“Put it right here on the table,” Nicole, their office manager, said.
A security guard placed the roses on the side table, usually reserved for charts. The other two residents were looking at it curiously. “Why is it here?”
“This,” Nicole said, annoyance on her face, “is for one Dr. Lillian Hernandez. There’s a card somewhere in there.”
Lillian very carefully rooted around without getting stabbed by several sets of thorns and pulled out a small white card. She opened it.
On one side it said ‘Gene.’ On the other side it had a phone number.
“Oh, it’s a thank you note.” Lillian excused the small white lie and shoved the card back into the bouquet.
Clarissa and Molla exchanged glances but weren’t going to speak about Lily’s personal life in front of Nicole or the security guard who, strangely, hadn’t left.
“Now, the reason I’m here is because I’d like you to meet Mr. Murphy. He’s been newly assigned to pediatrics.”
The security guard, a White man, wore an ill-fitting MetroGen security uniform and hat over his tangled red hair. “Nice to meet you all. I’m Shane Murphy, but you can call me Murph.”
The poor man had a marked lisp and moved with a stiffness suggesting a past leg injury. Immobility would have explained how he’d gotten rather thick around the middle.
“Why here in pediatrics?” Molla asked.
“Hospital administration and Dr. Gallo were not pleased with the Halloween visitor. Particularly after the comments he reportedly made to Dr. Hernandez,” Nicole said shortly, straightening her expensive pink suit.
The office manager not so snidely reminded Lillian the shouted conversation in Spanish had been her ‘report.’ As if it was Lillian’s fault the front desk had let him into the clinic after he’d pretended not to speak English. Dr. Constantine Gallo was the head of General Pediatrics, a dour man who never gave Lillian the time of day. His pronouncements were typically delivered by Nicole.
“You won’t notice me much,” Mr. Murphy said, tripping over his ‘s’s. He smiled through his crooked teeth, explaining the lisp. While he wasn’t going to win any beauty contests, at least he had kind bright blue eyes behind his massive glass’s lenses.
“Lillian, would you be willing to show him up to the nursery? His security badge will be processed hopefully by tomorrow,” the manager said, with the implied slight of calling the attending by her first name.
Molla bristled and used her thickest Israeli accent. “Dr. Hernandez has patients. I can do it.” Unlike Molla, Clarissa kept her mouth shut.
“Since she’s the one who had the problem, it would be best if it were her,” the office manager said archly. “Residents are needed here for education. Dr. Gallo’s policy.”
It was a well-known fact that Molla tended to point out without much tact the failings of various processes, which had not endeared her to the clinic manager.
Not time to fight this war.
“Molla, it’s fine. I’ll take him.” Lillian got up and waited for him to follow her.
Nicole pointed to the roses. “Can you please take that bush somewhere else? Your office would be more appropriate.”
Lily grimaced at the idea. Her windowless office was the size of a closet, and the reaching arms of this bouquet would simply get knocked over. Though technically the same thing applied here, except there was a lot more space but considerably more people.
And she’d have to put up with people constantly saying things about it. The wheels were already turning in Clarissa’s head, and there would be plenty of questions she didn’t want to answer.
The nurses’ lounge would work, Lilly decided, because the extra food and decorations tended to end up there. They would enjoy a few or a gazillion free roses.
She stood up and tried to figure out how she could get her hands around it.
“I’ve got it,” security guard Murphy volunteered.
It only took a few steps to prove he was not going to get any points for stealth. He had loud, clattering, uneven footsteps and sounded practically winded now. That merely confirmed her suspicions about time behind a desk for injuries. Even the walk had turned him red and sweaty, practically matching his hair. He was breathing so hard she worried she’d need to order an albuterol nebulized treatment for him.
So much for not being noticed much. Hopefully the taser he carried worked because he’d probably collapse if he had to chase.
They went through the door to the employee section and almost bumped right into a medical student. Lily tilted her head in confusion. It wasn’t one of their new November medical students. This guy was from September.
“Mr. Patel?” she asked the student.
