprazolam).
And Tegretol (carbamazepine) for Susan D'Francesco... because she was bipolar (sobs while paying for her prescription).
For Brian Malloy, Chantix (varenicline) to help beat his nicotine addiction. However, side effects included severe constipation... (buys some saline enemas).
And for poor Kathleen Bergman, Lysodren (mitotane), because sometimes cancer comes back.
And for mailman Arnold Morello, Valtrex (valaciclovir hydrochloride) to treat his freshly acquired case of genital herpes, an affliction he most certainly did not catch from his wife (says: It's-It's all very complicated. I mean, I'd never been to Atlantic City before...)."
- "Better Living Through Chemistry" (Geoff Moore & David Posamentier, 2014)
