Chapter 2 The Initiation

All it took was one phone call. Scratch that… multiple calls.

Steve and Irene had been dating for over three years when she got the first call. At first, it sounded like a prank call: the heavy breathing with no one speaking on the other end. Only to be interrupted by the hanging up of the phone. When she dialed back, wondering if there was an emergency at the hospital, she found herself blocked.

The second call played out the same way.

But the third call changed everything. What she thought was a series of prank calls turned into an extremely angry man. She was alone in her apartment, tired after a day of work, and caught off guard. She had suspected it was a girl Steve was screwing on the side, but as it turned out, it was the side-piece’s husband.

“Who the hell is this?” he demanded angrily. “And why does my wife keep calling you?”

Irene felt a pang of irritation at his tone. She wanted to think it was a wrong number. “You called me! Who are you?” she pressed, unwilling to give in.

“Are you a woman or just pretending to be?” the man hissed.

“Depends… who wants to know?”

“God, only a woman could be this annoying. Who else is with you?”

“I ain’t answering until I know who you are, brother.”

“Goddamn it, I am not your brother!”

The man hung up only to call an hour later, once he had calmed down. Irene considered letting the phone ring, but her own suspicions had been fueled and she was ready for the truth to come out. She picked up the phone, preparing herself for another shouting match with the stranger. But he surprised her: he apologized.

“I’m sorry,” he said, agonized. “I think my wife is cheating on me. I know I was terrible to you but this number has been coming up on our phone bill… and it’s a lot. Does anyone else live with you?”

Irene didn’t want to divulge her details to a stranger, but it was safer for a woman to live with someone else. And she did live with someone: her boyfriend Steve. He was the man of the house, taking care of everything while she worked wild shifts during the global shortage of nurses.

She knew it all, but her pride took over. She was unwilling to admit to this stranger that she had been blind-sided and fooled by her lover of three years. The man whom she had so much in common with that they could have been best friends.

When she confronted Steve, mixing in false information with the truth to drag the whole story out, he buckled under pressure. He admitted to cheating on her for six months.

Irene had never felt so stupid or small before.

She was helpless, freshly broken up and nowhere to go. The apartment belonged to him, as did most of the things inside it. She was forced to live with a friend for a few months while she searched for an apartment and a new job.

In the end, a conversation with her now retired father changed everything. She wanted to live closer to him. Being in the military, he had rarely spent time with her when she grew up, but he wanted to make amends and have her over for the holidays, something she hadn’t done in so long that she was ashamed.

She began applying to hospitals near him. No sooner had she gotten an interview than she flew home to stay with her father, Greg, who lived a couple of hours away from the main city. His house was close to the military complex as he refused to be too far away from the environment he had been in most of his life.

It was her father who introduced her to the opportunity at Glenn’s Medical Center. Some of It was one of the specialty hospitals to which soldiers were taken to if there wan an emergency. It also had a gush of people coming in and out with how advantageous the location was.

And hence, there she was, gliding through the halls, her perfectly organized cart filled with supplies, and cups of pills in her hand and her clipboard pressed between her arm and side.

“Damn, how did you organize everything like that?” he asked, admiring how every tube and reel of gauze was kept exactly the same distance apart. His voice was wistful, “I wish I was so organized.”

“It’s a bad habit,” she grumbled.

“Come on, Mon. Let’s go start the IV.”

Irene wanted to groan at her new nickname. Mon, which was short for Monica from the series FRIENDS. Apparently, her organizations skills and need for order was quite similar to the pop culture character. She wondered what he would think once she opened her mouth more often and started talking like her as well.

They headed out, accomplishing their mission without a hitch, but when Gavin asked her to start an IV for him ‘as practice,’ Andy flipped out.

“Opo, she’s been a nurse for four years!”

“Five,” Irene corrected gently.

“Five years!” he repeated. “She knows how to start an IV. Don’t think for a second you can sit on your ass and con her into doing all your work.”

Gavin’s face turned dark. “I was asking her, no need to get your panties in a twist, man,” he said snobbishly as he flipped the bird at Andy before scurrying away.

Andy glared in his direction while Irene stifled her laugh behind her hand.

.

The two were downstairs for lunch when Andy started his info-dump once again. “Don’t eat in the break room unless you wanted to be haunted by unnecessary work. And remember to turn these babies off,” he said, pointing to the cordless phone in his pocket. It chirped as it powered off.

“Turning off the phone? If you say so,” she nodded.

“Not everything in the canteen is edible,” he whispered as they wandered to the hot food bar. The lunch lady waited for them with her arms crossed, a look of pure boredom on her face. “If you like your chicken and want to hit your daily protein goals, be my guest and eat at the hot bar. Because the amount of chicken here will chip away the little joy you have left in life.”

They stopped in front of the grill, which had hamburgers and hotdogs. “Sometimes the spread here is decent, so pay attention. But the salad bar is better if you enjoy grazing on flavored grass.”

“Alright,” Irene chirped. Nothing different from her previous place of employment.

“Don’t touch the fries unless you see them being pulled out from the frier,” he warned.

They got their food, paid, and sat down.

Suddenly, Irene was struck by a thought. “You’re a pretty good preceptor,” she told him. Others might think her statement ludicrous but no one else had told her the ins and outs of the hospital before. Andy gave her valuable information to manage her social and personal life… integral to surviving at work.

“Did you just figure that out?” he teased.

“The last person who was my ‘buddy’ at work acted like I was dragging her down. But you stand back and allow me to work without eating my ear off.”

Andy looked confused as he poured a bucket load of tomato sauce on his ‘fries.’ “Why would anyone let the newbie feel that way? Isn’t it better if someone else does your job for you?” he asked.

‘I knew it!’ she thought triumphantly.

“I know whom to avoid by now. But who is safe?”

He shoved a few fries into his mouth and thought for a second. “Talia is an angel, but she is a morning person. Still a cool girl. We often hang out after work. Ward, too.”

Irene arched her brow. She hadn’t heard that name yet. “Who is that?”

“Ward is a pharmacist and a good one at that. He always takes note of which patients are priority and sends the meds over without delay. The rest of the department though…” he trailed off. “If you need to find Talia, you can look for her there. She is in love with him but refuses to admit it. But he runs to the pharmacy every chance she gets. Even if it is for laxatives,” he whispered conspiratorially.

“How cute,” she commented.

Andy eyes her with a hint of disgust. “Yes, laxatives are the source of all romance. If you don’t write a movie about it, I will,” he said sarcastically.

Irene rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

He shrugged. “Then there is Sine. She is shy and rarely speaks to others but she isn’t a menace, which is a good thing. She is a little sensitive, though.”

She nodded in agreement.

“There are a few more, I will tell you when you meet.”

“And what do you guys do to unwind?”

“Mostly drinks after work… poker nights, dart competitions…”

Irene smiled. “Sounds fun.”

“You should come with us next time,” he said. He didn’t wait for a response before jumping into the next person. “Shit, I forgot to warn you about Kiki. She works as secretary for our ward. She has more gossip than TMZ, so don’t tell her anything unless you want it broadcasted to the whole hospital and rest of the city.”

“Got it. Worse than TMZ. Stay away.”

Andy took a bite of his burger. “And you know me, the coolest colleague you will ever meet.” He winked, the gesture rendered un-charming by his ravenous gulping of food.