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.
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