Compass North

by Cathleen Ellis

  She arrived to an empty home, a late Saturday afternoon; everyone had to work when they got home that day. Tyann brought in her bags and set them in the hall near her bedroom. She prepared herself for what her mom and Mandy changed in her room. She asked her mom to make her bedroom into a guest room, for folks visiting, which someday, she would do.

  “Wow, I like what they did.”

  The walls of her room, she noticed, were a pale green now, instead of the light lavender she loved. A double bed with a soothing colored bedspread and curtains to match completed the change.

  “Hey, there’s still plenty of room ‘cause they moved out the single bed, desk and little bookcase, “she said as she looked around.

  Being a minimalist, Tyann unloaded her three bags, the sum total of everything she now possessed, several of her textbooks, the most important part of her belongings. She worked with Angela, the Punta Cana nurse, with whom she would share a two bedroom place. Angela sent her the short list, of what she would need to bring. In a day she would reload her bags with all clean clothes, including her required nursing uniforms, pink, with short sleeves and loose fitting trousers, that Angela explained she must have. Tyann ordered them and liked the soft pink color. At a fabric store she bought three feet of pink ribbon to match the uniforms. She knew, with the heat and humidity there, that a ponytail, with a ribbon around it, was the best way to wear her long hair. Because of her size, when she tried on her entire outfit and fixed her hair before she left Iowa City, she decided she looked about 15. She asked one of her supervisors what to do about her appearance.

  “Your voice, Tyann, use your voice, a louder voice. And when you’re speaking Spanish to your patients, talk slow, directly to them, eye contact. It’ll take you awhile to get the language inflections. But you’ll be amazed, as you hear so much Spanish, it’ll become easier to speak it.”

  Tyann loaded the washer with the first of her loads, then went to the kitchen for lemonade and chippers. Mandy always remembered the goodies Tyann liked.

  “Thank you, little sis, we been takin’ care of each other since forever, note to self, gotta remember to thank her,” Tyann told herself.

  She went to the computer area off the kitchen and looked over her e-mail. She saw Conner’s note about meeting her at seven p.m. Saturday. He’d furnish the wine and asked her to bring cheese and crackers. And he wrote he had a little somethin’ for her and that he hoped Doc wouldn’t keep him too late.

  

  Conner drove her back to his family home. They decided to walk out on the property, to find that just right spot to put their blanket down for gazing up at the stars.

  “I don’t wanta go anywhere. In two days I’ll be living in a different world.”

  “Happy to be right here with you, Ty.”

  “I brought two wine glasses, thought we’d be fancy.”

  “Nice, this is a chardonnay, smooth and tasty.”

  “Well, I’ve got almost no experience with wine, it’s beer at our German house.”

  Tyann sat, looking up at the sky overhead, as she watched it darken, then shiny specks of light popped out. She shivered. Conner put his sweater over her shoulders. They turned to each other, toasting: Conner, for the enormous learning curve of the first year in vet med school, and Tyann, for completing her degree, her RN designation and getting her excellent scores back from the national exam she took.

  “I didn’t get more than four hours sleep my whole senior year, with studying, the internship, plus studying for the exams. It’s been so super awesome to get seven hours each of the last three nights.”

  “Yeah, this summer’s great; so far I’ve gone to bed by 10 and gotten up at 5; I’m first getting to the clinic, to see the usual couple of animals kept overnight.”

  “Like after surgery?”

  “Exactly.”

  They toasted to their futures.

  “Your thoughts about Punta Cana?”

  She looked into Conner’s eyes and began.

  “Conner, I want this away experience; it’ll help me close on Brody, final healing, my path goes forward. Yeah, per Angela, uh, the nurse I’ll be replacing, it’s kinda rough duty, three 12 hour days, 6 to 6, but the four days off, (Monday through Thursday) pretty awesome. I work Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I assume part in critical care, back in the good old ER, a lot of action, since it’s getting to be a touristy area. It’s full pay, ‘cause it’s 36 hours, plus benefits. I guess what I’ll miss most is mass. But Angela says there’s a nice chapel in the hospital, and the local priest does a Saturday afternoon service, a 4 p.m. quick sermon and communion. Most of the staff’s Catholic, and no one can take more than a half hour for break. So maybe I can catch a part of a mass once in a while. Angela says some folks from the community enjoy the mass, for the Saturday time, plus it’s nice for families visiting their loved ones in the hospital. Hey, I’m committed to two years, to leave the hospital a better place than when I arrived.”

  “And to save,” he smiled to Tyann, as she finished, “those I can. Gosh, hadn’t thought about missing a church service. I guess it’s just so ingrained in me to attend.”

  “In me too, Conner, tell me about your next couple of years.”

  She gazed at him, easy to visualize him with the animals, a gentle big guy with an understanding heart. She remembered how sensitive he was as a kid, when animals at his place got sick or hurt.

  “I’ll always be with all the critters, big and small, diagnosis, surgery, medications, helping them get well. I’ve been doing all that in the vet clinics I worked at in my undergraduate time and now with Doc. Unbelievable how much trust the vets I worked with placed in me, still do. So, after third year there’s no summer off, no coming home. It’s something like 24 units of study/hands-on I’ve to complete from June until the next May when we graduate.”

  “Surgery, everything?”

  “Yeah, everything, like 19 required units and 5 others to pick from, and big exams to get ready for, like your national nurses test, there’s one for vet accreditation.”

  “That will be some final year, Conner.”

  Tyann cut more pieces of cheese and laid out more crackers.

  “This all tastes so wonderful.”

  “Yeah, Conner, it’s being outside, in this woodsy setting, seeing the trees ahead, the sky above, and hearing the little brook that still flows down by the trees.

  They sipped most of their second glasses of wine and finished the snacks.

  She smiled to him, “Oh, and being with you, Conner.”

  For just a moment her mind flitted back to the short time she and Brody spent back away from where she and Conner sat. They spoke of a home, building a home together.

  “Let it go, let it go,” she nodded to herself as she shut the thought from her mind.

  “You were with Brody, just then.”

  She smiled to him and nodded, “You flat can read my mind.”

  “Not always, but I saw you wince as you shut the thought out of your head.”

  “Oh Conner, in God’s heart, there’s no one like you.”

  They turned to each other. Longing flooded Tyann, her groin area heated to almost explosion. She looked into his eyes, dark, intense, desiring her. He took her hand and lowered it to his erect penis, straining through his old jeans.

  “So much desire,” he whispered as his breathing quickened. His hand moved under her bra and his finger circled her hardened nipple. She felt her vagina swim with fluid, wanting him, aching for him. They stood and undressed each other. He covered her with his big body, stroking her back and as she stroked his. They knelt, her breasts pressed against him and his penis moving against her tummy. They kissed and kissed, each kiss leading to the next, their tongues touching as they pressed closer together.

  Tyann’s head snapped back, away from his kisses. She looked up into his blue-black eyes and put her head against his chest.

  “I can’t, not now.”

  “I know, my beautiful one.”


  “There’re our tomorrows.”

  “Two years, decisions.”

  They clung together. They helped each other with getting dressed.

  “Warmer now?”

  “Yeah, oh Conner, so much livin’ to do.”

  “And loving you.”

  They stood together, looking up at the darkened sky. He handed her a small box, “A little somethin’.”

  “I don’t have anything for you, Conner.”

  She watched Conner pat his hand over his heart.

  “Oh, yeah, you do, your love, memories, right here. Here, let me help you.”

  She held up the small gold necklace with a tiny heart in the middle.

  “Oh, thank you. Would you help me with it?”

  She turned. He clasped the piece. It fit snug against her neck.

  She moved around to face him, “My love for you, is always, each day,” she paused, “and I pray for you.”

  “As I will pray for you.”

  They grasped hands together and squeezed, “In God’s hands.”

  “Yes.”

  They agreed to say goodbye as Conner let her off on the sidewalk in front of her home. Tyann sat on her front step, trying to compose herself. She kept sobbing. Conner pulled over on the side of the road about half way home. He gave up trying to control his tears and just let his sadness take hold of him.

  5

  1994 - Punta Cana

  “Too many have infections, the patients, they’ve picked up while they’ve been here.”

  “Didn’t come in with the infection?”

  “Yes.”

  How long’s this been going on?”

  “Noticed it, about six weeks ago,” Dr. Schlitz nodded to her. “It’s not getting any better.”

  Tyann left the nurses station and went to the housekeeping storage area for the floor (including the ER area) on which she worked. She knew exactly what to do. From there she approached the housekeeping/maintenance staff. They nodded when she asked if they could help. For her third task she drew water samples from five different faucets on the floor and from faucets in the kitchen and laundry areas. The med techs ran water quality tests. Over several days she assisted the housekeeping staff who worked the 7-3, and 3-ll shifts.

  They all wore masks the first time she introduced the new procedure.

  “Bleach, you must use bleach; our supply folks’ve ordered odorless bleach. But we have to use up the smelly bleach we have first.”

  “Why bleach?” a housekeeping person inquired.

  Tyann went on to explain that only bleach killed many of the bacteria, invisible but ever present everywhere in the hospital. She talked about the infection increase that occurred after patients were admitted. Most of the time the illness they came in for got treated. But these bacteria, new to patients, it was making some of them sicker than when they entered the hospital.

  The housekeeping staff understood. She showed them how everything had to be wiped down, the beds and everything else in the room, door knobs, besides floors, walls, and all equipment within the room, things not thought about. Bacteria infested surfaces. Once she worked with them she started in with the nursing staff and doctors, about the absolute necessity of washing hands, after every patient, after every procedure, even after gloves got pulled off. Most never thought about doing that before. But they figured it out, because patients got sicker, not better. Housekeepers brought in boxes of gloves, for every room where patients got treated.

  “Glove up,” became the mantra for everyone. The maintenance staff installed antiseptic wash containers outside every room holding patients, and in many places throughout the floor. All staff, everyone, saw the constant reminder about clean hands, and masks for staff who came in sick themselves.

  “Pretty grim, when staff get sick, don’t know how to handle that,” she spoke to the doctor in charge of the hospital.

  “Fact of life, we gotta have staff, to make this hospital a place where sick folks can come.”

  “Got it, short staffing is worse than having someone come in who’s got the sniffles.”

  Over the next few months, from May to November, a staff member on Tyann’s floor kept statistics on the patients and their illnesses. After four months of the new procedure, patient health improved. Tyann saw it, as did the rest of the staff. The bleach plan went on throughout the hospital, for all patients. The laundry and kitchen also worked with the hospital administration, improving the water quality in washing everything used in the hospital. Especially important was water use in the hospital kitchen to wash fruits and vegetables for cooking and baking.

  

  Thanksgiving Day Tyann invited two nurses and two doctors who were not on shift for a dinner, to celebrate that American holiday. She planned to bake a chicken in a pan with chicken broth, peeled and quartered potatoes, canned onions and carrots, using the small apartment oven. She asked each guest to share a dish or drink they loved, from their own country or state. One guest was German, a doctor.

  Garrett Solmiger, the German doctor on staff, asked Tyann out soon after she got to the hospital. She declined, told him she had to get a handle on her life, that she still grieved for the guy she planned to marry back home, a guy she saw die, right in front of her eyes. And he had a brother, someone else she cared for a lot.

  Tyann got the nerve to ask him to this Thanksgiving dinner. And he accepted.

  “You excited me from the first time I saw you, someone who looked so Germanic, the blonde blue eyes, and you are,” he nodded to her after he accepted her invitation.

  The Swedish doctor and the Icelandic nurse each brought a favorite dessert. The nurse from Alaska brought salad, and Garrett brought two bottles of a white German wine, to celebrate the occasion.

  Tyann gazed around at her guests. They sat crowded together at the circle table after standing for Tyann’s grace which four of them knew, since childhood. Tyann handed them serving plates of food. She asked Jenny to put a little of each food on her plate.

  “Please, everyone eat. For seconds, just get up and help yourself.”

  She placed the serving dishes on a table near where they ate. Tyann took in a deep breath. The whole apartment smelled of the onions and carrots baked in with the chicken.

  “Uuummm, this is delicious,” Ian Rolde smiled to Tyann. “Where’d you learn to cook like this?”

  Tyann explained her mom’s work situation, that she cooked, helping out since she was 10.

  “Yes, everything’s wonderful,” several others commented.

  Everyone shared clean up chores. They decided to wait for the tasty desserts. Garrett poured more wine for those who could have it. A guest would leave before long to get ready for her 12 hour shift starting at 11 p.m. After the special pie and cheese cake, the guest headed out. And serious poker began.

  “Thanks for bringing the poker chips, Jennifer.”

  “Yeah, like you, Tyann, my family and others in our small Alaskan community played a lot of cards.”

  They finished off the second bottle of wine after two hours of poker. Jennifer got most of the chips. The four of them decided they needed to play again, if they could ever coordinate their shifts.

  “It’s been so great to get away and spend time together, so fun,” Ian and Jennifer agreed as they left at the same time.

  “Thank you for all this,” Garrett came up to Tyann after her guests left.

  She nodded as she looked up to him.

  “I miss my family, back home in Iowa. You all are my family now.”

  He moved closer and closer to her. He bent down as he caressed her lips with his. She returned his kiss with a soft kiss for him. He kissed her cheek and then gathered her into his arms. They held together for a time.

  “That feels,” she paused, “so wonderful, your hug, Garrett.”

  They stepped back from each other.

  “I want to spend time with you, on the beach or visiting in town, a dinner out. The hotel developers’re putting up some large resor
ts. You know, I have a car; let’s go exploring, you and me.”

  “My hours, working Fridays through Sundays, the nice thing is, when I actually get off at 6, I have the rest of the evening, and all day Monday through Thursday.”

  “Except I know, dear one, that you volunteer at the free clinic downtown on Wednesdays.”

  “I didn’t know anyone knew about that.”

  “They love you there, Tyann, you are a superior nurse. Actually I learned that from a priest who also helps out. Father says a mass at the hospital chapel, volunteers, and does counseling.”

  “Wow.”

  “Happy Thanksgiving, it’s a great way to give thanks for all we have, you Americans really demonstrate that.”

  She saw a bright light in his sky blue eyes as he looked down to her. She walked him out, smiled and nodded to him. He walked several steps away, then turned and waved to her. She raised her arm to him.

  Tyann finished putting away the dishes and cookware from the dinner. She wanted everything in order when Angela got home from her 3-11 shift.

  “Oh my gosh, I didn’t even ask him. I wonder if he volunteers at the free clinic?”

  She got her answer after she talked with him.

  “I do volunteer at the clinic, on Fridays.”

  “That’s so helpful, for the sick people,” she smiled and nodded to him, “So many who don’t have any way to even get to the clinic.”

  “And when they do, there’re often in pretty bad condition.”

  “My goodness, and when we send folks on their way, well, we all contribute to a fund so they can ride the bus, at least part way home.”

  

  They swam, then talked some more, apart and then near each other. They stayed closer to shore, swimming and being aware of the rip tide, since they were all alone. Garrett and Tyann sat on a large towel, spread out on the beach, a soft sand area he discovered exploring when he first got to Punta Cana. She watched the late afternoon sun keep disappearing as clouds sped along above where they sat. The breeze they felt dried them off without so much as a towel.

  “It’s still quiet at the hospital; I guess residents want to celebrate Christmas and the New Year here kinda like in America. They don’t want to come, want to be with family.”