Up and Down The Evergreen by Trellie James Jeffers (excerpt) The cold wind of the otherwise serene night, ripped through Greene’s old frayed overcoat and bit at his flesh. He pulled it tighter around him, and decided to trot to both warm up and to make the time shorter. Since the hospital was only five blocks away he ran the distance in a few minutes, slipping sometimes in the freshly fallen snow. When he reached the hospital entrance, he paused to get a final glimpse of the night. There was a pink glow in the sky. This meant that the blizzard would get worse, and probably sixteen or seventeen inches of snow would fall. He shook himself off, wiped his feet, and walked briskly through the hospital corridor to the elevator. He pushed the elevator button and turned to look absent-mindedly about. From where he stood he could see a small lobby containing a few people, all of whom seemed to be busy, except one sleeping man whose legs sprawled out into the floor: his head in his hand, his mouth opening and closing in quick jerks. Greene smiled to himself as he watched the sleeping man. A microphone over his head, above the elevator, startled him: “Dr. Jackson Greene, Dr. Jackson Greene, please come to the emergency room, a cold mechanical voiced announced. “Dr. Greene, Dr Jackson Greene, please come to the emergency room.” Greene pushed the button again. “Damn, this thing must be stuck.” he said aloud. Just as he abandoned his thoughts of the elevator and decided to take the stairs, it rushed down with a loud impatient thud. He rushed in, anxious to answer the emergency call. He reached his floor, bounded out of the elevator and ran frantically toward the emergency room. Standing in front of the emergency room nervously anticipating Greene’s arrival was Billy Kitrell, his partner in ER for the night. Kitrell had manned the emergency room while Greene and others took a break. They now were all being summoned back to their post. “What’s up?” Greene inquired of Kitrell. It was an expression that all of the doctor’s used when they were called by microphone to duty. “We are in it,” Billy announced, fear audible in his voice. Greene’s eyes went pass Billy, searching around the room as if he anticipated danger. His eyes focused upon an enclosed compartment. He threw back the enclosure and went in. Billy followed closely behind. Greene walked over to a blood-covered sheet where a middle-aged white man lay, his blue face covered with dried blood. Green’s heart raced as he threw back the covers. The sight was an ugly mess. The man’s chest seemed crushed and his breath was sharp and quick. “Where is everybody?” Greene demanded. “They’re coming,” Billy assured him. “We reached them by telephone, but your phone didnt answer so we just kept paging you. But we can’t find a chief!” There was desperation in his voice. Greene ignored Billy’s fearful voice. “Let me see the X-rays,” he ordered. A nurse raced to get the x-rays for Greene.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 04:17:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015