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They didn’t have long before the ambulance pulled up to the scene. “We’ve got this,” the EMT said, rushing over.
“I’m Dr. Theo James. I’m riding with you and getting her into surgery. I’m an orthopedic surgeon. I’ll make some calls while we are on the way.”
He wanted to monitor what was going on and what was being done.
“You can follow along,” the EMT said. “We don’t need a doctor in there issuing orders when we know our job.”
He wanted to argue and normally would but realized there were too many people watching. “If she starts crashing, you pull over immediately,” he said, staring the young guy down. “Do you hear me?”
Too many times in his life he’d been dismissed for being young or out of place. Not now. Not ever again.
The EMT nodded his head and they got Heather loaded into the ambulance.
By the time they arrived at the hospital he was following them into the ER, having made calls to get an OR ready once she was checked over for other injuries.
“Dr. James,” Miranda, one of the OR nurses said to him when he’d come out of the locker room changed and ready to go. He was just waiting for the X-rays to come so he could see what he was going to be doing. “I thought you were off today.”
He wasn’t sure how this nurse would know he had a day off. It’s not like he operated daily or even at the hospital. He was on call a lot for emergencies too.
“Guess it didn’t work out that way,” he said. “More like I was in the right place at the right time and saw the accident our next patient was in.”
“That might be why everyone calls you the Whiz Kid,” Miranda said. “It’s like you outdo everyone around here.”
Theo knew she said that as a joke. Maybe she was even flirting with him. He didn’t know. He wasn’t good at figuring that stuff out.
But what he did know was he was sick and tired of being labeled his whole life.
He just wanted to be like everyone else, not the boy genius that graduated high school at sixteen and received his bachelor's at nineteen. He was practicing medicine at twenty-eight after med school, his residency and fellowships. He was four to five years ahead of the average doctor in his discipline, but that didn’t mean he had to take all the remarks.
He’d moved here to get away and hoped many wouldn’t realize how young he was when he started.
It hadn’t happened and he’d just tried to put it all behind him like he had growing up.
“Just doing my job,” he said and walked away.
Hours later he’d done his job damn well if he did say so himself.
He cleaned up and walked into the waiting room to see the next of kin to Heather and give an update.
He’d seen the older couple in the waiting room that had been pointed out to him. “Mr. and Mrs. Davis,” he said. He recognized the trooper from the accident, which didn’t surprise him since it was obvious the guy knew the victim. “Heather is going to be fine. She had what we call a severely displaced fracture to her tibia and fibula. I’ve repaired it and put a plate in her leg. We’ve got a soft cast on her now to check for healing of the incision. Her ankle wasn’t broken, just sprained which will heal faster than the rest of her leg. She’ll be here a few days and then we’ll put a cast on for six to eight weeks. Depends on how quickly she heals, but we’ll take X-rays before it comes off. Then we’ll have a soft cast or splint on for another month or two and she’ll be on crutches until we know she is fully healed. She’s young and in good physical condition and healthy, so with any luck she’ll have a full recovery and be back to her normal life in a few months as if nothing happened.”
The parents looked relieved, the trooper too. There was another woman there. He wondered if it was a sister. All he knew was she didn’t resemble his patient who had blonde hair and was taller and on the thin side.
This woman was shorter and had some nice healthy curves on her.
Dark hair, light brown eyes that were concerned and then relieved also. But she was standing back with the trooper.
“Can we go see her?” Mrs. Davis asked.
“The nurse will be in soon and you can go see Heather in recovery. They are going to try to wake her up slowly. She’s going to be in pain from the concussion and surgery.”
“Thank you so much,” Mr. Davis said. “Will you be the doctor she will follow up with? We didn’t catch your name.”
“Dr. Theo James,” he said, shaking their hands. He should have led with that, but they ran over to him so quickly and his gut told him to let them know their daughter was fine before they did formal introductions. “Yes, she can come back to see me. I’m based out of here.”
“You’re so young,” Mrs. Davis said.
He grinned like he always did. He wasn’t going to let that get to him. “Thanks, I think.” He turned to leave and caught the trooper’s eye. “Damn, you said you knew her. Guess she got lucky today.”
