Disgusted from lack of enlightenment in her plight, Garrett sighed and resigned herself to being one of the hapless few who could neither believe nor disprove the power of God. ‘I guess you have to use it often to keep it with you.’ The only thing that Garrett Trivoli knew that she could count on was herself and the skills that she possessed. She’d done that for the better part of her life. Why would she think that it would be any different now?
Garrett’s mind drifted back to a time in her life where going to church with her family was a Sunday morning routine. Her parents proudly were displaying their faith and working to instill it into their children. The surgeon thought of the last real time she was at a church. One that she at least prayed at. It was the day of her family’s funeral. After that, she saw no reason to go, not by herself anyway. It had always been a family function and without a family, church just didn’t make much sense to her.
She got up to leave and felt the urge to genuflect. It was something that her mind had at least remembered in association with religion. Casting a watchful eye around the room and seeing no one, she bowed her head and lowered her body down on one bent knee. As she looked up to the altar the sound of beeps emanated from her pocket. Reaching for it, she viewed the message and silenced it in one well-practiced motion. The number was familiar to her. It was one that she had called often enough during her first several months as a Fellow. ‘The E.R.! If it’s that McCormick again…’ The woman’s blue eyes flashed with fire. Garrett squared her shoulders and left the small vestibule to the gods, setting her course straight for the E.R.
Stepping off the elevator, Garrett let her long strides propel her across the lobby of the hospital. The revolving doors of the entrance were in motion as she came by them and the petite form of her teammate stepped out into the lobby. It was the first time that either of them had been in the presence of the other all day. Each one of them anticipated a cold reception from the other only to find the soft warm glow of friendship when their eyes met. It was like they had never been out of the other’s close proximity
"Hey!" Danni smiled as she fell into step with the surgeon.
"Hey, yourself." The first signs of her lopsided grin surfaced. "You got the page, too?"
"Yeah, I wonder what’s up?" The nurse reached out for the button on the wall that controlled the automatic doors leading into the E.R.
"Not sure." Garrett slowed her stride. Waiting for the doors to open fully, together the team stepped into the E.R. that was full of activity.
The red, frizzed hair of Dr. Jamie Potter could be seen sitting at the monitor screen of patients occupying the E.R. The serious look on her face was a real sign that something major was going on. Her eyes darted back and forth across the screen as her mind started playing its game of patient chess. It was her job as E.R. Attending this evening to clear out as many patients as she possibly could and in record time.
The Flight Team crossed the hall and stood at the desk. "Jamie, do you know why we’ve been paged to your E.R.?" Garrett stood leaning on the desk with Danni right beside her.
"Never thought that I’d be calling in you guys." Dr. Potter pushed her glasses up on her nose. "There’s been a huge pile up on the Parkway East. They gave us a report of at least seventeen cars. We’re not sure how many will be injured yet. My guess is at least twenty or more."
"What do you need us to do?" Danni was eager.
"You two do what you do best, act as a team. I’m pairing up a nurse and a physician for every two rooms. I figure that we can staff at least six teams that way. That will leave the Attending Trauma Surgeon for the first O.R. case, with Dr. Chabot and then Garrett as back ups. Until then, you can help us wade through the mess down here." The freckled-faced physician looked to Garrett for her approval. "Sorry, but I’m crying wolf to cover my butt."
"You sure that they won’t need us at the scene?" The level head of the surgeon was evident.
"Not sure right now. We’ll cross that bridge if we need to."
The surgeon and nurse turned their heads to look at each other. Then nodding their heads with smiles tugging at their lips, the reply came. "Just tell us where and which patients to cover." The excitement of being back in the Trauma Rooms and the O.R. was very appealing to Garrett. She had missed it and any chance to get her hands back in some operation was strictly a godsend to her.
Jamie looked up at the two women in front of her, happy that they were so willing to lend a hand. "You’ll be in Trauma Room Three." She smiled at them and immediately resumed her activity at the computer screen.
The hastened pace of the team found them at their assigned room, donning the lead apron, trauma gowns, masks and shields as they had done many times before. They readied themselves and stood in silent anticipation of the arriving patient load. Looking down the Trauma Hall, Garrett could see the other teams of paired off medical staff all waiting for their chance to save a life.
From the other end of the hall the voice of the French Canadian could be heard. "So, Dr. Trivoli, do you remember what you have to do? I mean, with the proper equipment and a room that doesn’t lift off." Rene was teasing his friend and trying his best to relieve some of the tension of the impending trauma.
Danni nudged her friend and Garrett nodded as she chuckled at his implied joke. "We could fly circles around you, just watch us."
Danni looked up at the surgeon, not sure that she had heard the woman correctly. ‘Did she just say we?’
"You know, Rene, working with few instruments leaves a lot of room for intuition. I’ll stake my reputation on the intuition of two women," Garrett motioned with her hand to Danni and herself, "any day."
The blonde nurse let the corners of her mouth turn up into a smile while her mind became ecstatic. ‘She really does consider us a team.’ Danni reveled in the knowledge that she was being accepted as an equal member of the Flight Team and by the surgeon herself.
The reverberating sound of the overhead announcement put a quick end to the playfulness between the two Fellows as it blurted out its message. "Traumas at the back doors! Traumas at the back doors. Three ambulances and more on the way."
The laughter and smiling faces now turned to somber professionalism as all the members of the orchestrated cast assembled to their stations. For the rest of the group, it was a time of harried chaos as the roadway disaster descended down upon them while the members of the Flight Team thought of it as just another challenge to their capable talents.
Looking across the stretcher in Trauma Room # 3, Garrett felt right at home with Danni as her nurse. The surgeon’s eyes sparkled as her mouth turned up into a smile underneath the mask she wore. It pleased her to have been paired with such a nurse.
The tall woman was finding herself to be very lucky lately, and wondering what her lucky charm truly was. Standing there, waiting for her patient to arrive, Garrett began to believe that it was Danni who was making all the difference in her life. ‘I’m going to have to think about this. Could she be my pot of gold?’ The surgeon thought back to something that her mother had always told her when she was growing up. ‘When you least expect it, there your leprechaun will come. You’ll know it by the color of the gold.’ Then her mother would always wink at her then laugh as if she knew what was waiting for the daughter that she loved. Garrett smirked as she watched the fluorescent light dance over the golden blonde hair of the nurse. She stood almost mesmerized by it.