Asfi-Zubi - Love will find a way!

Zubi's story- San Francisco-(part1)

"Dr. Zubiya, Can you please step up to the Nurses' station on the 19th Floor?" The  PA system crackled to life.  Zubiya, who was reading some reports quickly got up and walked towards the Nurses station.

Hazel, the Nurse at the station, smiled at her and said to her "Dr Zee, Can you please check on Baby Ryan in 27A? His mom is a little concerned he is not feeding well. "

Z:  "Sure Hazel, I can do that. Thanks for letting me know"

Hazel: "And while there do check on 27B as well. No distress calls, but I was planning on doing the post -op routine in a while"

Z: " No worries. Will do so now"

Hazel: "Thanks love"

Dr Zubiya or Dr Zee as she was universally called here, walked down the corridor, her rubber soled shoes not making much of a noise and her green senior resident scrubs fitting her perfectly. Her long hair was pulled back in a practical plait and she wore very little make up.

She checked on the babies in her care and sat down Baby Ryan's mother and counselled her about feeding the child. She noted that Baby Ryan's mom seemed to be in a post-partum shock as she struggled to deal with the fact that her newly born child needed such extensive surgery. Zubiya, permitted the mother to hold the child for a few minutes so she could get the confidence that her child was doing better and having soothed the mother down walked on to check on her other patients. She sighed as she walked and thought that Baby Ryan's mom did not realize she was lucky that they had managed to save the child because if that child had been born in Neelum Valley, there were very little chances they could have saved his life. She stopped walking as the thought brought up a picture of the beautiful hills and valleys, the river... and the hospital. Zubiya, felt the familiar desolation surround her like a cloud. The corridor stretched in front of her, a corridor on the 19th floor of University of California San Francisco's Medical School, a corridor with white tiles and gleaming walls, chrome fittings and wooden panels, quiet, empty and orderly with the small hum of air conditioning......suddenly transformed itself into a dearly beloved hospital corridor with scores of people waiting on steel benches, crowded with patients, nurses rushing about, doctors busily tending... and the door behind the nursing station, waiting for Zubiya,  expectantly, waiting, teasing her, come on.... open me... come step inside..... once again.

Zubiya was taken aback by the vision and staggered blindly for a moment as she put out her hand to hold on to the nearest wall. She recovered herself and walked to the resident's room, which was thankfully empty of people. She washed her face and stared at herself in the mirror. Should she be concerned that she had just seen this vision fully awake. This was the same dream that had kept her awake on the few nights she had slept in the past 2 years. But to see it while walking and fully awake. Maybe she ought to talk about this with Dr Alexander Graf, the psychiatric senior resident. Zubiya watched her wet face. Just as well, for her eyes were welling over with tears again. She determinedly gave herself a shake, wiped her eyes, composed herself, forced herself to apply lipgloss and walked out.

In the wee hours of the morning, as she finished her daily notings on the computer, Dr Alexander Graf, her fellow senior resident, whom she shared a room with, walked in with a frown, which was replaced by a smile when he saw Zubiya still at her desk.

Xander (as he insisted everyone call him), " Hey Zee, you are a sight for sore eyes. Guess what happened today? That overdose case we got last week, she actually spoke to one of the nurses and asked for me. So finally, after 8 days of silence, we are getting somewhere."

He sat down at her adjoining chair and told her the details while she stopped typing and listened to him gravely but interestedly, trying to fill up the emptiness inside her with whatever was happening in other people's lives.

X, staring fondly at his quiet but supportive friend, admiring her clean scrubbed face, petite frame and loose plait : " So Zee, we both get off in 30 minutes, lets catch some breakfast before I drop you home?"

Z : (thinking that she didn't want to be alone after her recent vision) "Yes shall we?"

To be continued....