LOOMIS: A Fan Fiction Bridge by Mike Edwards

Part Four. Worlds Within.

18

"Well I hope everyone is ready for their Fourth of July weekend starting tomorrow!" the voice on the radio said cheerfully. "And if you haven't heard, we now have a new piece of information to keep track of- have you heard about this? Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the United States Zip Code! Apparently, we will from here on all be assigned a numeric Code that we attach to the end of our mailing address when we send or want to receive a letter, and it, it goes in right after the state portion of your address, so right there at the end, right? Yeah. I'll tell ya, between in-home televisions, long distance calling and now this 'Zip Code' I feel like I'm living in the future! But anyway enough outta me! Here's The Kingsmen with "Louie Louie" on W-MRZ Chicago, FM!"

Sam had the radio playing but was paying little attention as he drove through the city streets of Chicago for the first time. He had been given the choice of three locations to work out of.

Tallahassee would have been most people's first pick, but Sam held little interest in the Florida heat.

Richmond was an interesting thought, but Sam had always liked the style of Chicago, so it was somewhat fortuitous that it was the third choice. He'd always hoped he would one day get to see the Windy City but now, to be living here was simply surreal.

He managed to buy a black 1962 Chevy II four-door hard top off a man who had recently bought himself a brand new Dodge and only wished to get rid of his "old" car.

"I'll probably sell the Dodge next year, heh heh heh," the old man chattered with a cigar hanging from his mouth. "I s'pose I let her go for four hundred."

"I'll take it," Sam said with little hesitation.

He'd been Stateside for a week now, and the culture shock was real. When he'd flown to D.C. it had felt like a trip. A visit. It came and went so quickly he hadn't had much time to think about it, but being here now, having bought a car and preparing to move into his studio apartment in the city made this trip feel more like what it was: relocation to the other side of the world.

The summer Sun reflected off the thousands of building windows as he drove along, amazed by it's beauty. As he neared the address written on his orders he became excited, and yes, a bit nervous.

As he pulled into a visitor space two gentlemen came out to the parking lot.

"Welcome!" Said a tall somewhat robust man. "I'm Dr. James Edwards, Chief of Medicine, and this is Dr. Thomas Gütch, our Resident Psychologist."

Sam shook their hands. "Loomis-uh, D-Dr, Dr. Sam. I mean Dr. Sam Loomis." Doctor... I'll never get used to saying that, he thought to himself, smiling and nodding with courtesy.

"Dr. Loomis, it's a great pleasure," Dr. Gütch expressed with excitement. "We've been ecstatically awaiting your arrival!"

As the three of them walked through the gate and up the sidewalk, Sam looked around and was pleasantly surprised. The buildings were clean and painted and the grounds were trimmed and groomed, with bushes clipped into perfect little spheres, surrounded by beds of colorful flowers.

"As you may know we've been in operation since 1949 and our staff has doubled in size in the last four and a half years," Dr. Edward's explained. "We are in desperate need of educated doctors such as yourself."

There's that word again... Doctor. "Well thank you," Sam replied. "I'm glad to finally be here." The three men took the next few hours walking the hospital and grounds, discussing the different programs that Sam was to become part of and giving him a lay of the land.

"As you can see our Headquarters here in Chicago is a large facility," Edwards explained as they walked. "Now we have five smaller clinics in the state: you've got Belles Creek cross-state just outside Bello's Rock. You have Summer Hill up near Dufrane. River's Edge is over next to Russellville, uh there's Smith's Grove out past Haddonfield, and Greens Paw is outside Jonstown just north of the southern state line. We have vehicles for requisition in the event you're needed at a specific facility and lodging at a local hotel establishment plus per diem while you're there."