us.”
“Please do.”
So she sent them a text telling them they were waiting on the surgical ward on the eleventh floor. When they didn’t appear, Rich and Alison finished rounds and returned to the OR to start the day. Her fellow surgical residents were flirting with nurses in the lounge. Alison made a beeline to hang up her lab coat and get into the holding area to find the first patient of the day. Glancing over the lab results and other details that were necessary on the chart, she went to the nurses’ desk to find out how she could log on to the computer to pull up a chest X-ray.
“Use my log-ins until you get your own,” the unit clerk said.
They found the necessary documents for the chart, and she went on to interview the patient. Rich appeared, and she gave him the details. She’d missed the most important detail, the surgical consent. He showed her where the blanks were kept and, after rereading the history and physical, knew what the patient was having done, and after conferring with her, filled out the form and had the patient sign it.
“Your cohorts are in deep shit already,” he said.
“Ugh. I hate intrigue.”
But the two male residents ended up flying through the day without issue because Dr. Kravitz took an instant dislike to Alison. From time to time during the surgery, Rich had made eye contact with Alison, and she stayed calm, raising her eyebrows slightly when the attacks started coming. Each hateful syllable had echoed around the room, starting with how clumsy she was, and stupid, how’d she get through medical school let alone land a residency at UCSD.
Although stunned, she was able to ignore his disrespect and commentary, the hand slapping and insults during the first case. When it was over, the disgusted occupants in the room remained in silence as Rich did the final closure with the help of the other two errant residents after the doctor finally left the room.
“That was uncalled for,” Kendra said. “I’m reporting him.”
“You do that, Kendra. I’ll back you up,” Rich said.
“Yeah, he was a real dick today,” Barry said.
Alison remained calm, it wasn’t the first time she’d been singled out in a situation, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.
“What crawled up his ass and died?” Barry asked, waking the patient up while Kendra and the scrub technician, Sarah, dressed the wound.
“His wife probably finally gave him the heave-ho,” Sarah whispered. “I heard them talking this morning. Not pretty.”
“Obviously, he doesn’t like women,” Alison finally said. “I have a photographic memory and can repeat verbatim everything he said to me.” She thought, Ha! If he only knew. “I’ll get the stretcher.”
She pulled her mask off and threw it in the trash on her way out into the hallway to grab her patient’s stretcher. Just happening to look up, she saw Ben Kravitz leering at her. If she’d had a few more days under her belt, she would have called out, What’s your deal, buddy? But on the second day, she’d let it ride, and flashed him her most beatific smile.
Pushing the stretcher through the door, at least the people in this room were nice.
“How you holding up?” Rich whispered.
“Just fine, thanks. He just gave me a dirty look in the hallway.”
“What a prick. But you didn’t flinch. I’m really impressed.”
“He’s nothing more to me than a fly on the ass of humanity,” she said, the others bursting into laughter. “He doesn’t bother me.”
They moved the patient over from the OR table to the stretcher. Alison went to the recovery room with Barry. Once report was given to the nurses there, she went to the holding area to interview the next patient, also Ben Kravitz’s. Rich was already there.
“You know, Alison, I think I’m going to give you an errand if you don’t mind. Over at the surgery center, they are really backed up. You’re already a team player and can help out. Run over there and give Violet O’Doyle a hand. She’s the fourth-year resident in general surgery. She’ll appreciate it, and there won’t be the hostility.”
“Okay,” she said, having no idea where the surgical center was.
“I’ll phone you later if there’s anything here to do at the end of the day.”
She nodded and left for the lounge to get her lab coat.
The surgery center was a different atmosphere, and the day was enjoyable with a quicker pace.
Back in the main hospital, when Ben Kravitz walked into room ten and saw that