Richard Mabry - Code Blue

"Nice work, Doctor. It's a boy."

Cathy stood beside Karen Pearson's recovery room bed and watched the woman's eyelids twitch, then open slowly.

"You and your son are doing fine," Cathy said.

Karen reached out her hand, wincing as tension on the needle in her wrist pricked her. "Thank you, Dr. Sewell. See, God brought us both through it just fine."

"I- Thank you, Karen. Now, you get some rest. I need to go help another doctor."

Cathy shucked out of her surgical gown and hurried to report to Harshman. She paused just inside the door and said, "Mrs. Pearson's doing fine. Footling breech with a cord prolapse. The FHT had dropped to eighty by the time we got the baby out. Healthy little boy."

"Good. We're almost through here. Dr. Steel's done a fine job assisting," Harshman said.

Cathy was thinking that he was too polite to add, "Better than you did."

Instead, Harshman said, "I must admit that I was a bit hesitant to send you offto do that emergency C-section. Glad you got through it."

"Thank you. Would you like me to tell Dr. Gladstone that everything is going well here?"

"Yes, please do. I'll be out in about fifteen minutes to talk with him."

She was halfway through the door when she heard his last words. They stopped her in her tracks.

"Good job, Cathy."

The anesthesiologist had said his good-byes and headed for home. Dr. Denny stopped by long enough to change into his street clothes and offer his congratulations on a successful C-section. Now Cathy and Marcus sat in the deserted surgeons' lounge, side by side on the sagging sofa. Their feet rested on a coffee table littered with the detritus left by previous occupants: discarded surgical masks and caps, pink message slips with cryptic scribbling, and pads of hospital progress notes. Cathy sipped from a cup of vile-tasting coffee. She hadn't wanted it, but Marcus had presented it like a peace offering.

"Thanks for the coffee," Cathy said.

Marcus nodded. "You're welcome."

Marcus was obviously walking on eggshells, so Cathy decided to try easing the tension. "I appreciate your scrubbing with me. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Happy to help, although there wasn't much choice. The case needed to be done stat, and I was probably the most logical candidate to scrub in."

A thought crossed her mind. "Are you angry that Harshman didn't ask you to do it?"

The wait before his answer told Cathy what she needed to know. Marcus blew on his coffee, tasted it, and made a face. "I don't really know. I guess my first thought was that I was more qualified to do it than you are. But, as it turned out, I was wrong."

"You didn't pay any attention to those letters about my qualifications, did you?" She felt the anger boiling up. Maybe it was time to get all this out in the open. "You know, you're just like the other men on the committee. You had your mind made up before that meeting that I would have the same privileges as every GP who's practiced in Dainger since the hospital opened. Never mind that I'm a residencytrained, board-certified family practitioner with undeniable qualifications and excellent recommendations. It was a foregone conclusion that, because I'm a woman, because I grew up here in the shadow of my father-a real doctor-there was no way I could ever be as capable as you men." She put the Styrofoam cup onto the table with enough force to slosh coffee onto everything, wishing it were a china mug so she could slam it down.

Marcus tossed his half-full cup into the trash. "No, no. I know you're qualified. It's just that I have to remain neutral in these things. If I take a side, I automatically end up with half the doctors on the staffmad at me."

Cathy rose and bent down until she was almost noseto-nose with Marcus. "And that's why you didn't want me to speak up at the credentials meeting. And why you didn't vote. You were unwilling to risk making someone on the committee mad. This way, the only person you disappointed was me. And you figured you could make that up by taking me out to dinner. Is that my price? A nice dinner? I'm insulted. Even Judas got more than that!"

Marcus was still talking when Cathy turned and stalked into the women's dressing room. She tried to slam the door behind her, but the automatic closer thwarted her efforts, easing it closed with a soft whoosh. Oh, well. She figured this wouldn't be the last time she had some strong words for Dr. Marcus Bell. Next time, she'd make her exit a bit more emphatic.

You look different today. New hairstyle?" the remark was so out of character for Josh that it took Cathy by surprise.

"No, same style I've had since I started med school. Low maintenance and plain."

"Maybe it's the makeup. You look different."

Cathy settled more comfortably in the chair. "I guess it's because I feel different. Let me tell you what happened a couple of days ago."

When she'd finished relating her experiences in surgery, Josh leaned back, crossed his legs, and clasped his hands together in front of his knee. "How are you sleeping?"

"I've been so worn out recently that I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow."

"Any more run-ins with that black SUV?"

Cathy shrugged her shoulders. "No. The sheriff' s looking into it, and I'm careful."

"Let's review. You came here because you were depressed- understandably so, given what you'd experienced, although you didn't seem to realize it. Actually, you thought you were on the road to full-blown paranoia. You were afraid you might be showing signs of the same schizophrenia your mother developed. How do you feel now?"

"Better, I guess."

"You're relieved because, instead of being mentally ill, your life is actually in danger?"

"I know. It's crazy." Cathy laughed at her poor choice of words. "You know what I mean. Anyway, this is something I can fight, and I've made up my mind to do just that. And I have some help."

"The boyfriend turned lawyer?" The smile Josh flashed was a rare sight and one Cathy had learned to appreciate.

"Actually, the boyfriend turned lawyer seems to be turning into a boyfriend again. At least, I think so. Right now I want to stand on my own two feet, but it's nice to know someone has my back."

Josh shifted in his chair. "So, do you think we're about done here?"

Cathy shook her head. "I'd like to come back for a few more visits, but maybe we can stretch them out. I've still got some issues I'd like to talk out with you."

"Good enough. Let's do it."

For the rest of the session, Cathy poured out her thoughts as fast as they entered her mind, in a true stream-ofconsciousness catharsis. No stopping for a drink of water. No sweat running down between her shoulder blades. No racing of the pulse. Maybe she had gotten a handle on her problems.

Soon, Josh stood and stuck out his hand. "I'll see you in a couple of weeks. Call me earlier if you think it's necessary. But I think you'll be fine."

First a smile, and now this. Quite a red-letter day. She shook the hand Josh offered. "I appreciate all you've done."

Cathy stopped at the secretary's desk to arrange her next appointment. As she was about to leave, she said, "When I shook hands with Dr. Samuels, I couldn't help noticing the calluses on his hands. Unusual for a doctor, isn't it? How did he get those?"

"Oh," the secretary said, "that's from his hobby. He's a carpenter. He spends a lot of time repairing things that are broken-and building new ones."

Cathy envied Will as he sat next to her at the conference table arranging his notes, scribbling an occasional addendum in the margins. No sign of nervousness. Of course, he wouldn't be. This was his office. And he was a lawyer. Depositions were as common for him as cutting hair was for a barber. But she'd never been through one, and she was as nervous as she'd ever been in her life.