DEEP SPACE NINE: "The Quickening" - 03/19/96 - ACT THREE      35.

24   CONTINUED:	(2)

					EKORIA
			It doesn't bother you?

					BASHIR
			Sometimes... but I think I'd 
			rather confront mortality than 
			hide from it. When you make 
			someone well, it's like you're
			chasing Death off, making him wait 
			for another day.

					EKORIA 
			But Death comes to everyone in the 
			end.

					BASHIR 
			Not to Kukalaka.

					EKORIA 
			Kuka-who?

					BASHIR 
			My first patient. A teddy bear.

					EKORIA 
			What's that?

					BASHIR 
			Sort of a soft puppet, stuffed 
			with wadded cotton. When I was a 
			boy, I took him everywhere I went. 
			After a few years, he started to 
			get a little threadbare, until one 
			day his leg tore open and his 
			insides spilled out and made a 
			mess. My mother was all set to 
			throw him out, but I wouldn't have 
			it. At the tender age of five, I 
			performed my first surgery. I re-
			stuffed him, and stitched his leg 
			closed. From then on, I did 
			whatever it took to keep Kukalaka 
			together. I must've sewn, 
			stitched or patched every square 
			inch of him.

					EKORIA 
			Why were you so determined to keep 
			him in one piece?

	He looks at her, wants her to know something about him:

					BASHIR
			I wouldn't be much of a doctor if 
			I gave up on a patient, would I?