Dr. Neva Orinoco is a psychiatrist, of stern mien, who at the beginning of your first appointment pulls out a pack of Gauloises and asks if you mind if she smokes, and if you say yes she dismisses you, refusing any further discussion in the matter. Later you receive a bill for the full session, handwritten on girlish lavender-scented notepaper. Despite this practice and other examples of unorthodox behavior she has no shortage of patients. She takes semi-annual trips to Las Vegas to play baccarat and sit for hours in hotel coffee shops. She has a lazy eye. She is an avid collector of nineteenth-century advertisements for nerve tonics and unusual examples of what she calls "vintage apothecariana." She is addicted to nasal decongestant sprays (rhinitis medicamentosa). She is deeply ashamed of her sister, who is also a psychiatrist.