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The phone rang out of the blue as she walked in the door to her house. Larissa Walker was debating if she wanted to answer it as the answering machine picked up to save her the problem of answering it. She heard the voice she would know anywhere and smiled as she went over to the phone and picked it up.
“Larissa?” the woman’s voice asked, and Larissa smiled.
“Hi, Mrs. Libby.” Larissa said with a small laugh, “I just walked in the door.”
“So that is why you were screening the phone call then.” The older woman stated.
”No, I mean I literary just walked into the house.” Larissa countered, “How can I help you?”
The older woman laughed at her in a way that was familiar and brought her back to one of the best times in her life. She was back in high school for that one year, and she was in the best class she ever took. Larissa was smiling as she remembered the one teacher who told her to do whatever made her happy in life and to stop listening to everyone else. Now at close to twenty-three, it had been well over ten years since those days in her class, but the older woman had never given up on her. She delighted in knowing everything the younger woman was doing in life and at work.
“I need your help.” The older woman said as she got serious. “I know that you aren’t a teacher, but I need a stand-in one that I trust for a month or so.”
“Why can’t the school get one for you?” Larissa asked.
“Like I said, I need one that I trust.” Mrs. Libby stated. “The salary isn’t all that much, and I will leave the lesson plans for you, and it is during the day, so you don’t have to worry about it affecting your other job at the hospital. I do know what is important, and your job as a doctor is that.”
“But.” Larissa started to say and then remembered that she owed this woman a lot because of her support over the years. The older woman had never asked her for anything except details of her life. Larissa thought that maybe it was time that she did finally repay the older woman. “I think I can make it work for a month.”
“You can?” The older woman asked with a slight surprise, “I really didn’t expect that you would, but I am so glad that you will try at least.”
“Now, may I know why you are asking me this?” Larissa asked with a laugh. She thought of the older woman. She had been the one who really had believed in Larissa while she was in high school. Most of the other teachers had never tried to understand the young girl who was in their classes. It wasn’t like Larissa had asked for her ‘gift,’ as so many had called it. That gift was a curse to the young woman as she thought about it.
“I have a new teacher, Gabe. He is totally unqualified for the job, but he is a new teacher this year. He needs some major help as his class is underperforming, and I have to go sit in on his classes for a month.” The older woman said with slight disgust. “He isn’t even on the same level as the high school, but he is one of the six-grade teachers. The administration wants me to help him because I seem to have the knack. It seems that my perfectionism in my classes and the teachers I trained is well known.”
“Well, that does make sense.” She said with a slight laugh. “You made a doctor out of me when I was ten years old.”
“No, you made yourself a doctor when you were that age.” The older woman said, “I just helped you along a little bit. You are completely self-made. Don’t ever think that you weren’t.”
“Think what you will.” Larissa laughed as she smiled at the phone. “When do you want me to start?”
“Tomorrow.” The older woman stated, and Larissa knew that the next day was her day off. She could at least get some sleep before having to go to the school again. That was the one thing she wasn’t looking forward to. The high school where she had gone too, but at the same time, she hadn’t. Her life had been a small dream for a while and a whirlwind at the same time. She didn’t want to go back, but for this one woman, she would revisit her history for a little while. “But I need you to come in today to get some paperwork done.”
“Let me change, and I will be on my way,” Larissa said as she looked at the scrubs that she was in. This would be the thing the students saw her in, but she would wear something a little less professional doctor today when she went in to see the older woman again. The phone was now put down. She went to the back of her house and looked around the room, knowing most of what she had to wear was either formal attire or scrubs. Though she did manage to locate a pair of black pants to cover her short legs and a sweater that would be nice before the day got to be too hot.
As she brushed out her shoulder-length hair and looked in the mirror, she realized not much had changed in her since she had gone to the school the first time. She was a little taller but not much. At a little less than five feet tall, she was as small as a young teenager. Being this young and in her profession, she often had to deal with the jabs at her appearance and everything else. Her lack of a partner was one thing that she had gotten used to. That was her last goal in life to find someone to grow with and possibly settle down and begin a new family to replace the one she left behind when she had turned eighteen.
She wasn’t lonely per se, but she did have a few issues with dealing with the fact she was by herself most of the time. She had a small hope that maybe she would find that one she had dreamed of. Larissa looked at herself in the mirror one last time before she grabbed her bag and walked out the door. Right now was not the time to think about any of that. It was time to go help an old friend out. Even if that meant going into hell to do it.
Parking in the front of the school was something new as she arrived at the building that was about a ten-minute drive from her house now. Her parent's house wasn’t too far away, but she had no desire to put herself through that amount of pain. She laughed to herself as she walked into the office and looked and saw everyone was the same, even ten plus years later. She waited at the desk as the woman looked her over, “And how can I help you, young lady?” the woman asked in the smartest tone.“I am here for a meeting with Judy Libby.” Larissa countered.“Regarding?” The woman asked.“A helping position for her class,” Larissa said as she looked at the woman who was looking at her again.“Is this a joke?” The woman asked, “Are you skipping your class right now?”&l
3“Hello.” He said as he looked at her though she was able to cover her shock at him sitting there in front of her. Though she knew she had never seen him before, he was exactly what she pictured in her head that she wanted. He reached out a hand to her and smiled. Larissa instinctively took and shook. She was glad she lived in a professional world where she had learned to do that without thoughts. She would have her mouth open and in shock if she had not been able to hide her own feelings and expressions.“Larissa Walker.” She said as she looked at the woman who was grinning.“Doctor Larissa Walker,” Judy said, correcting her.“Aren’t you a little young to be a doctor?” the man in front of her said. He looked her over and probably thought she was a newly graduated student or some
4She heard the couple fighting in the science office's hallway as she opened the door. “Jeez, Gabe, you are so overreacting. We were not doing anything. He was just helping me with moving some things around in my room.” The woman said as she raised her voice, and then Larissa heard the man she had just met speak, “Ann, come on.”“What?” the woman asked as it seemed like she was trying to think of something. Larissa had no patience for things like this or many people for that matter. She went to the classroom and looked around. It still looked pretty much the same as she went to sit down in her old seat. She was smiling again as she remembered the class and the older woman going after so many of her classmates, but she had a special place for Larissa,
The two women were left alone for a minute as the older one looked at Larissa, and she smiled again. Gabe had gone back into the hallway with the offices to get some of his things for the next class though he was going to be watching her for a moment. Judy had already told him that was what he was going o do. His classes in the room that he shared with another teacher were in the afternoon, really. “Maybe you could work with him as well,” Judy said with a sigh as she watched him go.“What is so wrong with him that you have to constantly go at him like you are?” Larissa asked.“Sometimes, you just have to know which ones need the push in the right direction.” Mrs. Libby said with a smile, “He has potential, but he has to calm down a bit to get there. That witch is going to ruin him, though.”“You aren’t planning anything else, are you?” Larissa asked, kn
She was done with the class in an hour. Though she thought it went well, she knew how to make it better. There will be a few things that she could do that would be easy to make the class more fun for the teens there that were probably not all that into the actual class but there for a requirement. Though she was now in search of the older woman to see what else needed to be done for the day, she couldn’t find her. Larissa went into the greenhouse that was in the back of the offices for the science department and saw that Mr. Vincent was in there with a class. He looked over and smiled. “It hasn’t been used that much since you left. That was really the only time I ever saw it in use.”“Maybe I will get some seeds, and we can see it again in its former glory,” Larissa said with a smile as she saw the younger students all look at her like
Larissa hated the incinerator. She had been one of the few people allowed down in the basement under the science wing. It had been specially made for the school as one of the few dump sites for the animals they used for the dissection part of some of the classes. It was the place that other schools also could use. Though this was rare that they would even start it this early in the school year.Larissa didn’t know why the older woman wanted to use it, though. She was sometimes a little off on her timing. Though she did always have a reason why. Larissa didn’t care too much in the end. Gabe walked into the room behind her after a few minutes.“I am sorry for that.” He said softly. “I have no idea why she is that way.”“Probably because you accused her of cheating earlier,” Larissa said as she turned up the gas of it to light. Then she turned it back down to get it going a
She received a phone call about six hours later from the hospital. It seemed a bad accident had happened on the highway, and the casualties were too much for the staff they had. She rolled out of bed, knowing that she had to wake up enough to drive to the hospital herself. After a quick change, she was dressed in her favorite scrubs and had a cup of coffee ready for the trip.The hospital road was completely backed up. She saw it well before she was close to the hospital and then adjusted the way she drove in. She switched directions and went in the back way that most people didn’t know about. She had to park in the last row of the staff parking. There were more cars there than she had ever seen. That was her first clue that this was not going to be good.She went in and saw the overflow from the emergency department in the lobby and on the street in the front of the building. When she got up, and she pulled her hair u
Larissa didn’t want to start her shift this way. She knew it was going to be a super long night. An hour or so later, as she had five rooms going at the same time as she was supervising the students and the other pathologist in all they were doing to do this as fast as they could to clear the hallways. She went back to the conference room and was surprised to find them still in the room with George, who was going over the release to the funeral home and everything they would need to do.She smiled as she walked in and nodded to George. Gabe walked up in the back of her, “Thank you for giving her the time.”“You all need it.” She said as she looked up at him. “Do you need me to call someone?”“No. My brothers are on their way. I called them already. They are scattered all over the