Comfort Zone

Chapter 35

Miriam looked at the results in front of her once, then again. Blinking hadn't changed it, so she accepted the fact that Mrs. Milhouse's test for syphilis had come back positive, and it was likely to be a false result. Or maybe a lab mix-up. She would call and explain. At least it wasn't three in the morning.

Her patient laughed when Miriam relayed the news, and promised to return for a follow-up blood test.

"Your husband's due for labs. Why don't you bring him with you?"

"Always," she answered.

"Joshua!" Miriam caught sight of the pharmacist paying for his lunch in the cafeteria and rushed over to catch him, especially glad because the message she'd left for him was still unanswered. He smiled when he saw her, and his smile told her he had all the time in the world for her, but his body language told Miriam another story.

"I can tell you're in a hurry, I just need a minute," she said, quickly filling him in on the filgrastim she'd taken for her patient, and the patient's subsequent improvement after she got the medication from home.

"Greer, the hematologist, spoke to a pharmacist about it, and he promised to have someone check the pedigree and have the manufacturer test the lot number for potency. It's been a couple of weeks and he hasn't heard back yet."

Josh immediately promised to look into it, and do it himself if it hadn't already been done. Miriam felt her burden lighten; she'd almost forgotten how good it felt to share problems with the pharmacist.

"Can you also test the vial I took for potency?"

"Bring me the sample. I promise not to turn you in!" he said. "It's not done in-house, but I'll send it out to an independent lab.

"By the way, Miriam, I'm so sorry I didn't call you back. The pharmacy is in such upheaval I forgot. Plus of course what's going on at home."

With a stab of guilt, and another emotion she preferred not to name, Miriam suddenly remembered what he meant.

"Of course!" she said. "Are you ready to change diapers?"

"And have my sleep interrupted for the next decade? What do you think?"

When Miriam asked if he was taking paternity leave, his laughter had a frantic edge.

"Only if your definition of a leave involves working overtime! We're short-staffed, until admin finishes interviewing. We still haven't replaced Gonzalez. He was really topnotch; I have no idea how he let those bags get contaminated. And now of course we've lost George, another topnotch brain. Terrible punster but very sharp. What a tragedy. The entire staff is in transition. Soon you won't see a familiar face in there including mine." Josh looked down at his plastic lunch container and picked at a leafy green.

"Quest just offered me a promotion."

"Congrat—"

"It means a lot more of that administrative stuff we always laughed about," Josh interrupted. He'd been avoiding her eyes, but now looked at her, his voice less tentative.

"But it's more money, which will definitely come in handy.

"Anyway, for now I'm in the pharmacy smack in the middle of everything. You know we're worried George interrupted a theft, and about the missing narcotics in anesthesia, but even before that we'd started upgrading our security systems. More passcodes, fingerprint scanners and so on. Quest will make it the Fort Knox of pharmacies by the time he's done.

"But of course it's too complex for mere humans--when we're out of the equation, everyone is safer, so it's robots to the rescue! You'll see them zipping around soon. The nurses will love them because they won't have to make the trip to pharmacy anymore, even for controlled substances. Everyone will love them, 'cause they're just so darned cute."