Back at the fire house, I took Tesla out for a short walk and threw a ball for her a few times in the small, snow covered yard we had next to the station as I thought about everything I’d lost in the past decade. Tesla looked up at me and whined as I held the ball in my hand lost in deep thought. I threw it one more time, then I headed back inside to help check the gear, shower, and then start cooking.
Newsome and I were scheduled for the lunch shift and were making spaghetti and meatballs for the crew, and after all the work we'd done, I was hungry enough to eat a whole pan of meatballs all by myself.
As I walked into the kitchen and rolled up my sleeves, my cell phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw a message from my best friend, Leo Marini, that said, "BIG CSC contract in the works. Call me or stop by after shift."
"Shit," I muttered as I stuffed the phone back in my pocket and turned my attention to making dinner.
"Something wrong, Cam?" Danny asked as he dumped package after package of ground beef into a bowl before adding eggs, breadcrumbs, fresh parsley, and onions to the mix.
"Nah, all good," I said as I cranked the oven on and pulled out the baking sheets we'd use to cook the meatballs. "Leo just needs some help. That's all."
"Man, that dude needs to get a life," Danny said, shaking his head. "Doesn't he have a job yet?"
"Yeah, he's working for some security company downtown," I said as I reached into the meat mixture and began shaping the meat into balls before putting them on the baking sheets. I shrugged. "He's got a lot of shit to work through."
"I'll say," Danny said. "That guy's got more baggage than an American Airlines check-in counter!"
"You think that one up yourself?" I scoffed.
"Yeah, what do you think?" he asked. "I think I got a shot at open mic this month. I've been working on my material."
"Well, don't quit your day job, Danny." I chuckled as I focused on the task at hand and quietly wondered what Leo was up to now. I just hoped it wasn't something that was going to put me in the spotlight.
That was the last thing I needed right now.
Chapter Four
Alex
Two days later, Liz and I were scheduled to report at seven in the morning for our first full day of our internship. I'd taken great care to make sure I'd bought the right scrubs and shoes, and I'd spent a long time the night before experimenting with hairstyles that were functional, but still moderately attractive. I'd settled on pulling my long blonde hair back into a low bun at the back of my head after reading about how patients who were in pain might grab a ponytail and pull. I'd also decided to leave all jewelry at home after I'd read a horrible story
about a nurse who'd had her earrings pulled out by a patient on drugs.
I was pretty sure we weren't going to be getting near any out of control patients on our first day, but I wanted to start out on the right foot, and after the scolding from Mrs. Rikka the day before, so I wasn't taking any chances.
"Liz, what are you wearing?" I laughed as we hung up our coats and put our things in our assigned lockers down in the nurse's locker room.
"I want to maintain my individuality," Liz sniffed as she tugged at the hem of her scrubs. The bottoms were unremarkable, but the tan top was covered in incredibly realistic looking slices of Chicago style pizza. She shrugged. "When in Chicago!"
"You're crazy, you know that, don't you?" I laughed as we headed up to the conference room where we would get our assignments.
"You may be right," she said, breaking into a little Billy Joel as she danced her way to the conference room. "I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you're looking for!"
Once inside, we found our seats and waited for Mrs. Rikka to appear. Violet was ensconced in the corner with three of her best friends from the class—all girls who were not quite as rich as she was, but still passed muster with her parents. Violet was wearing blue scrubs that looked like they'd been custom made since they dipped and curved in all the right places, whereas the rest of us looked like we'd been fitted at Boxes R Us. A headband that matched her scrubs held her perfectly blow-dried hair away from her face, which was precisely contoured and powdered so that she looked like she was ready to step onto the set of Grey's Anatomy.
"Good morning, nursing candidates," Mrs. Rikka said as she entered the room holding a clipboard in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. The mug that held the coffee was so white and pristine that I wondered if she used a brand new mug every time she had a cup. She looked around the table and said, "Ladies, I'm sure I need not remind you that when you are in Chicago General, you are to wear your security badges at all times."
“Mrs. Rikka,” Violet said as she half raised her hand before speaking. “I’d like to say that it’s really a pleasure to be working with someone as accomplished and highly regarded in the administrative world as you are.”
“Miss Metzler,” Mrs. Rikka said as she looked over the top of her glasses. “Do not suck up to me. It’s unattractive and entirely unprofessional.”
Violet turned a shade of crimson that I didn’t think I’d ever seen before. Beside me, Liz chuckled softly as she watched her nemesis be brought to heel. She elbowed me, and I shot her a look as I whispered, “Behave.”
I reached down into the pocket of my scrubs, pulled out my badge, and clipped it to my front pocket before looking up. Mrs. Rikka was frowning in my direction, but before I could ask if I'd gotten it right, she spoke.
"Miss Burke, your badge should be clipped to the front pocket of your scrubs so that staff members and patients can readily see it," she instructed, then raising an eyebrow, she added, "And your scrub top should never interfere with that ability."
"I like to have a little fun with my scrubs," Liz said as she shifted her badge to the right place.