a man exact in observing an appointment

The drivers routinely patrol these areas- welfare offices, senior centers, even street corners- asking the Medicare patients to come with them for check-ups in return for cash. […] To get plugged in, we enlisted Lizzie Green, a 75-year-old widow who lives on social security and a small pension. She agreed to be our undercover test patient.

He pushed across the counter a roneoed form with his particulars entered in a sloping hand.

His skin pimpled with horror, his feet felt like freight, he wanted to retch. But the fires sent a drift of woodsmoke over the bloodscape and the burned meat smell was abruptly overridden.