offsetting minors | s. crosby

Your scrubs are inside out

My first day at work was already a disaster, and I hadn't even made it into my scrubs for morning rounds.

"Greyson, what the hell are you doing? You were supposed to be in emergency ten minutes ago." Joanna Peters, a second-year resident who I had taken a liking to when we'd met last week at a staff dinner, takes a good look at me and begins to laugh good-naturedly. "Jesus, you look like death warmed over. You sure you should be here?"

She wasn't wrong. I had woken up on the morning of my first day as a surgical resident at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center with a 101.3 fever and a splitting headache, and I'm sure the coffee stain on my cream colored cardigan didn't do much to improve my haggard appearance. But it would have been suicide to call in sick, so here I was, already late to work and feeling like I'd rather be dead. I push my way into the residents' locker room and make a hasty job of pulling on my bright blue scrubs and raking my long brown hair back into a sloppy bun.

At 25, I had been through a lot to get here. I'd left Texas for good after high school, ended up graduating a year early from college at Northwestern, and had busted my ass to get into medical school at Columbia. Now, I was about to blow it all by making the worst first impression ever on my attending, Dr. Brighton, a woman who was not looking all too happy as I finally made it into the ER for my first shift.

"Nice of you to show up, Greyson. I'll spare you the lecture because, quite frankly, you already look like you've taken a beating today." The relief on my face must have been apparent because she laughs. "But don't think you're getting off easy. You're off my service for today. I'm sending you to Peds instead. A few of the guys from the hockey team are scheduled to visit today and you're the lucky resident who gets to deal with them." The sarcasm in her voice doesn't go unnoticed.

It takes everything in me to not let out the groan I feel coming. Sick, whiny children are not my idea of a great time, and on top of it, I have to deal with a group of meathead jocks who decided to use a day like today to write off their misdeeds with a couple hours of half-assed charity work. But honestly, I was lucky that Dr. Brighton hadn't decided to send me home before I'd even gotten started, so I put a smile on my face and thank her as I make my way to the hospital's pediatric wing.

Peds is way too cheery for my taste and much more lively than the emergency room had been. On my way in, I stop at the nurses station.

"Hi, Natalie?" I say as I take a glance at the nurse's name tag. She's young, probably around my age, pretty and blonde, and she seems nice enough. "Is the attending around? I was sent up here from the ER."

Natalie gives me a sympathetic glance and a smile. "First day, huh?"

"That obvious?"

Her smile turns mischievous, like she knows something I don't. "Your scrubs are on inside out."

I take a look down at my scrubs, and sure enough, the tag on the side is sticking out. I sigh and hold my hand out to her. "I'm Elliot, by the way. I promise I don't always look like this. Rough day."

"You look fine. But hey, you picked a good first day. The guys have been coming in a lot to see Justin in 304. He's the sweetest kid, honestly, and he basically idolizes Sid." I don't stop her to mention that I have no idea who Sid is. "Dr. Roberts paged me that you'd be the new intern on his case. He's all alone, he's only seven but he's been in the system basically his whole life. CPS brought him in a couple weeks ago when they thought he was acting strange and it turns out he has a real bitch of a brain tumor that the doctors can't figure out how to operate on."

Before I could sneak into a bathroom to switch my scrubs the right way around, she's pushing me towards room 304. "He'll be excited to meet a new face. I'm going to leave you in here to get to know him and take his vitals. The boys should be here any minute. I'll send them in."