by Hazel Parker
“But you said it’s your favorite. I can’t take this one,” Danny said.
“I can get another one,” Richie said, shrugging his shoulders before pushing the toy into Danny’s hand.
“Alright, little man,” Danny said, putting it in the small pocket of his doctor’s jacket. “I’ll keep it safe. Promise.” Turning to the boy's mother, he asked, “How’d he do last night?” while reading over the patient file.
“He threw up once,” she said, rubbing her son’s forehead. “He just doesn’t seem like himself.”
“Okay,” Danny said while still reading the patient’s chart. “I see his iron levels are pretty low. I’ll order his lab work to see what we can prescribe to get him feeling more alert.”
His mom was intimate with the constant procedures. She practically lived in the hospital.
As he worked, Danny explained what he was doing to the nurses, keeping both his students and the mom informed.
“Well that’s it, buddy,” Danny said, turning to Richie.
“Are they going to stick me today?” Richie already knew the drill. In addition to routine lab work and throat cultures, Richie was being treated with a clinical trial that could cure his cancer. It was still in the testing phase, but the doctors and his mom were hopeful it would help. So far, there hadn’t been any progress but, regardless of the slow results, he had to be injected with the serum once every three days.
“I think so, buddy. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said, looking down. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine for being so sick."
Danny hated to hear that. His patients should never think about their sickness as a result of something they did.
“It’s not your fault. No one did this, but if I have anything to do with it, you’ll be better in no time. Okay?” Danny said.
Richie nodded his head like a good boy and went back to playing with his figurines.
Chapter 3
Danny leaned over Jenny, another patient, listening to her heart and smiling to reassure her. He couldn’t say anything as he counted the pulses from her skinny wrist, but he could smile. It was, after all, good news. At least this time it was.
“This is all great progress, Jenny,” he said to the small girl in the hospital bed, before turning to her mom. “You’ll be able to take her home soon. As long as her fever stays down and there’s no more fluid in her lungs, she'll be home in no time.”
“Just in time for soccer try-outs,” the girl yelled, throwing her hands in the air.
“Now, Jenny,” her mom said, smoothing the girl's red hair down. “We talked about this, honey.”
“No.” She crossed her arms over her chest, a move Danny knew very well. The little girl was gearing up for a fight. “You talked. I was listening.”
Her mother eyed her with reproach, but continued speaking with a soft tone. “You know you can’t do soccer this year. You need time to rest.” Danny could understand that. Acute lymphocytic leukemia was hard. It drained a patient of their energy. Even with treatment, the body needed time to recover. “It’s just not safe right now. Maybe next year.”
The fire in her eyes dimmed and she slumped back in bed. “That’s what you said last year.” She wasn’t whining, just pointing out facts with disappointment. “I’m never going to get out of this bed.”
Danny was never one to get in the middle of arguments. With children, it was impossible to win. If you sided with the children, the parents got angry, and if you sided with the parents, the child fought tooth and nail during treatment. There were few times when he could safely engage, like now.
“Don’t say that, Jenny. You are getting out of this bed. I just know it.” Danny’s rule number one was to never make promises he couldn't keep. “If not this week, then soon. Just keep fighting. You get well and—who knows—maybe you’ll be kicking the winning goal next year.”
“You really think so?” the little girl asked.
She looked so young. The cancer had riddled her body into looking like she was ten years old instead of thirteen.
He crouched next to her bed until they were eye to eye. “I know so. I do this for a living, trust me.”
Her winning smile was worth it and she threw her tiny arms around his neck to hug him. He hugged her back before pulling away. “Alright, tiger. You keep getting better. Ms. Tracy will be around to see you during her rounds. Don’t let her give you too much candy.”
Jenny laughed and saluted. “Yes, Sir.”
The nurses walked out, following Danny, but seeing Jenny’s mother following them, he stayed behind.
“Is there something else?” Danny asked, eyeing his nurses as they walked to the next patient’s room. They knew from experience, he would catch up.
“I just wanted to thank you, Doctor Struthers,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye.
“You don’t have to thank me, Mrs. Thompson,” Danny said.
“Oh please, call me Faye,” she said, taking a step towards him. “And it’s just Miss now, not Mrs. anymore.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, growing tense as she stepped even closer.
“Don’t be. That bastard was never around anyway,” Mrs. Thompson said.
Danny knew that look. He’d seen it enough times in his seven years as a pediatric oncologist. He knew about people who got off on having hookups with doctors.
“Well, I’m glad you’re happy,” Danny said.
She was inches from his face; Danny could smell the gum she had spit out only minutes before he had entered to check on Jenny. They were standing too close for their conversation to appear normal, so he stepped back.
“I am happy,” she said, stepping closer again. “I’d be even happier spending time with you. Perhaps dinner?”
“Well, I imagine you do have a lot of free time now, but you don’t have to spend it with me,” Danny said.
She thrust herself forward, much like her daughter, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Of course I would. You’re warm and smell yummy.” She was practically purring. “You listen when I talk instead of snorting, like someone I know,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“That’s what it takes to be a good doctor,” he said, removing her arms and placing them firmly at her sides. “It doesn’t mean you should be spending time with me.”
“You’re everything I could want in a doctor,” she sighed, but kept her hands to herself.
“Thank you. It’s really an honor to be helping your daughter. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Danny said. “I have to help the new nurses.”
He saw his group of nurses down the hall, but one woman in particular caught his eyes. She was petite, but her green scrubs clung to her in all the right places.
“See you around, Doctor Struthers,” said Jenny’s mom.
He didn’t bother responding as he walked away, too caught up in the woman with brown hair in the green smocks. The closer he walked, the better his view. She was gorgeous in an unpretentious way, her curves, oh her curves, and he liked that she didn’t appear to be high-maintenance. Her hair was in a ponytail, her pouty lips covered in a layer of gloss, nothing else, no makeup, au naturel. Just her, smiling at another student while she learned from the head resident in charge. She was gorgeous. Simply gorgeous.
He shook his head as he approached, trying to clear it. In a lot of ways, he knew why it was easy to get to know them and encourage them to stick around. He wasn’t dumb. He knew his looks factored into it. No one went out of their way to meet Doctor McIntyre on the fifth floor. Sure, he was a gastroenterologist, and working with colons wasn’t the most fun job. He was an excellent, knowledgeable doctor and the new nurses could just as well be introduced to him. That almost never happened though, unless a nurse requested it, because Doctor McIntyre looked to be eighty years old and spoke slow enough to try the patience of a saint.
Danny stepped forward, shaking the hand of each woman. This ba
tch of nurses, per usual, were all female and, to keep it professional, Danny made the effort to look each one of them in the eye. He didn’t have a lot of free time, but he tried to make sure to give each woman a few seconds of his time, especially the nurse wearing the green scrubs. They all had on scrubs, but only hers were green.
“Hi,” she said with a smile. “I’m Sarah Patterson.”
He repeated her name in his head. He wouldn’t likely forget that. She spoke with confidence without blushing or averting her eyes like most women. It was strange, since so many women went out of their way to get his attention. Pleasant. Just that, and attentive. He got that as he moved on and let the nurses follow him on the rounds. It was clear in the way she watched him work and asked questions that she was only there to learn. With her focus on work, he could concentrate on his own work better.
Chapter 4
Sarah was super nervous. Nail-biting, hair-pulling, lip-chewing nervous. She was almost a full-fledged nurse. She calmed herself as she stood on the sidewalk across the street, looking at the huge sprawling hospital, determined not to let any of her excitement show, and her efforts hadn't been all for nothing. Things were going great so far.
As a nurse, she was assigned to a specific floor—pediatric oncology—and although she wasn’t assigned to a particular doctor, she’d already gotten used to the few that worked there. Since it wasn’t a teaching hospital, she primarily worked with the actual doctors instead of residents. Her shifts were usually 12 hours and that could drive anyone crazy, but her team was full of people she actually liked. Carla, the charge nurse, was the oldest on team in age and years of working at the hospital. Sarah went to her with every question. She was responsible for making sure nursing care is delivered safely and that all the patients on the unit are receiving adequate care. There was Janice, the nurse aide, Gina, the nurse tech, and Sarah, the on-duty nurse.
The doctors on staff were also very kind. There were three pediatric oncologists on the floor where Sarah worked. Doctor Allis, Doctor Lewis, and Doctor Struthers.
Doctor Allis was an older woman who wore thick glasses and her gray hair pulled into the tightest bun possible. She was incredibly short, so short she wore platform tennis shoes during her rounds and had her own stool for when she was in surgery. Behind her back, nurses called her a hard ass. She was known to make the nurses on her team cry if they were anything less than excellent, but when it came to patients, she was the very best. No, she wasn’t empathetic but she was a damned good doctor. In all her years of working, she’d received several prestigious awards for her clinical research and her breakthrough method in cancer detection.
Doctor Lewis wasn’t as old as Doctor Allis or as young as Doctor Struthers but he was incredibly boring. His voice was monotone, he believed in following the rules and procedures to the letter of the law, and he was superstitious. Once he banned a nurse from his service for dropping one of his utensils during surgery. Dropping something wasn’t unheard of, it could easily be sterilized again, but to Doctor Lewis, it was an omen for bad work. He asked another doctor to finish the surgery for fear he’d kill the patient. It was a tossup between dealing with Doctor Allis and Doctor Lewis when choosing a shift.
Of all the doctors, Doctor Struthers was her favorite. She really liked him. He was kind to the patients, seemingly unworried about time on his rounds. When he was with a patient, he listened to their every need without rushing, which was rare in doctors these days. Most of them seemed worried about pushing pills and getting through as many patients as possible. Doctor Struthers worked really hard, he was more advanced in his career than most doctors his age and regularly made contributions in the community— like holding a fundraiser to make sure everyone could afford school uniforms. Sarah liked him on a professional level, but found him attractive, too. She made sure to be subtle when she stared, but she could look at his chiseled face all day.
Sarah walked forward, shaking her thoughts loose as she pushed through the door to the staff room. She threw her stuff into her locker and took five minutes to get herself together. A minute later she was with everyone else, focusing on Doctor Struthers as he listened to a patient’s heart. Seeing all these sick kids had to be hard on him, but he smiled at the little girl he was evaluating like she was the prettiest princess in the world. She had on a yellow sash and a crown.
“Are you Princess Belle?” Danny asked.
The little girl nodded, shy in front of the new guests in her room.
“And, let me guess, I’m the beast?” Danny asked.
She nodded again, blushing slightly.
Sarah understood the little girl blushing: It had taken all her concentration not to turn red under Doctor Struthers' beautiful smile.
“I guess that’s fair,” he said like he was thinking about it. “I have locked you up in this castle and won’t let you go. Well, don’t worry. The curse will be lifted soon.” He shifted her hospital gown to reveal her scars. "I got out all the bad stuff and I checked. There’s no more. So, you’ll be leaving soon.”
“But if I go, who will you marry? A prince needs a princess.” She was so shy, fiddling with the fringe of her dress.
“Don’t worry about me,” Danny said, smirking at her mother. “I’m sure I’ll find another fair maiden soon. You just make sure to save me a dance when you get out of here.”
“I can do that,” the little girl said, leaning into her mother, who was stroking her daughter’s hair, silently, tears streaming down her face in relief that the tumor in her child was gone.
“Good. See you soon for that dance,” Danny said.
Sarah followed his entourage of nurses out the door.
It was fulfilling, though labor-intensive and she finished her shift feeling exhausted. It felt like she had just done eight hours of Cross-fit instead of practicing as a nurse. She waved goodbye to her coworkers and headed to her scheduled restorative yoga class. Living downtown was convenient for her. Everything was close and she didn’t need a car.
Walking gave her time to think, and ruminating about the young, sick children at work brought to mind her brother. She'd only been five when he had died but her family had told her enough to piece the vision of him together. Her parents dealt with his cancer from the time he was two and he died when he was only three. She didn’t know how they dealt with that. It was hard enough to see as a nurse, let alone living it as a parent and she saw it in the faces of the parents at the hospital. She could only hope to be as kind and as helpful in her service as the nurses who had helped her parents.
Lost in her thoughts, Sarah heard the car horn and screeching brakes just in time to see the headlights coming right at her.
Chapter 5
Danny’s heart thumped wildly as his foot smashed against the brake, his leg taut, and his hands gripping the steering wheel. He had almost killed someone.
The woman stared down at his bumper which was inches from her body. She had been crossing the street and not paying attention. He could see her clearly in the light of his headlights.
It was Sarah, the new nurse from earlier in the green smock. She was holding her chest, as if unable to believe she was alive—frozen in place. Danny looked both ways before opening his car door, aware they were still in the middle of the road and climbed out of the car. He bumped the door with his hip to close it and walked to Sarah’s side.
Danny stood to the side, not sure what to do. She seemed stuck in a trance. “Sarah?”
She turned towards his voice—a good sign—though her eyes were glazed over and she seemed to be in a bit of a daze.
“Sarah, can you hear me?” Danny asked.
She nodded.
“Let’s get out of the road,” he said, taking her by the arm and helping her over to the sidewalk. It was a good thing Danny was holding on to her. Her knees gave out as soon as they reached the sidewalk.
“Let’s sit,” Danny suggested.
“I almost died,” Sarah murmured.
She almost had. Neither one of them had been paying attention.
“But you’re okay,” Danny said.
She blinked, staring at his car which was still running, shining lights into the darkening street.
“Are you okay?” Danny asked.
She nodded, blinking slowly, but finally looking him in the eyes. “Yes. I’m okay.”
“Let me give you a ride to where you were going.” Danny said.
“I was going to the yoga class down the street.”
The classes were in the community center and from where they were he could see the lights were on.
“Okay, that’s not far. Let’s go,” he said. He stood up before leaning over to help her to her feet. She stood, but rubbed her arms as if unsure.
“I don’t think I want to go anymore,” Sarah said.
He could understand that. She couldn’t relax after something as stressful as almost getting hit by a car.
“Okay. Is there somewhere else I can take you?” Danny asked. It was the least he could do. “Anywhere, it doesn’t matter where,” he said, opening the door.
“Just home, please,” Sarah said.
“I can do that.” He shut her door, then walked around the side of the car and slid inside, relieved that he was able to, in some ways, right the wrong he had made.
“Thank you. That way,” Sarah said before pointing in the direction he needed to drive.
“It’s the least I could do.”
“I hope I haven’t made you late or anything.” She shifted, getting comfortable in the seat.
“Not at all. My family knows the kind of schedule I work. My daughter is a good sport.”
“That’s amazing. What’s her name?” she asked.
“Molly.”
“I like that name. How old is she?” Sarah asked.
“Seven.”
“I get that. That’s the age where you start getting your own personality and want your own things,” Sarah said.
“Exactly. My sister loves it.”
