Dream Walker

Chapter 2 | What Happens in the ER...

Callie always loved her job, but she didn't always like it. Assisting with patient care, along with the other odd jobs she did as needed, was a great opportunity for her to get hospital experience. However, some patients were less appreciative of her job than others. Robert Creagh, her current patient, seemed like the kind of man who had already been grouchy before his hospital stay. Now that he was confined to a small room, battling bedsores, he had become downright insolent.

Callie was responsible for helping him turn to reduce the pressure on his sores, helping him eat, helping him to use the bathroom, and listening to his concerns. But Mr. Creagh took offense to any proffered help and loved voicing all concerns. While some of these issues were related to his medical conditions, most were commentaries on how her generation was ruining his previously peaceful existence or which politicians he would like to see strung up for their sins against society. All in all, he wasn't the worst patient she'd taken care of, but he did everything he could to make her job unpleasant.

"Girl! Fetch me a glass of water, would you? This room is as dry as a nun's—"

Callie interrupted him before he could finish the line. "Yes, sir. I'll be right back."

Callie walked out of the room, breathing a sigh of relief at the brief reprieve from Mr. Creagh's choleric ranting. She told herself that she was responsible for maintaining the wellbeing of all patients—even belligerent old men. If he wasn't her patient and in need of constant medical attention, she would have set him straight about the disrespectful way he spoke to her, but it wasn't worth it. She understood he was in pain and doubted any amount of talking would persuade him to change his ways. Even still, if she found an opportunity to hide the books he kept in his room that only reinforced his bigoted ideas, she would do it in a heartbeat. As it was, his hawk-like eyes followed her all the time, as if he worried she might steal his medicine or his ridiculous books.

She filled a small paper cup with water from the fountain in the hallway, then brought it back into Mr. Creagh's room. He merely grunted an acknowledgment when she set it down next to him. Already immersed in his current book, Mr. Creagh went back to ignoring her presence for the last few minutes of her shift.

"Good night, Mr. Creagh. I hope you feel better in the morning." Callie pivoted to leave the room, expecting an acerbic reply. She got exactly what she expected.

"There's nothing good about tonight, and there'll be nothing good about the morning either, so don't be wishing that crap on me, girly."

Callie imagined his face was twisted into the cruel scowl he favored but didn't turn around to check. For all his claims to the contrary, Callie had seen him improve greatly since his hospital stay began, and she knew he would have a chance to leave soon. Maybe he had no family to go home to—that would explain his disposition and lack of positive outlook. Or maybe he would return home to those he normally berated, giving Callie a break from his anger. Perhaps he was much kinder at home than he was in the hospital. Either way, she wouldn't stick around to find out.

She grabbed her bag from the break room, checked her phone for messages, and headed for the stairs. "Hey, Callie!" The voice yelling out behind her made Callie turn, and she nearly tripped over a cart parked along the side of the hall. She managed to right herself and raised her eyes to look for the person that yelled.

Andrea, a nurse working in the unit that night, was waving her back to the nurse's station. Andrea looked frazzled and tired but maintained an air of control at all times. She had worked many hectic shifts in her ten years of nursing, and Callie had a lot of respect for her determined attitude. As she approached the counter, Callie could see Andrea had a stack of charts threatening to topple. She was flipping through one chart with an intense expression, her creased eyebrows suggesting that whatever she sought was not easily found.