Because of Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 2

Jane stuffed and locked the thought of her mother back into the box from which it escaped, then pushed that magnificent door open, and walked through it with gusto.

"Good morning, Mrs. Hunsfurd."

"Oh . . . uh . . . good morning, Dr. Bennett." Mrs. Hunsfurd waved her hands wildly to stop Jane. Then, she bobbed her head in the direction of the offices as she whispered, "Dr. Lee would like to see you this morning."

As much as Jane admired Dr. Lee and owed so much of her success to him, she did not have the patience for his rambling conversations. What should take two minutes to convey took twenty. One thought would lead to another then to another until you didn't know what the point of the whole conversation was. Making such mental connections certainly explained his intellectual brilliance but, unfortunately, also his social clumsiness.

Some colleagues rudely commandeered the conversation. Others spoke to him as if he were a child. Jane did not have the heart to do either. She simply accepted that she would have to give up her time. Mrs. Hunsfurd, however, was the only one who did the sensible thing. She directly confronted him, saying that he needed better communication skills. She even brought someone from Human Resources (HR) to help coach him. Anyone else in his position would have taken umbrage, but Dr. Lee was an intellectual and respected the logic of having efficient communication.

Nevertheless, Jane still found exchanges with him to be laborious, and now there was the added awkwardness of watching him struggle to correct himself at every turn. It was all rather agonizing, and Jane did not have the time to spare this morning. Her schedule was packed. If she could just put off speaking with him until the afternoon . . . but how to get to her office without him noticing? She thought of sprinting past. Walking past, hiding behind a package? Hiding in the closet while Mrs. Hunsfurd sent him on a wild goose chase!

At this point, Jane had been standing motionless for almost a minute. Mrs. Hunsfurd gently suggested, "Why don't you just get it over with?" She also made a mental note to herself to get someone from HR to see Jane. As Vice Chair, Jane needed to conquer her fear of confrontations.

"This is ridiculous!" thought Jane. There was no possible way she could get to her office unseen. She decided on her failsafe Plan B--hide out in the surgeons' locker room.

Just as she turned back towards that magnificent door, she heard Dr. Lee say, "Well, hello there, Jane. I thought I heard you come in. If you have a moment, I'd like to speak with you."

"Could a silent groan be any louder?" thought Mrs. Hunsfurd as she watched Jane trudge into his office.

"I have some good news, Jane." Dr. Lee was standing and expected Jane to remain standing as well. Apparently, standing subconsciously signaled the speaker to keep the conversation short, according to one of the tips from the HR coach. Walking and talking was an even better method; however, the physical exertion proved too much for him. The first time he attempted it, Jane had to run back to the office for his inhaler.

"I've received a call this morning from Mr. Colin Williams himself of Langbourn Diagnostics." Dr. Lee paused for dramatic effect.

Jane had been waiting months to hear from them. The future of her research depended on the use of their revolutionary hybrid scanner called PET/MRI*.  Langbourn Diagnostics developed the first ever commercial version, and its imaging capabilities were expected to exceed those of the PET/CT**currently in use. In her excitement she shrieked, "And? And?"

Dr. Lee mistook that as frustration for taking so long, so he rapidly sputtered, "Well, um, he's coming to the States in a couple of weeks to personally meet with all the finalists. He wants to meet you at a Patriots game." He didn't even take a breath before finishing with, "Here's the date and time of the game and the location of his private suite at the stadium", as he shoved a piece of paper into her hand.

Jane stared at him wide-eyed, waiting for more information. He just stared back, rocking back and forth on his heels, seemingly very proud of himself for getting all of that out in less than ten seconds.

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. "We're finalists?" She clasped her hands to her mouth and squealed, "We're finalists!"

Jane started jumping up and down. Dr. Lee started to jump up and down, too, which then made the whole scene perfectly ridiculous. He was most likely employing the "mirror" technique to show emotional connectedness— "When an employee is happy, you should also show that you are happy for them. When they are sad, demonstrate your sadness on their behalf." Apparently, Dr. Lee took the literal definition of "mirror".

Jane immediately stopped jumping and put on her serious face. Unfortunately, she could never un-see what she just saw. "He wants to meet at a baseball game? Why a baseball game?"

"Um, football. The Patriots are a football team."

"Oh, right." Awkward pause. "Well, still a bit strange, don't you think?"

Dr. Lee shrugged his shoulders.

"Is that it?" Jane asked. "That's all he said?"

He looked up, down, to the right, to the left, and then back to her. He was implementing the "compass" technique, looking N-S-E-W. It afforded him the time to decide how relevant his next words would be to the initial purpose of the conversation. Dr. Lee grimaced and finally said, "Mm . . . hmm. That's all. It's capital, Jane, capital!"

Jane had a feeling that he had something else to say but felt she should leave well enough alone. Her patients were waiting.

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*Positron Emission Tomography/Magnetic Resonance Imaging

**Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography. The PET/CT and PET/MRI do exist currently, but it is overly simplistic to say that they are comparable in their capabilities or to imply that one is better than the other. That is complete fictional license. Each has its own particular niche in imaging.