A Shadow in the Desert

Chapter Three

"Well, he made it through surgery. Now we wait."

Laurel was afraid to let herself relax. "What do you think his chances are?"

Dr. Patterson leaned against the counter. "Well, he's doing better than I expected. Let's give it until tomorrow. If his body can handle the added shock of surgery, then I'd say his chances are good."

Laurel let out a barely audible sigh. Nodding her head, she stood to shake his hand. "I have to get to work, can I stop by and see him in the morning?"

"Yes, I think it would do him good to see a familiar face."

Laurel tried to reconcile the fact that the dog still wasn't out of the woods. She chastised herself for letting an animal weasel its way into her life, after she was so careful to keep everything else out. You're letting yourself in for nothing but trouble. You've done more than enough, now walk away.

*

As she drove into work, her thoughts moved carefully in her mind as if searching for an opening in the dark. She knew she would never walk away. He needs me. He doesn't have anyone else - and I will never desert him.

Allowing her memory to push back in time, Laurel rubbed her forehead trying to remove the story she had been told years ago about her own beginning.

She had been orphaned within twenty minutes of taking her first breath. Her father was unknown. Her mother's fate was sealed minutes after giving birth. The doctor, in a hurry for reasons known only to him, decided to speed things up by tugging on the umbilical cord to release the placenta. Instead of the desired effect, the uterus inverted tearing away from the placenta as it did - this caused a major hemorrhage. The fifteen-year-old Brazilian girl slowly closed her warm brown eyes as she floated away. The proof of life she listened for, her baby's cry, was the last sound she ever heard.

The unfortunate dark skinned girl, had staggered into a crowded county hospital in the heart of Los Angeles, with no ID and in the final stages of labor. Having no family to ask questions, there was no problem detected. The doctor who made the grievous error was able to go on with his mediocre career unfazed. The baby with no name was turned over to Family Services while her mother was buried by the county, and the cycle was complete.

Laurel put her thoughts away when she pulled into the employee parking lot. Shaking her head, she adopted a pleasant but vacuous expression and headed into the emergency entrance where she would put in a twelve-hour shift.

*

Light drifted in his eyes and slowly worked its way to his brain. He tried to move, but he was held down by pain and fatigue. A weak whimper escaped from somewhere inside. He heard it - but it was too far away to be concerned with.

The smells around his enclosure made him feel sick. He couldn't read most of them. They were just a mixture of unfamiliar, and, if they had anything to do with how he felt, unfriendly odors.

He closed his eyes and dreamt of running with the boys and swimming in the river. His memory filled with pungent smells of dry pine needles and sage, which quieted his stomach and carried him away for the time being.

*

Laurel was surprised to find the hospital abuzz with urgent whispers. She grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down in the small conference area to wait for the exchange of notes from the day to the night shift. She wasn't about to ask anyone what was going on, although it was obvious that something seemed to be happening. If it was anything she needed to be concerned with, she'd hear about it during the shift change. Even if it wasn't, chances were it would come up - gossip and innuendo often did. Laurel didn't care, she kept herself removed from the inner circle and never participated in anything that didn't involve work.

Today was different. Today she had the dog on her mind. Although it was a stressful distraction, she was grateful to have it. She hated the change of shift meetings. While some of the information was valuable, Laurel always felt segregated and alone. This was mostly due to her aloof manner - and there was the rub.

Lacking in social graces and used to keeping to herself, Laurel lived her life mostly on the outside looking in. Her unapproachable demeanor didn't help. She exuded an air of snobbish indifference which kept people at arms-length. She sat off to the side and waited as more people filed in, not surprised to find that the chairs around her remained empty.

Excited chatter continued until the day shift supervisor walked in and began to speak. "Okay, calm down. I know that the shocking news has everyone on edge. I will tell you what I've been told - then I expect everyone to go about their business without comment. I do not want the patients upset, I don't want to hear rumors being passed about and most importantly, I don't want any of you to discuss this with anyone who doesn't work here. If you're not sure what to say, please direct them to the Coroner's Office. Does everyone understand?"

Maybe I should have asked someone after all, Laurel thought.

A low murmur erupted from the group.

"Okay," the supervisor continued. "Three bodies were brought into the coroner this morning by Eden Sheriffs. The adult male had ID and his family is being contacted. At this point, all we know is three bodies were recovered near a campground outside Pine County. That's all at this point."

Now voices were raised and talking over each other.

"I heard there were two little boys," someone said.

"I heard they were murdered," another piped in.

"Okay! Enough!" the supervisor yelled above the din. "No more guessing and gossiping. We have notes to pass on to night shift."

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