1,700 Volts

“How is it already the 22^nd of December?” Clara Kate wonders.

The months are flying by and Clara Kate’s money is running out. Thankfully, she still has her job at the Good Samaritan Clinic. It helps her to pass the time. Each day Clara Kate repeats the same routine over and over. The onset of the holiday season helps Clara Kate to realize just how sad her life has become. In the last several months she has not had more than a five minute conversation with anyone, except maybe Rosa. Lately, Rosa has been driving her crazy. Not only is her accent difficult to decipher, but also she has been constantly texting and calling her mother while she is at work. Clara Kate knows she should give Rosa a break because Clara Kate comes to work late just about every day, but she was not in the mood to have her clinic staff being dysfunctional. Clara Kate was dysfunctional enough for them all.

Today was particularly trying day for Clara Kate because she had stayed late the day before trying to clean up Rosa’s mess. Rosa could not even handle the last patient of the day. He was the typical crazy you expect to see at a free clinic, yet he somehow decided the Clinic was at fault for the Swine Flu. Rosa, who was trained to deal with these minor issues, was incapable of consoling him.  Clara Kate had to stop her work, stitching up an unfortunate old man, to sedate the crazy man who became riled beyond control.

In the midst of the chaos of the clinic this morning, Clara Kate mentally lists all the things that need to be done. Rosa prances in, covered with snow, a whole hour late! She provides no explanation. She just saunters in and sits at her desk, acting as if she has been there all morning. For all Clara Kate knows, Rosa could have been ice skating out on the pond with the rest of the town, while Clara Kate was in the clinic acting as a receptionist and juggling all the incoming supply shipments that have to be stocked and inventoried.  There are already fifteen patients waiting for medical services and there was no one here to check them in. Clara Kate knows she should forgive Rosa’s tardiness, as Rosa often looked the other way when Clara Kate came in a few minutes late, but Rosa was a whole hour late. This is just unacceptable.

Furious, with her blue eyes flashing, Clara Kate storms up to Rosa who is sitting at her desk. Clara Kate lets out a litany of condemnations. She is not even sure what she is saying.  She just embraces the red hot passion of pure fury and she relishes the look of pure surprise and fear on Rosa’s face.  But the moment is spoiled by a shriek and a flash of black heading straight for her. Clara Kate feels the bruising impact, a blow that feels as if she has been hit by a bus. With a groan she falls to the ground. Someone has tackled her. She glances up just in time to see Shaniqua Washington King’s face looming over her. Clara Kate blacks out.

Clara Kate revives just in time to feel someone pounding on her chest. 

“What has happened to me?” she wonders.

Clara Kate’s eyes focus as a clear plastic mask is placed over her face. She feebly pushes it to the side.

“I am breathing just fine, you idiots! I don’t need CPR!! You always need to check the patient’s pulse first!!” Clara Kate screams.

“We did,” replies one of the nurses. “You did not have one.”

“What?! What do you mean I did not have one? I am very much alive. Are you telling me I almost died?” Clara Kate demanded.

“The AED did not pick up a pulse. It delivered 1,700 volts of electricity,” countered the nurse.

Puzzled, Clara Kate insisted she be told every detail, starting with the last thing she remembered, the face of Shaniqua Washington King hovering over her.

The World is Probably Ending

Bzzzzt, bzzt, bzzt…..Clara Kate looks around. Gently opening one eye, Clara Kate realizes it is still dark outside. Why is her alarm going off?  She lightly brushes her long blond hair from her face and, fumbling for her phone, checks the number on the screen. The clinic is calling. It must be an emergency. Rosa’s thick Hispanic accent is not the first thing Clara Kate wants to hear at 3 am in the morning, but she takes a deep breath, and answers the phone with the sweetest “Hello” she could muster.

“You must come quick, the clinic is full.”

Rosa’s thick accent and mispronunciation cannot cover the panic in her voice. Clara Kate groans. This was the last thing she needs.

“Alright, I will be there as soon as I can,” Clara Kate mutters trying to wipe the sleep out of her eyes.

She hangs up and slowly inches out of bed, realizing she has misplaced her scrubs. She flips on the light and gazes around the room. Her scrubs are nowhere in sight. Clara Kate throws back the covers looks under the bed and all around the room. Then, she opens up her closet and there they are, freshly washed and neatly folded. Clara Kate mutters a few indistinguishable words and throws on the clothes. Rushing out the door, she forgets to lock it behind her. She dashes across the street and gasps. Overnight a small village of multicolored tents popped up behind Castle Apartments. There were twelve of them; small tents haplessly pitched about on the dark, cracked asphalt of parking lot. In the center of the chaos stands a man with a megaphone whining about the hardships of life. His words are indistinguishable, yet his tone clearly conveys his message. Clara Kate wonders why such a ruckus is occurring at 3 am in the morning. “Where’s a cop when you need one?” she thinks to herself while rushing on in the direction of the clinic. As she turns the corner, she runs head on into two women with long black skirts and elevator shoes. Clara Kate’s thought of who wears elevator shoes anymore was quickly pushed aside when the taller of the two women tries to hand her a Watchtower leaflet. Clara Kate did not have time for this.

The two women in unison say, “Good morning. Would you like one of these?”

 Clara Kate walks on pretending not to have heard them, hoping they will let her get to the clinic to help with this crisis, but who else could they be talking to at 3 o’clock in the morning? She knew it must be directed at her. The Jehovah’s Witnesses keep at it.

They ask her again, “Would you like one of these?”

Before Clara Kate can help herself she replies “No. I am going to hell and proud of it. Now will you let me go, I have more to worry about.”

The taller of the two women says, “You have more to worry about than your eternal soul?” 

Clara Kate responds, “yes, now I will let you worry about mine while I head to the clinic.”

 With that said Clara Kate runs to the clinic. As soon as she arrives she asks Rosa “what is the emergency?”

Rosa replies in her accent, “sign flu”.

“What the hell is sign flu?” Clara Kate asks. “Oh you mean Swine Flu…Well the Jehovah’s Witnesses may have been right. People’s immortal souls may be more important than I once thought.”

The day flies by. There are so many patients to attend to Clara Kate almost forgets that she has barely had any sleep. Just as she was about to fall asleep standing up, a new nurse she had never seen before came to relive her and lets her take an hour break. Knowing that she needs some caffeine to make it through the day, Clara Kate runs over to the coffee shop for the much needed pick-me-up. While waiting in line, Clara Kate mentally counts all of the coffee shop employees she had seen at the Clinic earlier that day. It totals to about 5, half of the staff. No wonder it was taking so long. Clara Kate came back to reality just in time to hear the man in front of her ask, "so why were you guys closed the other day?"  

The barista responded "Haven't you heard? A big epidemic is going around, they think it's swine flu.”

Great the news was out and everyone was going to start to panic. The clinic was now going to have to deal with lots of people who believed they had swine flu. Great.