“As God is my witness. The anonymous aspect pertains to the general public. For our purposes, and purposes of accounting and taxes, the names must be registered with the Foundation. That being said, mum’s the word. Neither Nick or Sal are to be told we know.”
“Great, I just told off a guy who lost a brother to cancer and gave
us twenty-five grand. And to thank him, I told him to get lost.” “Look, Shel, don’t let it bother you. Let sleeping dogs lie and get
back to your caseload. Mary Tompkins is coming in today, and I want you to see her. Her mom says she’s tired and weak. I don’t like the sound of it. And her mother doesn’t like people of color.”
“Are you kidding?” she asked. “We still have patients like that in this day and age?”
“Yes, especially here in the South. Anyway, let’s do full blood work and hope for the best.”
As he got up, he put his arms out for a reconciliatory hug. She stepped forward, melting into the embrace. “I love you, my little miracle,” he said.
“I know.”
“And maybe it’s none of my business,” he added, “but you can do better than Nick Harris. You really can. He’s a nice guy, obviously cares for the Foundation, but I don’t think he’s for you.”
“I don’t know.” She turned to leave.
“Curious. How did he know what time you came to work in the
morning?”
“Good question.” Shelly shrugged, then reached back to close the door behind her.
Dr. Wall walked back to the window. “I’m getting too old for
this crap.”
*****
Shelly made a beeline to the nurses’ station. “Doris, Mary Tompkins is coming in this morning. We’ll need full blood work. Can you take care of that for me?”
“Be happy to, Doctor.” She wrote down the order on Mary’s file. “Anything else?”
“Yes, I need to see the file of a patient from 1972.” “Chucky Harris?”