by Barbara Ebel
Annabel cringed. She would never not do something on the rotation she was supposed to. “I’m sorry. I never heard him say that.”
“He did. He told Dr. Mack to tell you all that.” She finished rubbing her hands, reached into her bag and pulled out a ziplock bag of cookies.
Annabel felt disgust rising from her throat. “Dr. Wallace, honestly, I was never informed.”
Brandy held a chocolate chip cookie and half waved it at Annabel. “If it doesn’t come up about clinic, I won’t mention it then.”
“So you believe me?”
“Probably,” she said in a flat tone. “Only because it’s Dr. Mack.” She put the whole cookie into her mouth and handed one to Annabel.
Annabel took a bite. When she swallowed, she said, “I feel like a hyphen. You know, the spot you take in life between jumping from elementary school to high school. Or like being left back in fifth grade. Or like being a middle child and mom loves the first one the most and dad loves the third one the most.”
“Jeez, Annabel, you’ve been giving this some thought.”
Annabel nodded while Brandy slipped another cookie into her hand. “It’s just that Marlin is a dickhead,” Annabel said.
Brandy raised her eyebrows. “So much so,” Brandy said, “that the woman he dated through most of medical school dumped him right before residency. She was really smart and went off to do a PM&R residency in Minnesota.”
“What is that?” Annabel asked.
“Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.”
“She couldn’t have been that smart if she was dating him.”
“She was. His true colors become clearer over time. Now, certain women seem to get under his skin. Perhaps it’s jealousy or the nepotism he mentioned. That girlfriend of his had connections in medicine too. He’s just a sore loser.”
“He’s more than that,” Annabel said.
“I’ll tell you what his girlfriend said in the end,” Brandy said, “but just don’t repeat it.”
Annabel swallowed. “What?”
“She wanted to stick a needle in his eye.”
“Ouch.”
Brandy stood up and nodded at Annabel while finishing the last cookie. She leaned over and threw away the plastic bag as Marlin Mack walked in.
“I hope you two have enjoyed whatever you’ve been eating while Dr. Burk and I have been doing serious surgery.”
“We ate some for you, Marlin,” Brandy said and walked out.
Marlin bent over at the waist, almost in Annabel’s face. “She’s feisty today, isn’t she?”
“Not feisty but intuitive.”
A silence fell in the room. “I missed surgery clinic today and apparently Dr. Burk wanted me there,” she said. “Who was supposed to let me know?”
Marlin narrowed his eyes at her. “I guess you’re not intuitive like Dr. Wallace. You were supposed to know, because surgery clinic is on Wednesdays and if you weren’t in surgery, that’s where you’re supposed to be.”
“Now I know it.”
Brandy walked back in with a chart, walked between them and sat at the desk. She flipped the brown cover open and began writing orders. Marlin stepped towards her. “And next time, Brandy, shut your pie-hole,” he said quietly.
-----
Annabel stared at the surgery paperback on her desk at home, reading the same paragraph over and over. Why bother? She walked over to her bed. The sun had set and she could see the nearby street light through her half-cracked blinds. She turned her three-way lamp to the lowest setting and lay down. Finding out that Robby Burk had a fiancée still upset her. But what difference did it make? He’d never be interested in her anyway and where was the time for a relationship? Maybe her friends from college had it correct and they weren’t even as pressured or as busy as she was. If you wanted to date, social apps were the in-thing. But forget dating. Sex was what she needed. Forget the hassle of getting involved. Just go for the sex like some of them did.
She popped back up, grabbed her iPhone, and downloaded the most popular app. Without hesitating, she poked on ‘get started.’ After filtering through her picture library, she picked a flattering picture and posted it. Then she completed her profile: interests, education, favorite movies and books. For education and present job, she put ‘in graduate school.’ She decided not to divulge being a medical student and, when she finished, she browsed male profiles; two looked interesting but she closed down for the time being.
Looking forward to a call she really wanted to make, Annabel went back to her bed with the phone … and called home to Nashville. When her mother answered, Annabel gave her the surprise news.
“You all won’t believe it,” Annabel said. “I have off after Friday morning until Monday morning. It’s because of the way our schedule falls. Is it okay if I come home?” She hoped more than anything that they would be available and she could drive down to see them.
“Sweetheart, that’s wonderful. We’ll be here for you. I can’t wait and your father will be ecstatic, too.”
“Thanks, Mom,” she said, relieved. “See you Friday.”
Annabel knew the five-hour drive would be worth it.
Chapter 10
The day before call, Annabel twiddled with her hair on rounds as Dr. Pittman nestled into the wall. As he exhausted the day’s subject about breast cancer lumpectomies, she did her best not to close her eyes but, in essence, she catnapped. She lost track of what he was saying and dozed right into imagining her weekend at home.
Three of the team’s patients were discharged during the day and Annabel recognized that Dr. Mack didn’t drag out his discharge with Da’wan, the medical student on the case. Da’wan only had to look at the orders he wrote, watch him give instructions to the patient, and then go for lunch.
She considered it a blessing that the team broke up and all students were able to go home by four o’clock. Her dermatology appointment was two blocks away in a medical clinic so, instead of driving and having the hassle of parking, she walked briskly in the sunshine. It felt odd and exhilarating to escape the color-deprived hospital corridors and walk outside.
In the plush waiting room, she filled out her insurance information, the reason for the visit, and waited. She pulled out her iPhone, tapped on the dating app, and saw a response to her profile - a computer engineer from Washington, D.C. who was two years older than her but presently in Ohio for work. Annabel pulled the phone up close; his picture was flattering. She scrolled through more of his details and seriously contemplated his credentials … if they were true.
He didn’t live here, she thought, so she had nothing to lose to ‘meet’ him through the app. Her rotation was going poorly, she had a resident out to get her, and she had a useless crush on her chief resident. Why not meet this handsome, educated guy with a lucrative profession? She swiped right like he had done, unlocking the chat and letting him know her interest in him was mutual.
“Annabel Tilson?” A woman stood in the doorway to the exam rooms.
Annabel got up and followed her back as she tucked the phone away.
“Since you are wearing long sleeves,” the nurse said, “just put on this top. The doctor will be in soon.”
In a few minutes, a knock rapped on the door and the doctor stepped in. After introductions, she looked at the back of Annabel’s upper arm.
“How long has this been here?” she asked.
“I didn’t know it was there. My gynecologist spotted it.”
“I’d like to biopsy it. There are many skin lesions that we treat, such as actinic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma or plain innocent moles. This is a bit irregular and dark, so we’d better be safe than sorry.”
Annabel nodded to go ahead and the doctor swiped the area with an antiseptic, drew up some local anesthetic and injected it. After removing a small sample, it went off to pathology.
“And please take a look at this one behind my neck,” Annabel said. “It gets irritated
by collars and sometimes bleeds.”
“Let’s send that one off to pathology, too” the doctor said and proceeded to take it off as well.
“You can get dressed,” the doctor said when she finished. “We’ll call you next week when the results come back.” She put an adhesive bandage on both of them and left.
At the front desk, Annabel said good-bye. On the walk back, she considered the derm appointment an inconvenience but, if that mole had been a blemish on the back of her arm, all the better that it had been somewhat removed.
She pulled out her phone and opened the app again; there was her new contact, Paul Besdoe.
Hi, Annabel. Nice to meet you.
Likewise, she wrote.
I’m leaving town tomorrow morning. Want to hook up?
Maybe, she replied.
We could meet and talk at my hotel’s bar…maybe go to my room after that or call it quits. Whaddaya say?
Annabel’s heart thumped. This is it, what she’d heard about. Up for grabs on these social apps: sex linkups or relationship possibilities. Or possibly both.
It would have to be around 7:00, she typed, not giving it more thought. She was on call tomorrow; she’d have to make this work. It was time to do something for herself and she wanted this.
That will work. Come to the Remington Hotel next to the conference center. I’ll have on a gray logo T-shirt and blue jeans. We can have a glass of wine and talk.
See you then, she replied.
-----
Annabel wore a smile by the time she got home. No studying tonight. She hadn’t had sex with anyone since her old boyfriend David and that had been a few years ago. If this Paul works out, it’s about time, she thought. She started to get jittery as she fixed her hair and changed her blouse into something lighter with soft colors. Getting ready for call would have to wait until she got home; there was no way she’d spend the night with this guy.
Not knowing if they’d eat anything at the hotel, Annabel made a sandwich and ate over her kitchen counter. It barely had time to settle in her stomach when she grabbed her purse and keys and left.
The spacious and open hotel lobby beckoned her in and she immediately saw the entrance to the bar on the right. She’d worn comfortable flat shoes and silently stepped into the wood-paneled room. There were a dozen or two people sitting here and there and she eyed the ones sitting by themselves. From a small table up front, a young man stood and walked over. Wearing what he had described, she knew it was him.
“Annabel?” he asked, extending his arm to lightly touch her.
She nodded and they stood rooted to the spot.
“I’m Paul. Nice to meet you.”
“You, too.”
He was casually dressed like he’d promised and was pleasant to look at although not as handsome as her David had been. With dark looks and a devilish smile, she would have dated him for those looks alone under old fashioned circumstances.
“Let’s go over there,” he said, pointing the way. And can I get you something to drink?”
“Sure. A white wine,” she replied and sat where he’d been.
When he came back from the bar, he handed her a glass and resumed drinking the beer he had in front of him.
“So you said you were here on work,” Annabel said.
“Yes, just a business trip. I usually travel once or twice a month. Sometimes clients need small presentations about our computer renovations and updates. I don’t face the public that much but I’m pretty good at it when I have to. What about you?” He kept good eye contact and slid her a napkin from the dispenser.
“I’m busy with grad school. Medical-related. Don’t have much time to meet people.”
“I hear you. Aren’t social hook-ups the best? Meeting someone is mutual from the beginning. I don’t have time for dating so this works for me. Apparently for you, too.”
This must be a way of life for him, she thought, and a normal occurrence … or so it seems. She never knew this kind of lifestyle existed. For men, was this a replacement for hookers or buying sex? No, it couldn’t be; otherwise young people wouldn’t be doing it. On the other hand, older people may be doing it, too. She had no way of knowing but, so far, Paul seemed like a perfect solution for her present circumstances.
Thirty minutes elapsed as Annabel finished her wine and Paul drank a second craft beer.
“Well, I have an early crack-of-dawn flight out of here.” He leaned in close. “Would you like to go up to my room?”
“Sure,” she said, pushing the empty wine glass away.
When she got up, he waited for her to go first and then held her hand for a short time through the lobby to the elevators. Inside, he leaned in. “We’re going to have fun,” he said. He grasped her hand again and squeezed.
He unlocked his door with a key card and they both hurried in. The bed was tightly made and a suitcase was open on a bench. The white pillows were all stacked at the headboard. It did appear like he’d worked during the day and hadn’t spent time in the room. Annabel put her purse down and went to the window while he stepped into the bathroom. When he came out, his shirt was off and they both approached each other and kissed.
They heated up quickly and Annabel traced the front of his chest with a finger. “Only with a condom,” she said.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Smiling in unison, he added, “Big Johnson has no problem with that.” He put her hand on his growing bulge and they both grinned.
_____
Satisfied and sweaty, Annabel picked up her clothes from around the room, went to the bathroom and got dressed.
“Thanks for understanding my early morning,” Paul said, standing with his underwear on and drinking from a water bottle.
“Actually, I’m in the same situation,” she said. “I have to get home.”
“Would you like a bottle of water to take with you?” he asked.
“Sure,” she said.
When he took one from the refrigerator and handed it to her, she turned towards the door. “Have a good flight tomorrow.”
“Thanks. And all the best with finishing up your program.”
Annabel left the room, hurried down the hallway to the elevator, and checked the time. It was later than she wanted for being on call the next day.
When she arrived home, she showered and packed her call bag. She slid into bed thinking that her evening had been worth it, every minute of it. With a deep breath, she thought of the masculine body that had been on top of hers less than two hours ago. The evening had been a shining example of what social apps could do for her and Big Johnson’s arrival tonight had been good timing.
-----
The team slowly drifted back to the office after rounds and waited for Robby who’d been detained by a family in the hallway.
“Are we taking the same bunks tonight like the other night?” Bob asked, glancing at Annabel.
“That’s fine with me, if it’s okay with Da’wan and Ginny,” she said.
Everyone agreed as Brandy fiddled on the computer looking up patient information, and Marlin stood in the corner. “I like my view from the top,” Bob said quietly to her.
“What? Of a fluorescent fixture on the ceiling?”
“No. Of the top bunk across from me.”
“Bob…,” she said and rolled her eyes.
“Sorry. It’s just that you have an extra glow today.”
She smiled a sheepish grin. “Don’t waste compliments on me,” she said and furrowed her brow at him but couldn’t totally wipe away the look of pleasure she wore.
“Just saying …,” he said.
Marlin stared at them both as Robby strolled in. “All students and residents accounted for,” he said looking around and taking his favorite spot against the desk. “Who’s up first for admissions?”
“It’s me,” Brandy said.
“Me, too,” Ginny said.
Robby went to the blackboard and wrote down the cycle of students with which resident for
the next twenty-four hours. “And,” he said, turning around. “One of our present patients, Mr. Simmons, goes to the OR this morning for a hernia repair. I will see you there shortly … Dr. Mack and Dr. Tilson.”
Annabel cringed. How she hated starting her call day off paired with Dr. Mack.
-----
Annabel watched Wilbur Gill as he attended to Mr. Simmons, readying him to go to sleep in the OR. The patient’s IV wasn’t working properly so Wilbur put in a new one and he did it much more skillfully than her limited experience. He finished putting monitors on him, an oxygen mask over his face to breathe, and began injecting small increments of drugs from his syringes lined up on the back cart. The attending doctor next to him supervised.
When the patient was asleep, Wilbur glanced at Annabel. “Do you want to see the vocal cords before I put the tube in?” he asked.
She hurried to the top of the table as her answer.
“I don’t use video laryngoscopes all the time like some residents. I want to do it like anesthesiologists have done it for years and years with a regular laryngoscope. If I need the scope with the camera, then I use it next. It’s like learning to play an instrument before you play electronic music with a sound synthesizer.” He stepped slightly to the side to let Annabel look while he pulled up with his Macintosh laryngoscope blade.
She saw the vocal cords and the space between them and then Wilbur slid in the endotracheal tube.
Marlin and Robby both scrubbed at the sink outside. “She has no interest in this rotation,” Marlin said. “I’m covering for her work half of the time and she’s more interested in what’s going on behind the blood-brain barrier.”
Robby looked through the window. Marlin’s blood-brain barrier referred to the physical drapes separating the surgical procedure from anesthesia and he inferred that the ‘brains’ consisted of the people on the surgeon’s side. But Robby always thought excellently of anesthesia, not like Marlin. However, he had a point. Annabel seemed more preoccupied with anesthesia than the surgeries she had attended.