The Doctor's Undoing (Doctors in Training 3)

“We’re medical students.” Ron was already reaching for the child, and Haley reached out to help him.

“What was he eating?” she asked the mother.

“I gave him a bite of my hot dog. I thought he’d chewed it up, but then he stopped breathing. Oh, my God, Dylan!”

Ron swept a finger into the boy’s throat while Haley tried to calm the boy’s mother. Other people were already running toward them, including a police officer and the boy’s frantic father.

Haley’s knees went weak with relief when the child suddenly gagged, coughed and burst into tears. “He’ll be all right now,” she assured the mother.

Ron handed the boy to his father. Another man approached from another box. “I’m a doctor. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Haley let Ron confer with the doctor while she continued to reassure the weeping mother that the child would be okay.

“It was just a little bite,” the woman wailed, obviously berating herself.

“These things happen often,” Haley assured her. “Hot dogs are one of the more dangerous foods for children because of their round shape. Fortunately, Ron was able to dislodge it fairly easily.”

“I’ll never let him eat a hot dog again.”

Smiling a little, Haley shook her head. “Just make sure the pieces are very small while he’s so young. He’ll be fine.”

A blast of organ music announced the seventh inning stretch. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” played while Dylan’s parents effusively thanked Ron and Haley and then carried their sleepy boy away.

“You know, we both have to be at work early in the morning,” Ron murmured to Haley. “Whenever you’re ready to go, I’m okay with it.”

Relieved, she nodded. As much as she’d enjoyed the outing, she was getting a little tired, especially now that the adrenaline rush of the crisis was receding. Smiling a goodbye at the thoroughly impressed teenagers, she accompanied Ron toward the exit.

The quiet in Ron’s car was rather a relief after the commotion at the ballpark. Haley sat back in the comfortable passenger seat of the aging sedan, drawing a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

“Tired?” he asked as he guided the car from the parking lot, merging carefully with the traffic on Broadway headed toward I-30.

“A little. I had a very good time, though. Until that child started choking, anyway. That scared the socks off me.”

Ron grimaced. “I know what you mean. My hands were shaking so hard I had a tough time sweeping his throat. I can’t tell you how glad I was that the food was lodged within fairly easy reach.”

She half turned beneath her fastened seat belt to study his face. “You looked so calm. I was really impressed with how well you handled that. Especially since we’ve been on peds for such a short time.”

“Thanks. It was actually my second time to stop a kid from choking that way. My sister’s kid choked on a candy at a family gathering when I was in college. Everyone started screaming and yelling and pounding on his back, and I was the only one who thought to reach in and dislodge the candy.”

The rare glimpse into his past intrigued her. “You’ve never mentioned you have a nephew.”

“I’ve got a couple of them. Haven’t seen them in a while. My sister moved to Florida a couple of years ago. She’s not one to stay in touch.”

“You have two brothers, don’t you? Do you stay in contact with them?”

He shrugged. “One’s on the carnie circuit, so I rarely see him. The other’s in prison in Mississippi. Long story, and one I’m not fond of discussing.”

She couldn’t blame him for that. “Was that when you decided you wanted to be a doctor? When you saved your nephew?”

He hesitated only a moment before replying. “Maybe it got me thinking along those lines. That, and a science professor I was pretty close to. H

e thought I’d make a good doctor, and he sort of pushed me into taking the MCAT. I was so sure I’d blow it that I was as surprised as anyone when I scored high enough to actually be considered for med school.”

She shook her head in response to his expressed self-doubt. “You’ve never given yourself enough credit. You belong in medical school as much as any of us, Ron.”

He chuckled lightly. “I was just lucky that enough accepted applicants changed their mind so I got in as an alternate that year. I didn’t think I’d make it in.”

“Well, you did. And you’ve done very well. You’ll make a great doctor. You proved that yet again at the ballpark tonight.”