Shoving the last box into the back of my Tahoe, I couldn’t believe what I had gotten myself in to. Well, that’s not entirely true. After all, I had spent the last three years as a travel nurse. My job has taken me from one big city to another spanning from one side of the country to the other. But as for the location of my next assignment…there were no words. I was thankful that I would only have to endure it for six months. Shutting the back hatch, I looked over at my friend Angela with sad eyes.
“I blame you for this you know.”
“Aw, babe…you’ll be fine. What do they say? That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
She laughed while hugging my neck. Angela was the charge nurse for the med-surg unit at the hospital I was leaving. Not only did we share some of the same patients, she was my closest friend here in Boston. She is also the one responsible for introducing me to ‘Drunken Darts’. That particular game is how the location for my next assignment was picked; one too many tequila shots and really bad aim.
“I knew I shouldn’t have let you watch Steel Magnolias.” I said giving her my best eye roll.
“Suck it up. The way I see it, you have two days on the road to brush up on things of vital southern importance like ain’t, ya’ll, sweet tea, and Lord help you, picking a football team.”
“Is that completely necessary?”
“Trust me. You may need your passport for this cultural experience,” she laughed.
“I’m going to miss you,” I said giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“Me too. Hopefully I’ll get to come see you for the holidays. A balmy forty degrees beats a snowy twelve degrees any day. Be careful.”
“Always am.”
“And don’t forget to call or text me when you get there.”
One last hug and I climbed into my truck, starting my two day trip to Alabama. Alabama…I could almost hear the dueling banjos in the distance.
-x-X-x-
Not having enough time to check into my hotel, I pulled directly into the parking lot of the hospital. I gave myself a quick once over; brushing my hair, powdering my nose and touching up my lip gloss. “Well, here goes nothing,” I thought.
I took in my new surroundings as I walked towards the building. The hospital was a white stucco five story building. The plaque to the right of the front door said that it was established in 1956. The building definitely didn’t show its age. Walking through the front doors I immediately saw a plump, silver haired woman wearing bright red lipstick that was sitting behind the information desk. She welcomed me before I even had the chance to make it all the way to her. The brass nameplate on her bright red volunteer’s vest said that her name was Carmen.
“Well hello young lady! Welcome to Cotton Creek Memorial. Can I help you find somethin’?”
“Um, yes please. I have a five o’clock appointment with Dr. Carlisle Cullen. My name is Isabella Swan. I’m afraid I’m running a little bit late…” I rambled, only now noticing it was already ten minutes after five. Shit! Not the way to start off my new job!
“Not to worry, Honey. I’ll just give him a quick page.”
I looked around a little more while waiting on the call back from Dr. Cullen. So far it wasn’t too different from the other hospitals I had worked in; just smaller. The information board indicated that this floor housed the Emergency Department along with doctors’ offices. There were also floors for pediatrics, women’s services and basic med-surg. My interest however was the second floor where the lab, radiology and outpatient Dialysis unit were. When I initially took this job I thought it was a little odd that a town this size would have it’s own Dialysis unit. But I also knew from experience that when you need that service three times a week, driving an hour or more each way wasn’t exactly convenient.
“Isabella? Come on with me sweetie. He’ll see you now. I’m Carmen, by the way.”
Walking down the hall with Carmen was an enlightening experience to say the least. It seemed that if there was anything that I ever needed to know, about anything or anyone, she was my “go-to” gal.
“Here we are. It was nice to meet you! Good luck and welcome to Cotton Creek.” With that, Carmen retreated back to her post and left me facing my new boss’ office door.
Taking in a deep breath, I walked into Dr. Cullen’s office. I was a little bit stunned by the man who greeted me. Dr. Cullen was a very handsome man, even though he appeared to be around my dad’s age. He looked nothing like Charlie. Dr. Cullen had sandy blonde hair that was only slightly starting to grey around his temples. It was the only thing, other than a few laugh lines, that betrayed his age. His cobalt blue eyes were soft and smiling as he held out his hand to welcome me.
“Isabella Swan? I’m Carlisle Cullen. It’s wonderful to finally meet you. We don’t get many travel nurses to come our way, so this is a bit of a novelty for us. Won’t you please sit?”
“Thank you,” I beamed while shaking his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, too. And please, call me Bella.”
Dr. Cullen was a well known Internist and kidney specialist in the tri-state area and it would be an insane honor to work with him. His interest and participation in independent studies alone would greatly further the next step in my career. I had been thinking about going back to school to become a Nurse Practitioner for a while now, and this may just give me the drive I need to get the next step started.
“Well, Bella, I’m sure you’ll be an asset to our team. Let me introduce you to Maggie Martin. She is our Chief Nursing Officer, so she’ll be your boss, not me,” he chuckled.
“Hey, Bella! I’m Maggie and we are just thrilled to have you here,” she said as she stretched out her hand to me. “I’ve gone ahead and made out your orientation schedule as well as your hours for your first week of work. You can just let me know if there are any issues with it.”
“Great, thanks! I’m sure it will be fine. I adjust to new places pretty quickly.”
“It will be nice to have a fresh face around here. Most of us grew up here, so we already know everything about each other. You’ll be good for gossip,” she said while grinning at me. I blushed and smiled slightly not knowing if she was kidding or giving me a warning.
“Alright now Maggie, don’t go scaring her off. I’ve been hoping for someone with Bella’s experience to lend me a hand in the Dialysis Unit. Don’t run her out of town before her contract is up. I have six months to try and change her mind,” he said while giving me a friendly and hopeful crooked smile.
“Well, why don’t we just start with the six months I committed to and we’ll go from there? I can already see that I’m sure to be kept on my toes and never be bored around here.”
“That’s the truth! Okay, come with me and I’ll give you a look around so you don’t get lost on your first day,” Maggie said while pulling me out of my chair. With a firm handshake from Dr. Cullen, she led me down the hall to see the rest of the hospital.
-x-X-x
How bad could it be?
At least they have Chinese food and a Target!
~Ang
Truer words have never been spoken.
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