by Jamie Davis
“Dean,” Brynne said. “Meet Kristof Algar, owner of Sabatani’s. He’s a Djinn, a genie in common terms. He has gotten trapped half in and half out of his bottle.”
“Can’t you just wish yourself out of the bottle?” Dean asked.
“I grant wishes, I don’t get them myself,” the trapped Djinn said.
Dean thought for a moment, looked at Brynne, who shrugged back at him. She turned back to the patient.
“Kristof,” she asked. “What if I just offered a wish to get you out myself?”
“I wouldn’t trust it,” Kristof answered. “My magic is wild magic and unpredictable at the best of times. Even a simple wish like that could be taken in some weird literal way and only make things worse.”
Brynne scratched her head, thinking. “You said you can’t feel your legs. Do you think they returned to solid form when you were unconscious? Could we just pull the bottle off you?”
“I tried that, Brynne. The bottle, well, it’s a portal to another dimension. It's where I come from. It’s bigger on the inside. I think my legs are normal sized on the inside and then squeezed down to the opening. It’s plugging the gateway, like a cork.” Kristof explained. “I think that’s why it feels like my legs are asleep, like when you sleep on your arm funny, and it gets all numb and limp?”
“We could break the glass?” Dean offered. “That would free up the opening and allow everything to expand back to normal.”
“That might work,” Brynne said. “I’m concerned with how long he’s been trapped this way. Kristof said he came upstairs do get something at about 6 PM?” She looked at her patient, who nodded in agreement. She glanced at her watch. “That means he’s been wedged in there for about nine hours.”
“You’re thinking compartment syndrome?” Dean asked. It made sense. When people became trapped by a heavy object, as in a building collapse, their limbs get squeezed, and blood flow stops. If you free them too quickly, the rush of blood frees up hours of cellular waste and toxins from the crushed area. It all rushes back into the body and can cause major organ damage, cardiac dysrhythmia or even death.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Brynne confirmed. “We can break the bottle, but we’ve got some things to do first to get ready to manage the return of circulation to his lower extremities.” She turned back to Kristof.
“We’re going to work this out, Kristof,” she said to her patient. “We need to take care of a few things first so that suddenly freeing you doesn’t flood your system with toxins unprepared.”
“Whatever you say, Brynne,” the trapped Djinn said. “I trust you.”
———
It took the two paramedics about fifteen minutes to get everything in place for their trapped patient. Eventually they were ready to try their plan to free him. They had him hooked up to the heart monitor. The monitor showed a sinus tachycardia on the screen; a normal rapid heartbeat that you’d expect to see in stressful or painful situations. They had two IVs set up, one flowing into each arm, with the two fluid bags suspended from a chair they had pulled over for the purpose. They had an array of medicines and syringes laid out next to the patient, in preparation for counteracting the expected toxic effects of the sudden return of blood flow to his legs.
Dean knew the goal was to protect the heart from a flood of potassium released from crushed cells and to keep the kidneys working, unclogged by cellular toxins and low blood pH or high acid levels. They had sodium bicarb drawn up and ready to administer for that problem. He looked over at Brynne on the opposite side of the patient.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
“I think so,” Brynne replied. She looked at Kristof. “Ok, we are going to do this, Kristof. Dean’s going to use that hammer and crowbar to attempt to break the neck of the bottle right at the top. If all goes as planned, you should be suddenly freed from the bottle’s portal and your legs will return to normal. We’ve got medicine to give you if we see a problem from your lower legs getting blood flow back.”
“Whatever you say, Brynne,” the patient said. “I trust you.”
“Okay, Dean. Let’s do this.”
Dean checked one more time to make sure that the area on the carpeted floor where the legs should reappear or expand, or whatever, was clear of any obstructions. He then picked up the curved crowbar and the ballpeen hammer they had retrieved from the tool box on the ambulance. He set the teeth of the crowbar at the top of the narrow bottle’s neck, hefted the hammer once to adjust his grip and then rapidly struck the top of the curved portion of the crowbar above the bottle. There was a crash and tinkling of broken glass, along with a strange whooshing sound, like air rushing from a giant soda bottle. Then suddenly, the legs of the patient appeared stretched out below his waist, which had returned to normal size as well.
“Oh my God, that hurts!” Kristof said between gritted teeth. “I can’t move them either. They’re still numb.”
Brynne picked up a syringe and connected it to the IV line on her side. “Here’s something for your pain, Kristof. Dean, you go ahead and slowly push the bicarb we measured earlier.”
Dean started depressing the plunger on the syringe he had already attached to his IV line in anticipation of this. The two paramedics started running through their planned course of treatment and managing their patient as he slowly got the feeling back in his legs.
It took about an hour. During that hour, they ran some labs with their iStat portable blood testing unit, checked in twice with the hospital for advice from the doctor there, and tried unsuccessfully to get their patient to agree to go to the hospital and get checked out. Most Unusuals avoided trips to the hospital, even though there were a core group of doctors and nurses there who kept their secret while treating them. Ultimately he refused transport, but did agree to drink plenty of fluids for the next few days and to check with them or go to the emergency room if he felt light-headed, had unusual back or abdominal pain, or chest pain. Kristof was up and walking again before they left, albeit gingerly, and he escorted them to the top of the stairs as he bid them goodbye and thank you.
“How are you going to explain this to your neighbor?” Dean asked as he picked up their bags and slung the straps across his shoulders.
“I’ll think of something,” Kristof said. “If worse comes to worse, I’ll have a Wiccan cast a memory spell on her. I don’t think it will come to that, though. Mrs. Jenkins is a sweet old widow, and I have my charms.” He smiled at them and winked.
Brynne laughed and shook her head. “Just be sure you call us back or go the emergency room if you start feeling bad, alright?”
“I will, Brynne, I promise,” Kristof said as the two paramedics started down the stairs and back out to the waiting ambulance on the street.
Chapter 29
As they arrived back at the Station U parking lot, Dean was still thinking about the last call with Kristof. It was almost the end of their shift. As Brynne drove the ambulance into the lot at the back of the industrial park, Dean saw nurse Ashley Moore, in the early morning light, leaning against a small red, vintage sports car parked next to his pickup.
“Looks like your breakfast date’s here,” Brynne said. She pulled the ambulance up next to where she was standing and pushed the electric window switch to put the driver’s window down.
“Hi Ashley,” Brynne said. “Follow us over to the garage door to the ambulance bay and you can come in that way.”
“Okay,” Dean heard Ashley say as Brynne drove away over to the doors. Dean keyed the overhead doors and then hopped out to help back her into the garage bay.
He saw Ashley walking over as he crossed behind the ambulance to the driver’s side. He waved and then turned his attention to watching Brynne’s face in the side view mirror as the ambulance started beeping, signaling it was backing up. Ashley stood and watched him as he walked backward, guiding the ambulance into the bay to park. She then followed it into the open garage entrance.
“Hi Dean,” she said. “I heard you we
re out on a call when I left the ER, so I waited for you to get back. Are you still up for breakfast?”
“Uh, yeah, I mean, yes, absolutely.” Dean was mentally kicking himself for stammering. Get it together, dude, he told himself. He walked over to the door to the crew quarters and opened it. “If you want to wait in here, I need to help Brynne get the unit together and then I have a report to write. If that’s okay?”
“Sure,” she said, coming over, smiling. “I’ll be waiting.” Her hand touched his where he held the door knob, as she passed by.
“I won’t be long,” he said, letting the door close behind her.
Brynne was standing by the driver’s side of the ambulance cab, hands on her hips, shaking her head. “She must really like you, Probie. You’re a mess. I’ve got this out here. You go in and get your report finished. Bill and Lynne will be here soon to relieve us.” She plugged in the landline power cord to the side of the ambulance to keep everything inside charging and powered, and then climbed inside to replace the supplies they used. Dean shrugged and went inside the crew quarters.
Ashley was looking over the books in their small bookshelf of Unusual reference materials. It was a varied collection of fairy tales, ghost and horror stories, as well as a few books on mythology. There were even a few gaming tomes like an old Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. She picked up one of the books, he couldn’t see which, and sat down on the love seat.
“Don’t worry about me, Dean,” she said. “Get your work done. I can wait.”
“Okay,” Dean said as he sat at his computer workstation across the room. “I won’t be long. I just have to write a report on that last call.” He logged in to his account and started working on the report while Ashley waited across the room, reading quietly.
Fifteen minutes passed, and Dean was doing a final check on his written narrative in the electronic patient care report when Brynne came in from the ambulance bay. She said a quick hello to Ashley on the love seat, and then sat down at her computer. Dean put the finishing touches on his narrative and electronically sent the report to Brynne for review. He got up and glanced at his watch. It was five-fifty-five AM. The next shift – Bill and Lynne, should be there any minute. As if on cue, the door to the parking lot opened and the two paramedics walked in. Bill was older and balding, about five feet, ten inches tall. Lynne came right behind him, a few years younger and 5 inches shorter than Bill.
“Hi guys,” Lynne called. Then she saw Ashley sitting on the love seat reading. “Oh, hello Ashley. What are you doing here?”
“Hi Lynne,” the nurse said, looking up from her book. “Dean’s taking me to breakfast this morning. I couldn’t refuse such a gracious offer.”
Dean knew he was blushing again, confirmed by Bill’s laugh as he glanced in his direction. He came over and clapped him on the shoulder with one hand as he passed. His mock whisper of “Good job” was heard by everyone in the room.
“Okay,” Brynne said, getting up from her spot by the desk. “Leave my probie alone. Only I get to abuse him like that.” She looked at Dean. “Dean, I got the report. Everything looks good. You and Ashley can take off.”
Ashley got up and put the book she was reading back on the bookshelf. “Shall we go, Dean?”
“Uh, yeah,” Dean stammered, again. “Do you want to follow me? I thought we’d go to Hank’s Diner.”
“No,” Ashley said. “I’ll ride with you, and you can bring me back to my car later. It’s not far from here, right?”
“No,” Dean said, “I mean yes, I mean. Uh, yes, you can ride with me and no it’s not far.” He opened the door to the parking lot and held it open for her.
Ashley laughed, winked at Brynne and headed outside with Dean following close behind. He thought he caught a whiff of a floral perfume as she passed by. It made him smile as he followed her out.
———
The two of them drove to the diner in his pickup truck. Dean had to do a quick clean-up of the passenger side, throwing some empty cups and other trash behind the seat before Ashley could get in. He was a little horrified, but she seemed not to notice, or at least not to care.
When they got to the diner five minutes later, a waitress showed the couple to a booth at the back of the tiny dining room. Dean looked at the menu she gave him even though he knew what he wanted, since he didn’t want to stare at Ashley where she sat across from him. When he made eye contact with her, his stomach did flips, and he stopped thinking clearly. What did someone talk about with a being who was centuries older than you?
He stole another glance, looking over the top of his menu at her as she perused her breakfast choices. Of course, she didn’t look centuries older. She looked his age, in her early twenties, with piercing green eyes and dark flowing hair. He’d thought that was her age when he first saw her all those weeks ago in the convenience store. He had caught her noticing the invisible UV ink stamp on the back of his right hand. Ever since that encounter, he had not been able to get her face out of his mind. When he had discovered she worked at the ER as a nurse, it had been great news. By then, he had given up trying to find her again, though he had tried hanging out at the convenience store in hopes of running into her.
Ashley had taken the initiative, as Brynne had pointed out. She seemed to make an effort to talk to him whenever their paths crossed at the hospital. He was never comfortable asking girls out. Even with Brynne’s urging, it had taken Ashley’s offer to meet up sometime that kicked him over the edge, so he had finally gotten up the nerve to ask her out. Now, though, he was at a loss for what to talk about. He wanted to know so much about her but didn’t know where to start.
“You can ask me anything you’d like, Dean,” Ashley said, not even looking up from her menu. “I’m sure you won’t say anything that will surprise me.”
“How did you…?” Dean started to say, looking up in surprise.
She laughed, meeting his eyes with hers. They seemed to sparkle again in the fluorescent light of the diner booth. “It’s nothing supernatural, Dean. A girl just has her ways of knowing what a guy is thinking at times like this.”
“I don’t know where to begin, Ashley,” Dean said. “There’s so much I want to know about you. How long have you been a nurse? What brought you to Elk City? Do you like dating younger guys?” He paused and groaned, his face flushing a bright, cherry red color. He smiled at her in embarrassment. “Did I just say that?”
Ashley giggled, “Yes, yes you did. All I can say to that question is that youth is a state of mind, not necessarily a state of being. That’s how it is to me at least. Do I seem too old for you?”
“No, not at all,” Dean answered carefully.
“Then I’m not,” she said. “As for your other questions, I’ve been a nurse, of one sort or another, all my life. You might say it’s what I was destined to do. I came to Elk City about four years ago when your Doctor Spirelli first implemented this new health care program for Unusuals. I was curious about how it would work, so I came and got a job in the Emergency Department at ECMC to see what was going on.”
“What do you think of the program?” Dean asked. “I’m still new to the whole thing, but it seems to do a good job of helping people in need.”
She smiled. “I like that you call your patients ‘people.’ It shows that you are open-minded about things. It’s a very attractive trait.”
“What else would I call them? That’s what they are, just different,” Dean said. He thought about Brynne’s former partner Zach and his view of Unusuals as monsters who needed to be exposed, hunted and run out of town. He wondered what people like him would say, overhearing this conversation? He pushed that thought out of his mind as the waitress arrived to take their order.
Dean ordered two eggs, over easy, with a biscuit and bacon on the side, and a diet soda to drink. He waited patiently while Ashley looked at the menu one more time. She ordered a waffle topped with fruit and whipped cream, and orange juice and water to drink. After the waitress had left Ashl
ey asked him a question.
“What about you, Dean?” she asked. “Why did you become a paramedic?”
Dean told her about his experience in a motor vehicle accident in high school where paramedics saved his girlfriend’s life right in front of him. It had impressed him.
“I guess I just want to do that kind of work,” he said. “You know, the kind of work that matters in the world.”
“But the work at your station is more like primary care than paramedic care,” Ashley said. “It’s not exactly the kind of stuff that other paramedics see and bring into the ER.”
“You’re right about that. When I first got assigned to Station U, I thought I had done something wrong and was being punished,” Dean explained. “After a while, though, I found that I saw things that were much more exciting than knife and bullet wounds. I also think that the Station U paramedics have a lot more autonomy than other paramedics in the Elk City system. I don’t see it as a bad assignment anymore. I guess I see it as an accomplishment and a reward for hard work in school.”
“I think you’re right, Dean,” Ashley said. “You know, I hear good things about you on both sides of the doors to the ER. The other nurses and the doctors see you as a promising young professional, and the Unusual community is saying the new paramedic with Brynne is a good guy to have respond when you need help.”
Dean was a little embarrassed. “I’m just trying to do my best. I have a lot more to learn before I get as good as Brynne at knowing what’s going on with a patient at any given time. She seems to know almost intuitively what kind of Unusual we have as a patient, and how we should treat them.”
“Brynne has the advantage of having James Lee as a boyfriend,” Ashley said. “He has taken her inside our community and has showed her things that few humans have ever seen.” Dean snorted at that and shook his head. Ashley raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like James, I take it?”