The Fellowship

by K. Darblyne

  The back doors swung open, allowing fresh air into the now rank-smelling compartment. The woman medic sprang out of the ambulance with clipboard in hand. The play in the springs of the ambulance continued the swaying and bouncing motion as the patient was removed on the stretcher into the outside air. The doctor and nurse made their way to the back door following the path of the stretcher. Danni hesitated at the doorway holding her stomach and swallowing hard. Taking a slow deep breath, she followed the group of ill-fated caregivers into the emergency room door.

  Dr. Trivoli was meet at the door by the Chief Resident, Dr. Maxine Webster, relief written all over her face when she saw that the injured patient was not one of their own.

  "It appears to be a crushed and edematous larynx. We had no choice but to do a cricothyrotomy in the field. Vitals are good. Airway is now clear and patent, the patient is able to breathe on his own."

  "We were able to put an 18 gauge angiocath into his left forearm area and established a KVO line of Ringers," the drenched blonde nurse added to the report.

  As they entered the Trauma Room, Tim kept the stretcher in front of himself. Moving the patient to the hospital stretcher, the paramedic appeared to be straining, his neck veins standing out pulsating obviously. The Chief Resident leaned over saying, "You keep that up and you’re going to hurt yourself."

  The medic looked up to heaven and whispered back, "If only you knew." Everyone’s attention now stayed with the patient as the medic backed out of the room with his ambulance stretcher. Hastily he eyed the open door of the rest room down the hallway. "I’ll be right back," he mumbled to Pat.

  She grabbed the clipboard, shoving it into his hands and placing it to hide the prominent mound in his pants, "Why don’t you go take care of this?"

  Tim nodded eagerly at her. "And don’t come out until your done."

  With that, Tim made a beeline for the restroom glancing at his watch. Not five minutes yet and he looked up to the heavens in thanks for time to spare. Immediately his head dropped, bringing into view the growing wet spot on his uniform trousers. Well, at least he was at the doorway of the restroom when the relief came, instead of the room full of hospital personnel. Thankful for that small favor, he looked over his shoulder at Pat. He could already hear the Viagra jokes that would be circulating at the station house, all with his name associated. He continued into the room and closed the door.

  Another medic team was coming down the hall. Stopping, they acknowledged the female medic, sweat dripping off her hair as she made up the stretcher. "Say, what’s up with the rookie, Pat?" He motioned toward the restroom door. "Something he couldn’t handle?"

  She paused looking at the closed door. Placing her hands on her hips she rolled her tongue around the inside of her mouth, "Let’s just say that he got something he wasn’t expecting by surprise and ah…he’s having a hard time containing himself." Her voice began to chuckle with the last few words.

  The two medics looked at the seasoned veteran then gave a tiny shrug to each other. "Guess you had to be there," one said to the other as they walked out of the door.

  Having relayed all of the necessary information about the patient and the care that was administered until their arrival at the hospital, Danni and Garrett exited the room then leaned up against the wall in the hallway. The nurse closed her eyes trying to keep the room from spinning. Her face started to lose its color, turning a ghastly shade of pale green. She drew in several long deep breaths.

  "Are you okay, Danni?" The voice was soft and concerned. The smartly dressed Social Worker reached out placing her hand on the nurse’s arm. Her skin felt cold and clammy. "Hey, Doc, she don’t look so good."

  Dr. Trivoli looked over to the young blonde nurse. Suddenly Danni gulped hard, eyes bugging out, her hand reaching for her mouth as she ran down the hall towards the restroom. Garrett followed after her. With the perfect timing that only God could create, the restroom door opened just as the nurse reached for the doorknob. Before she knew it, the contents of her stomach were projected over the uniformed man trapped in the small room. Stunned, Tim looked at the petite blonde who was now being held by the tall, raven-haired doctor. Raising his eyes, he looked past the two women only to see Pat sliding to a stop in the hallway. She looked in disbelief, shaking her head and trying to stifle the laughter, "Jeez, Tim, you get it both ways, coming and going." With that out she could no longer contain the laughter. It was several minutes before she could catch her breath to speak. "I’d offer to ride you two back to the park, but I think I had better take Tim back to the station to get cleaned up."

  The surgeon pulled at her shirt, wrinkling her nose at the smell. Looking at the medic she nodded her head in agreement, "I think we could use a little clean up too." Her eyebrow raised into her hair.

  Feeling better with each second that passed the nurse kept offering her apologies to the young medic, "I’m really, really sorry. Honest!"

  "Let’s just pretend that this never happened." He muttered under his breath, "Please, God, don’t ever let it happen to me, again." The medic was mortified as he exited the restroom. Silently he pledged to never have lustful thoughts again, well, at least while on the job. He thought of his sexual experiences in his adult life and vowed that this had to be the worst. It would take some doing to get over this. Somehow he just knew that it would haunt him every time he tried to get it on with a women. Maybe he would be lucky and die tomorrow he contemplated, knowing that he wasn’t that lucky.

  "Well, at least we won’t have to explain the wet spot on your pants," the woman medic chuckled, "no one will be able to see it through all that emesis." She grabbed his sleeve being careful not to get any on her, "I know where there is a nice cold shower and some clean clothes waiting for you, back at the base." Pat turned to the women, "It’s been real, guys!" She ushered the young medic down the hallway, pushing the stretcher ahead of them. All the time wondering why she had picked up the extra overtime shift in the first place.

  Danni turned from washing her mouth out with the water from the sink. Her eyes roved over her tall friend and then her own pathetic looking body. "Do you think we could get a shower and some scrubs before we head back to the picnic?"

  "Yeah, it sounds like a plan to me." Garrett was surprised that after all they had been through today, the nurse was still willing to spend more time with her, even after the embarrassing situations that had happened. Maybe this was what friendship was about. Being able to bare oneself to others and realizing the acceptance in even the worst of conditions by a true friend.

  "Do you think the game is over by now? I wonder if we’ll get back in time for dinner, I’m famished," the young blonde wore a look of concern across her face. "I wonder who won." It was a non-stop barrage of dialogue coming from the petite woman. "Say, are you up for some fireworks later tonight? I sure am."

  The tall surgeon raised an eyebrow and looked in her direction, then just shook her head as they ambled together down the hall towards their respective showers.

  Chapter 7

  Startled eyes opened wide, trying to acquaint themselves to the darkened room, hands fumbled with the bedding to find a path to her body. The woman’s mind raced with jumbled thoughts causing her breath to quicken. The adrenaline rush surged through her body with every beat of her racing heart. "Where, what, who?" Desperately her mind tried to make some order out of her surroundings. The hand finally made its way to her body, finding her midsection. The woman now focused on the hand as it slowly brushed up and down her torso, fingertips deliberately being raked over the curves of the sculptured body. She let the hand sweep a larger area searching for the distinguishing textures that would tell her what she needed to know. The soft feel of skin followed around the generous curve where puckering flesh stood firmly into a nub. Gliding down across taunt, flat muscles the coarse texture of hair was now at her fingertips. She let out a sigh as her mind told her where she was. Her body now settled into a calming rhythm, as her mind became oriented to both self and
place. Her eyelids lowered as a feeling of warmth reached over her being, touching her very soul. She allowed herself the comfort of relaxing down into the plump pillows underneath her head. She was safely floating back into the comfortable sleep that her body needed.

  It seemed that sleep had been the only comfort that her mind could accept. It had been used as her refuge from the world of emotions and the few people that tried to lay claim to her body. She was safe and secure in her knowledge that she was alone. After all, it was infrequent that she awoke in the company of someone. Her college days of experiments at finding her sexual stability never brought more than a raised eyebrow to her face. She could never see what all the excitement was about. Then again, you only get out what you invest into it and her fear of hurt never allowed her to invest anymore than her body. The story always ended the same way in any of her attempted relationships. The emotionless giving of her body to another in a sexual way was never enough for them. As soon as the fascination wore out, they were gone. There was nothing in her personal life that remained constant but the feeling of desolation. Her soul was left wondering in that barren world that she had built for it. Preserving it for some unknown reason while never really understanding why. She had long ago given up on love of the personal kind. It just wasn’t in the hand of cards that the fates had dealt to her. Work was the only thing that gave her any fulfillment in that lonely world. Sleep was something that was best enjoyed alone and therefore, was looked forward to at the end of a day’s work, especially one that did not demand her to be on-call.

  It was a technique that she had developed early on during her internship days. Not only did it allow her luxury of a good night’s sleep but kept her mind in balance. The time spent acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to be a surgeon was endless. Nights were often spent absorbing every written word from the standard textbooks and additional reading material that it soon became oblivious as to whether or not one was on-call. She had rationalized if her time were indeed her own that she would be unconfined by structure, as she had known it. Thus became the ritual of sleeping in the buff. It definitely was something that one would only find appealing in the privacy of one’s own bed. The simple method had worked for her except for her time in the Navy. Being the only surgeon onboard ship meant that you were always on-call, no matter what. That was, unless you were lucky enough to get shore leave in an exotic port.

  Through barely opened eyes, she could see that the golden rays of the morning’s first light were creeping into the room. The golden hue stirred memories that her mind associated with the warm glow that she felt. In her state of limbo between deep sleep and the real world, images of the last few months floated around her mind. Never before had she dreamt of a person that was not related to her with such regularity. Her dreams or nightmares as she often referred to them had always been filled with daily goals and turmoil in her struggle to achieve her career. Her lust for perfection would never allow her time to have friends or even to be friendly with any of her colleagues. She saw them only as people she had to be around to attain her self-driven goals. Her work involved human beings, but that didn’t mean she had to socialize with them in order to do it and be the best. Her coldness toward them had always kept them at bay.

  The dreams now were like a breath of fresh air. Air that softly swirled causing the short blonde hair to quiver and carry the fresh scent of a beautiful summer day on it. They had been playing softball when someone in the gathered crowd had been assaulted. Images of the scene blurred as in a fast forward motion coming to an abrupt stop as the paramedics placed the man who was now trached on the ambulance stretcher. Her eyes cast about at the odd collection of people that had worked right along with her, never being asked or directed to do so. Each face that she looked at shown a confident approach to the situation at hand, not letting anyone in the crowd know the severity of the man’s injury. They were professionals whether they were dressed for the part or not. It was like some surreal event before her eyes, the spirit of camaraderie wisping freely between them as it soared amongst the crowd of caregivers until it approached her and outstretched it’s arms to engulf her with its embrace. She looked it coldly in the eye and for the first time noticed that it had taken on the face of a human framed by shimmering flaxen hair.

  Then in a rush of fast-forward the events whirled by until they stopped and continued at a normal pace again.

  Like the return of the prodigal daughters that they were, Karen met the two lost but not forgotten picnickers with a mother’s welcome. "What took you so long? Did you have to rush him into surgery? We were worried about you." Her voice was a mixture of concern and scolding both. "Hey, now give. Why the scrubs?" Her look was stern and skeptical.

  Danni dropped her eyes and started to blush. Garrett was quick to come to her rescue. "We got a little dirty and thought that it would be best to clean-up before we came back, Mom. The patient was doing well when we left him." Then changing the subject she attempted to take the heat further off of her blonde companion. "I hope we got back in time to eat, did we?"

  "Well, you’re close but I guess we can find you two some burgers and corn. You know, Danni, we were just wondering where you hid that load of watermelons that you were supposed to bring."

  The small blonde breathed a sigh of relief at the direction of the conversation. She winked at Karen and nudged the tall woman next to her. "Come on, Garrett, give me a hand getting them out of the car." She walked over to where her keys had been placed before the start of the softball game.

  The surgeon shrugged her shoulders and followed the blonde toward the car. "Yeah, sure."

  Once out of earshot of the group of assembled picnickers, the soft and gentle voice of the nurse drew Garrett’s attention. "Thanks, Doc. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to answer that. I…"

  "What are you thanking me for? I didn’t cover anything up, I just choose to be discreet with the information that I shared. I didn’t see the need for going into details. Did you?"

  "Hmmm…I guess you’re right. Thanks, any way." She smiled and opened up the trunk of the metro. "One for you and one for me." She offered the watermelon to the surgeon, closed the trunk and side by side they headed back to the gathering.

  The muscular body became accentuated as limbs stretched and retracted causing the woman to roll up on to her side. She positioned herself away from the light that was straining to enter the room through the drawn blinds covering the windows. Settling into a comfortable position, sleep again beckoned the surgeon to retreat into her dreams once more.

  "Now let me handle the salesman," the young blonde was drilling the idea into Garrett’s head. "Say nothing and be very indifferent to the color and model options. Are you sure this is the vehicle that you want, because once I get the deal ironed out, there will be no going back."

  The surgeon looked over at her petite friend as they pulled into the dealership lot. She marveled at the all business approach that Danni was taking in her behalf. She would have just gone in and asked how much for that one and paid the price. The young woman at her side would hear none of it when Garrett brought up the subject of purchasing a vehicle. She obviously prided herself in the fine art of haggling for a better price. What could it hurt to let her help? "Yes, I am sure."

  The nurse put the gear selector into park and pulled on the hand brake, "Whatever you do, Garrett, don’t let them know that you are a Physician. They’ll never bargain if they know you have the money to spend." She exited the door and walked over to the passenger side of the small Geo Metro to assist the tall surgeon in climbing out of her seat. Coming up to the now opened door Danni offered her hand, "Remember to listen to me, if I say we go, then be ready to walk right out of there with me. We are going to have to present a unified front. If you so much as hesitate, they will know that you want the car and never come down in price."

  The raven-haired women stretched to workout the kinks of being confined in such a small space, listening intently to her friend.
"Alright, I trust you completely with this. Let’s see what we can do."

  They began walking over to the showroom door when Danni stopped suddenly grabbing the surgeon’s arm, "You did say that you wanted to pay cash right?"

  "Yes, I got the checkbook right here," she patted the back pocket of her jeans. "I’ll follow your lead, my friend."

  They entered the showroom and began walking around the display of vehicles. Within moments, a well-dressed young salesman approached the women, his eye taken obviously by the petite blonde. "Is there anything that I could help you with, Ladies?" He turned to the young woman, studying her intently, "Hmm, I can see you driving that bright red Corvette convertible over there. Would you like me to get the keys and we’ll take it for a test drive?"

  She gave a coy smile and let go with a nervous laugh. "No, I really don’t think that is my style," she said with her nose wrinkling up slightly. "I figure myself more of a sunset on the beach at Malibu." She turned to look at Garrett, "While my friend there is more of the dark, sleek trailblazing kind."

  The salesman’s eyes grew in size as his mind grasped the metaphor.

  The surgeon leaned up against a car and watched as the young nurse played with the salesman’s ego. She was ruthless in her negotiating tactics, using anything she could to make this poor man offer her the world just to be able to be close to her. The exchange of information between the two was something to be seen. Each one playing the seducer in this dance of dissent. The advantage swaying between the two with each round of banter. The tall woman was completely amazed by her younger friend’s ability to steadily gain the advantage in this unorthodox sales negotiation.