lovable character created by
William S. Burroughs. You can call him only once, to solve a difficult situation. In the words of the bard:
Remember, you can call the Old Doctor once. Now, some wise guys think that you can call the Old Doctor twice: but when you call him twice, he comes for you.
Apparently, a performer will call upon the Old Doctor when the marks start behaving in an unruly manner. So the Old Doctor shows up, raises his hands shiny with dirt and brings them down, and the marks calm down "just frozen there, in the heavy blue mist".
lateral: my personal problem is that the Old Doctor is like a virus that has taken hold of me. I occasionally have relapses, and I start the Old Doctor routine. I think of it as a module that every now and then runs. And I have
never been a junky, honest ...
Of course, this everything thing could turn into an addiction really fast.