Just One of the Guys(80)

“Jesus, Ryan. That was harsh, don’t you think?” I ask Ryan in consternation.

He grunts. “It’s all true, Chastity. And there are some people you have to deal with in a certain way if you want to get results. It’s just part of the job.”

Another doctor approaches Ryan, describing something about the case in medical shorthand. Ryan gives a slight nod, but doesn’t say anything else. Several other staff members are wheeling carts and bustling around in anticipation for this case. My knees buzz with adrenaline and fear.

Just then, the doors to the trauma bay burst open. A gurney is wheeled in, the patient so covered that I can’t even tell if it’s a man or a woman. Bev Ludevoorsk is the EMT on duty. She’s running alongside the gurney, holding an IV bag.

“Thirty-four-year-old male bicyclist, hit by motorcyclist. Helmeted. A and O on the scene, but fading fast en route. Abdominal pain, right upper quadrant. Breath sounds equal. Road burn on arms and legs, possible broken collarbone and facial fracture. On insulin for Type I diabetes.”

Her voice is its usual brisk, all-business tone. To my untrained eye, it seems like she’s done a fantastic job. Ryan doesn’t even look at her, just strides over to the patient’s side. He palpates the guy’s abdomen, causing the guy to scream in pain. Unfazed, Ryan makes his pronouncement. “CT scan and chest X-rays, stat. Type and cross, and start four units. Call the OR. It’s the spleen, all right.” He whips out his stethoscope and listens to the patient’s chest. “Possible punctured lung. Breath sounds are not equal. Call Pulmonology.”

Then the patient is being moved again, literally run down the hall, Ryan following behind.

“Hey, there, O’Neill,” Bev booms, slapping my shoulder. “Your shift?”

“Hi, Bev,” I answer. “That was great! You were amazing!”

“Well, thanks, kid. How’s it going? Was that doctor chewing you out? He’s a prick, that one. Stay out of his way if you see him again.”

“Um…well, okay, I will. But he’s my boyfriend.”

Bev’s grimace is comical. “Shit! Sorry!”

I laugh. “That’s okay, Bev. I guess he’s a different person in the hospital, because he’s really sweet, actually.”

“Hard to believe, O’Neill, hard to believe. Hey, here come paramedics from the fire department. They’ll have the motorcyclist from this accident. Isn’t that your brother?”

The Eaton Falls Fire Department ambulance pulls up outside the doors. Another patient is unloaded, but not by my brother. By Trevor. He’s laughing, talking to the patient, who clearly isn’t that bad off.

“Hey, Chas,” he says, his eyebrows rising in surprise. But he doesn’t stop, just helps Jake wheel the patient into a treatment area.

Gabrielle appears at my side. “If you need to do something, go take that guy’s blood pressure, and then I’ll have to do it again to make sure you did it right. Okay? God, I hate these stupid EMT days.”

“Thank you,” I say sweetly. “See you, Bev.” I go to the cubicle where the motorcyclist was just taken.

“What’s up, Chastity?” Jake asks, giving me his customary once-over.

“Hey, guys. Um…well, I’m doing a shift here. I’m in an EMT class. Hi,” I say to the patient. He’s about sixty, five foot nine, with a grizzled beard and bald head. His left arm is in a splint. “I’m Chastity. Can I practice on you?”

“You can do whatever you want on me,” the man says, grinning to reveal gold-capped teeth.

“A little respect, Jeff,” Trevor says. “She’s one of ours.”

“Cool,” the guy says with a lecherous wiggle of his eyebrows.

“So what happened here?” I ask.

Jeff tells me about how the bicyclist veered out from behind a parked car and how they both went ass over handlebars. “I think I broke my arm,” he says, frowning.

“Oh, you broke you arm, all right,” Trevor says. “Compound fracture, pal.”

“Which means I’m one brave sonofabitch,” Jeff comments.

I smile and take his blood pressure on the good arm. The wounded arm is packed with ice, and if Jeff is a little pale, he does seem quite brave.

“Could you bend a little lower so I can see down your shirt, honey?” he asks.

“Is it all right if I smack him, Trev?” I ask.

“Of course,” Trevor answers. Jeff smiles and I grin back. Jake checks messages on his cell phone.

“One-sixty-three over ninety,” I announce. “But that might be from the pain. Do you have a history of high blood pressure, Jeff?”

“Only when I’m looking down your shirt, honey,” he answers. We all laugh, just as Gabrielle bustles up.

“What’s going on here? Chastity, flirting with the patients is something you can do on your own time. In the E.R., we don’t have time for things like that! Did you even manage to do what you were told?”

“Hi, Gabby,” Trevor says.

She melts. “Trevor! I didn’t see you! What are you doing here? How are you?”

“Just bringing in a patient,” he says. “I see you know my friend Chastity.”

She shoots me a suspicious glare, looking so much like Lucia that it’s spooky. “Yes. Well? What’s his BP?”