"I'm Barclay Bradford," the man said stiffly. "I'm a vice president of the hospital and the acting chief administrator for the evening shift."
"How convenient," Kim said. "What I'd advise you to do is to go back into the ER, locate the asshole acting head of the department, and drag him out here. He and I have something to talk about. You see, I've been waiting for two and a half hours to have my daughter seen.
"Dr. Reggis," Barclay began as if Kim had not even spoken, "as a member of our professional staff, particularly a surgeon, you of all people know that triage is necessary in a busy ER. Life-threatening problems have to take precedence over simple juvenile diarrhea."
"Of course I understand triage," Kim shot back. "I've worked in ER's all through my training. But let me tell you something. When I walked in here ten minutes ago, there had to be a dozen ER staff hanging out behind this counter drinking coffee and chitchatting."
"Appearances never tell the whole story," Barclay commented condescendingly. He fluttered his eyelids. "They were probably conferring with each other over particularly difficult cases. But regardless, your childish behavior of pounding a letter box on a countertop cannot be tolerated. It's entirely inappropriate for you to demand special treatment."
"Special treatment!" Kim sputtered. "Childish behavior!" His face reddened and his eyes bulged. The administrator in front of him suddenly embodied his frustrations about the present emergency-room experience, the hospital merger, AmeriCare, and modern medicine in general. With a sudden fit of fury and losing all semblance of control, Kim struck the administrator with a lightning blow to the chin.
Kim shook his hand and clasped it with his other in response to the sudden pain in his knuckle. At the same time, Barclay rocked back on his heels, teetered, then fell heavily to the floor. Kim was stunned by his violent reaction. Taking a step forward, he looked down at Barclay and felt an impulse to help the man up.
A collective gasp arose from the staff behind the desk. The security guard came running. The clerk grabbed the intercom to announce: "Mayday at the nurses' desk."
From the depths of the ER, residents, nurses, and orderlies came streaming out. Even Tracy appeared after hearing the announcement. A crowd gathered around Kim and Barclay. The hospital VP had pushed himself up to a sitting position. He touched a hand to his lip. It was bleeding.
"Damn it, Kim!" Tracy said. "I warned you!"
"This is totally unacceptable," Monica said. She turned to the clerk. "Call the police!"
"Hold up, don't call anybody!" a deep, resonant voice called. The crowd parted. A powerfully built, handsome African-American man appeared. He snapped latex gloves from his hands as he walked into the center of the ring. The name tag pinned to his scrub top read: DR. DAVID WASHINGTON, ACTING CHIEF EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT. His eyes went from Kim down to Barclay. "What's going on here?"
"Mr. Bradford was just struck by this man," Monica said, pointing at Kim. "And that was after he destroyed a letter box by bashing it against the counter."
"Believe it or not, he's a doctor on the hospital staff," Molly added.
David put out a hand and got Barclay to his feet. David glanced at the man's split lip and palpated along the line of his jaw.
"Are you all right?" David asked the administrator.
"I think so," Barclay said. He got out a handkerchief and dabbed at his bloodied lip.
David turned to Monica. "Take Mr. Bradford back and get him cleaned up. And have Dr. Krugger take a look at him to see if we should get an X-ray."
"Sure," Monica said. She grasped Barclay's arm above the elbow to guide him through the crowd. Barclay glared at Kim before allowing himself to be led away.
"Everyone else, back to work," David said, with a wave of his hand. Then he turned to Kim, who'd recovered his senses.
"What is your name?" David asked.
"Dr. Kim Reggis."
"Did you really hit Mr. Bradford?" David asked incredulously.
"I'm afraid so," Kim said.
"What on earth could have provoked you?" David asked.
Kim took a deep breath. "That prick condescendingly accused me of demanding special treatment when my sick child has been waiting for two and a half hours."
David stared at Kim for a beat. He was mystified at such behavior from a colleague. "What's the child's name?" he asked.
"Rebecca Reggis," Kim said.
David turned to the clerk and asked for Rebecca's sign-in sheet. The clerk fumbled through the stack.
"Are you really on staff here at the University Med Center?" David asked while he waited for the sheet.
"Since the merger," Kim said. "I'm one of the cardiac surgeons, although you'd never know it the way I've been treated here in the ER."
"We do the best we can," David said.
"Yeah, I've heard that excuse several times tonight," Kim said.
David eyed Kim again. "You know, you should be ashamed of yourself" he said. "Punching people out, smashing letter boxes. You're acting like some malcontent teenager."
"Screw you," Kim said.
"For the moment I'm going to chalk that remark up to stress," David said.
"Don't be patronizing," Kim said.
"Here it is," the clerk said. He handed the sign-in sheet to David.
David glanced at it, then looked at his watch. "At least you're right about the time. It's been close to three hours. That's certainly no justification for your behavior, but it's too long to wait."
David looked at Tracy. "Are you Mrs. Reggis?" he asked.
"I'm Rebecca Reggis's mother," Tracy said.
"Why don't you get the young lady. I'll personally see to it she's seen immediately."
"Thank you," Tracy said. She hurried out to the waiting room.
David went behind the desk to get a clipboard for the sign-in sheet. He also used the intercom to get a nurse to come out. When he reemerged, Tracy was back with Becky in tow. A moment later a nurse appeared. Her name tag identified her as Nicole Michaels.
"How are you feeling, young lady?" David asked Becky.
"Not too good," Becky admitted. "I want to go home."
"I'm sure you do," David said. "But first let's check you out. Why don't you go ahead with Nicole. She'll get you situated in one of the examination cubicles."
Tracy, Becky, and Kim started forward. David reached out to restrain Kim.
"I'd prefer that you wait out here, if you don't mind," David said.
"I'm going with my daughter," Kim stated.
"No, you are not," David said. "You've proved yourself emotionally stressed. You're acting like a loose cannon.
Kim hesitated. As much as he didn't want to admit it, David had a point. Still, it was irritating and demeaning.
"Come on, Doctor," David said. "Surely you understand."
Kim cast a glance at the receding image of Becky and Tracy. He looked back at David, who was not about to be intimidated, physically or otherwise.
"But…" Kim began.
"No buts," David said. "Don't make me call the police, which I'll do if you don't cooperate."
Reluctantly Kim turned around and walked back to the waiting room. There were no seats, so he leaned up against the wall by the entrance. He tried to watch the television but couldn't concentrate. He raised his hand and looked at it; he was trembling.
A half hour later Tracy and Becky emerged from the treatment area. It was by chance that Kim happened to see them as they pushed through the exit door. They were leaving without even having tried to find him.
Kim quickly gathered his coat and gloves and hurried after them. He caught up to them just as Tracy was helping Becky climb into the car.
"What are you going to do?" Kim demanded. "Just ignore me?"