Summer Shorts-Four Short Stories (2 page)

Radar's first Code Blue was a surreal dream
state type moment for him. From constant training repetitions, his
hands responded before his mind cleared from its daze. He had the
patient off of his bed and onto the floor in seconds as the young
nurse aide who had called the Code Blue stood by crying
hysterically. A large rotund head nurse stormed into the room,
slapped the nurse aide once upon the face and ordered "Get a grip
on it! Go get the cardiology doctor on duty STAT!" The nurse aide
complied, dashing from the room. "What the hell you doing down
there? Who are you?" Radar told her his name and that he had
already checked the patient for false teeth and blocked airways.
"Well, at least YOU remembered what the hell you're supposed to do.
Where's the god-damn crash cart? Who's working this Code, for
Christ's Sake?" Another veteran RN hastily rolled the Crash Cart
into the room: a mobile chest filled with drawers of tubing,
syringes, drug vials, and topped off with an electro-resuscitator
and its paddles.

A very old, frail gray haired man wondered
into the room dressed in a business suit. He gazed around at the
frantic activity taking place and muttered incoherently "I…I…uh…I"
The big nurse gave him a backhand to the chest and bellowed "Get
out of the way, you old fool. Jesus Christ, is this the staff
cardiologist? We're fucked!" The big nurse assumed command of the
Code and barked out instructions to which everybody jumped. Later
that evening when off duty, Radar proudly announced to his
girlfriend "I saved a life today".

The next morning, Radar grabbed his coffee
first thing in the ER break room. His new friend, Dodger shook his
hand and told him "Nice job on the Code yesterday. Rose was
impressed." (Nurse Rose was the large RN who took over the Code
Blue). "Oh by the way, Styles wants to see you. You're on her Shit
List". Nurse Styles was the day shift nursing supervisor. She had
that Florence Nightingale-text book look of what a nurse should
resemble: perfectly coiffed blonde hair, immaculate uniform, a tall
and slender figure, and a pleasant proper speaking voice. Radar had
been very impressed with her during her orientation speech to the
new hires. He even commented to himself that she was probably one
fine looking chick back in the day.

Now summoned to her office, Radar was upset
over what he might have done wrong. He thought he had been careful
to follow every rule…but there were so many rules to follow. Nurse
Styles clued him in to his misbehavior. "We simply cannot have this
sort of thing, you see. It is an infraction of the dress code."
Radar looked at his whites. They were the same as the ones he wore
the day before that and the day before that. "I don't understand,
Nurse Styles." He stammered. She replied "Your tee shirt---it has
stripes. The rules clearly state that you are to wear a solid white
tee-shirt under your smock. Now do you have a solid white tee-shirt
here in your locker, or will we be forced to send you home to
change and dock you for your absence?" Radar thought and then
blurted out "Oh, I have a spare in my locker." With that, Nurse
Styles let him off with a warning and sent him on his way to go
change tee shirts. In the bathroom, Radar turned his tee shirt
inside out, put his smock back on and went about his duties without
another word said on the matter. It did mark the beginning of a
running feud between him and hospital bureaucracy.

Later that day, he was informed that the Code
Blue patient had died in spite of the efforts of him and Nurse
Rose. In the weeks that followed, there were eleven similar Code
Blues with the same unfortunate results for Radar and company. He
was beginning to wonder "why even bother?" His eagerness to learn
and his loyalty to the hospital faded daily. He was soon wearing a
path in the hallway from the ER to Nurse Styles' office for various
infractions, including

•Failure to pick up his beeper promptly when
arriving for his shift;

•Refusing to follow an orthopedic surgeon's
orders
(the drunken doctor had almost killed an ER patient by
misreading the drug chart and administering too large a dose of
Demeral. Shocked by what he had done, he ordered Radar to put a
cast on her broken arm. Knowing that only a physician could apply a
cast, Radar refused. The ER nurse who had saved the patient's life
by administering epinephrine backed Radar's refusal);

•Wearing a tee shirt that had lettering that
showed through his smock--second warning.

******

While Radar didn't seem to be getting along
very well with the day shift supervisor, he did seem to do much
better with the night shift supervisor, Nurse Warlock who had a
reputation for not taking any crap off of anyone. Warlock did
however appreciate had work and dedication to the job. Radar gained
her respect the first time she encountered him late one Friday
evening when she came to him with a problem. "We have a situation
involving the stabbing patient that is currently up in surgery."
Radar listened carefully. He had just finished his three to eleven
PM shift when Warlock caught him preparing to turn in his pager.
"It seems the patient was stabbed with a butcher knife by his wife.
She just called in to see how he was doing and was told that he was
in surgery." Warlock got to the point "She says she has a shotgun
and is on her way here to finish the job on him. Now I can't make
you stay…I'm only asking. Security was informed and promptly ran
and hid. The cops are looking for her but can't guarantee they'll
catch her in time. I need someone to stand in front of the Surgery
door and stop her if she gets in. "Radar saw the look of
desperation in her otherwise tough, determined face. Hers wasn't a
request…it was a plea. He didn't hesitate. "I'll stay if I can
smoke in the ER waiting room." Warlock laughed "It's a waiting
room, isn't it?"

The floor number and exit signs provided the
only light in the hallways of the second floor where the surgery
was located. Directly over its double swinging doors, the bright
"Surgery" sign illuminated that end of the darkened hallway. "Makes
for a perfect shooting gallery" Radar thought. He laughed about
"Boo Lou", the nickname given to the picture perfect deputy sheriff
security officer who had fled the scene. Whenever the shit hit the
fan, Lou hit the road…giving him the nickname of "Boo Lou". As for
his own nickname, one of the nurses had likened him to the "Radar
O'Reilly" character from the movie and TV show "M.A.S.H." because
he always seemed to appear on cue when needed. Now he was needed
but there wasn't a damned thing he could do. He was alone, unarmed,
and waiting for a person who already had demonstrated that she had
the will to do serious harm….maybe even kill.

About forty five minutes, two cups of coffee
and three cigarettes into his watch; a shadowy figure seemed to
peer towards him from the end of the hall. There was a stairwell
there that a person could use to sneak unseen up to the Surgery
floor. Radar didn't know what to do, so he leaned back in his chair
at the waiting room entrance to the surgery and seemed to ignore
the figure. It cautiously approached him and stepped under the
bright "2" floor light sign. There, Radar could clearly make the
figure out to be a middle aged woman wearing a rain parka. Radar
took note of the parka since it was July and wasn't raining at all.
He also noticed that he couldn't see her right arm as it wasn't in
her parka sleeve.

When the figure was within twenty feet, Radar
casually looked her way, took another puff off his smoke and
announced "Sorry, we're closed. No more surgeries tonight". The
woman suspiciously replied "Yeah? Then why you sittin' here?" Radar
casually replied "Because I'm screwin' off and this is a good place
to smoke. Nobody comes up here this time of night. Don't rat me
out, OK?" The woman thought for a moment, and then replied "I won't
if you tell me where Bill Biddlemeir is. He in there?" Radar took a
sip of his coffee and asked "Was that the stabbing victim that came
in around ten PM?" The woman nodded "Yeah, that's him. Where is
he?" Radar sat up in his chair and told her "You missed all the
excitement. The 'LifeFlight' helicopter was here. Landed right in
the ER parking lot. They flew that guy to the University Hospital
with the knife still him. It was before my shift, though.. Damn
it…I miss all the cool shit." The woman paused, stunned by the
answer. "University, you say?" Radar nodded "Yeah, it's about an
hour from here. Must be why they flew him there. You know, I've
never once seen that helicopter up close. Seen it on the TV but
never up close. Just my luck it was here and I missed it. You a
relative?" The woman turned partially back towards the stairwell.
"Yeah, I know him. Well, good night to you. I won't tell anybody
you're here." Radar smiled and replied "Hey, thanks a lot lady. I
really appreciate it." She walked down the hall and disappeared
into the darkness just as she had come. With the feint "click" of
the stairway door, she was gone.

Radar crushed his cigarette in the ashtray on
the end table next to his chair. He looked at his hand and it was
still trembling. The Surgery double doors opened and out walked
Warlock. She said "You lying sack of shit! Give me one of those."
Radar lit her a smoke and then one more for himself. They sat
together without saying a word, just smoking and taking in the
moment. The phone rang and Warlock answered it. She said "Ok.
Thanks" and hung up. Turning to Radar she said "Cops got her in the
parking lot. She had a 12 gauge (shotgun) under her rain coat…and
yeah, it was loaded. Go ahead and clock out…and thanks again."

******

That night ended with Radar's newly acquired
habit of drinking half a bottle of Jack Daniels before letting his
head hit his pillow. The days of bragging to his girlfriend of the
good deeds he had done at work had ended long before…now he drank
to forget them: the failed Code Blues, the countless bodies in the
morgue…including one of his old school friends, the endless stream
of maimed children injured through the ignorance of their low-life
parents, the beaten wives who refused to press charges, and of
course, the drunk drivers. As one young intern had told him: "The
first thing they teach you in Med School is "Etiam malo quod
ignorans."---"Misfortune Befalls the Ignorant".

******

Wild Bill slurred his words as he loudly
mumbled about "…case of beer…get me a beer…what tree…I'm Wild
Bill". Radar played along "Sure Wild Bill, we're all going for a
cold one… but you can't drive this time. OK?" Wild Bill just
recited the same drunken gibberish over and over: "…case of
beer…get me a beer…what tree…I'm Wild Bill".

The young intern was obsessed with Wild
Bill's distended stomach, not being able to determine the cause of
the distension. Radar remarked "It's probably one big beer fart
waiting to happen." Nurse Ann agreed and pushed on the Bill's
stomach in an attempt to palpate the gas release. At that
particular moment, the distinguished older ER physician from
Radar's first day on the job just happened to be walking by the
exam room. The young intern called to him "Pardon me doctor, could
you take a look at this patient. I can't understand this distension
of the stomach. He only has a little bump on the head."

The older doctor pulled his pen light from
his pocket, shone it into Wild Bill's eyes, and then turned to walk
out of the room. The intern followed after him, asking "What did
you see?" The older doctor said over his shoulder "That's a dead
man. His brains are scrambled. He'll be dead in a minute or two.
Nothing you could have done." The intern looked back in disbelief
at Radar and then at Wild Bill. He watched the old doctor walk
away, and started muttering "There must be some mistake. It's just
a little bump on the head."

With that, Wild Bill glanced up at Radar who
was still holding Bill's head in his hands. Wide eyed, Wild Bill
exclaimed "Well, I'll be damned!" and he died…just in that instant.
Radar lied Bill's head down on the pillow, pulled the sheet over
it, walked out of the exam room and through the electric ER double
doors into the arrival dock's overhanging roof. He lit a smoke and
leaned against the wall staring off into the distance, drained of
any last sign of emotion. The doors opened again and out walked the
young intern, tears streaming down his face. He leaned against the
wall next to Radar, and then slipped down into a crouched position
with his hands cupped over his tear-stained face as he sobbed
uncontrollably.

They weren't that far apart in age: Radar at
age twenty, and the intern at twenty-five. But the gap in real life
experience that separated the two young men that evening was vast.
At the top of the caste system stood the intern with his college
and medical school degrees. At the bottom stood Radar with his high
school degree; baptized by so much blood, sorrow, and human tragedy
witnessed in a single year. The young intern looked up at Radar
through his tears and pleaded "Why? It makes no sense. There is no
reason. I…we were just talking to him. It makes no sense!" Without
looking down, Radar took another puff of his smoke, exhaled, and
replied "Tell me about it."

They were interrupted as a sheriff's cruiser
pulled up to the Emergency entrance. The driver's side window
rolled down and the deputy inside called out to them "Do you have a
Bill Biddlemeir in there?" Radar and the intern looked at her with
blank faces. Radar managed a subdued "Who?" From inside the
cruiser, obstructed from view by the shadows, an angry female voice
was heard yelling "Don't believe a word that god-damn liar says!
He's a god-damn liar!" Radar put his hand up as a visor to block
the light so he could get a better look at the angry woman in the
cruiser. He knew that voice from the past. Then in realization of
connecting the dots, he called back "Do you mean 'Wild Bill'?" The
woman's voice retorted "You're damned right…that's who." The intern
had managed to control his crying, no doubt aided by the curious
exchange between Radar and the deputy's passenger. He was even more
surprised when the female deputy put the cruiser in park, went
around to the passenger's door, handcuffed the passenger and led
her up to him and Radar…in her orange jail jump suit and
flip-flops.