T. Reeder - The Free Republic of Texas 2015 AD

At least in this tiny bit of Texas US of A the lights would remain on and the rule of law would stand, Damn but we sounded high handed, but in truth all it really amounted to was a few people willing to put their money where their mouths were, and if nothing ever happened as we believed then we would still have a wonderful home and a place to grow old and no matter what, at the end of the day what more is there to ask for?

Today we do the first interviews for a MD and tomorrow a Vet. The meetings were to be in a suite in a very nice Hotel, each interview would be done in an hour with a 30 minute break for the three of us, Sing would be the main interviewer while Jody and I would observe and ask a few questions as we came up with something.

Sing had narrowed it down to 3 young Doctors just out into the world, if the one wasn’t in this batch we would look elsewhere.

The first person showed up about 15 minutes late, from a room one floor down, his name was John, after he got over the tribal tattoos on the lovely Sing and had almost raised his lip Sing asked him why he was late and he got defensive right away and said that Doctors as a rule set their schedules and if they were late then it must be for a good reason, enough said!

Sing gave a frosty smile and said well how about your patients time? His reply was that they should know that when they were given an appointment time that it was at the Doctors convenience.

With that Sing stood up and said thank you for coming in John and good luck in your practice, well this took the wind out of John’s sails!! And his face turned red and he jumped up and lurched out the door, so much for that one!

We then spent the time reading the resumes on the other two, at the moment the second one was to be there the knock on the door came, we all smiled and I went and opened the door, this one was a young lady who’s name was Ellen, She looked at Sings face and cocked her head over and looked closely and smiled a nice smile, after the introductions Sing got to it, Ellen told us all about her life in a small town in Oklahoma where her family still lived, then about her academic life which was outstanding, after all the usual questions from Sing, Jody leaned forward and asked Ellen why she didn’t want to set up her practice in her home town, she answered that she would rather deal with strangers to begin with then people she had known all her life, that it was easier to tell somebody they were dying if you hadn’t know them all your life, well I sure could see that.

She also added that she had no intentions of working in a hospital that she wanted to be in a rural area and was going to be the kind of Doctor like her family doctor, one who made house calls and was more interested in his patients then driving a fancy car and playing golf.

So far Ellen was leading the pack, so to speak, I asked her how she felt about the 9/11 attacks, she said that as far as she was concerned the terrorist involved should get the usual fair trial and then be executed, And this with with a fire in her eyes and a quiver in her voice, I asked how she felt about the ones in Gitmo being interrogated harshly, she sat up straight and said she would be willing to go down and use the red hot pliers to remove a few finger nails if it made them talk.

Well I thought, you ask the question you get your answer. I didn’t say it but I was thinking I’d be willing to help her do it.

Jody asked her why she felt so strongly about it, she sat back and looked like the wind had gone out of her sails, and said my boyfriend all thru high school was killed in that war by a road side bomb set by a terrorist who didn’t have the guts to come out and fight and die like a man.

With that I could only nod and sat back to listen to the rest of the interview, Sing asked her is she could stick around for a while in the room we had gotten her, she stood up, smiled and shook hands with us all and left the room, Jody said well do we like her? I did and said so, Sing said she did but wanted to do the 3 interview as planned before we had a second meeting with Ellen.

The last meeting was a tiny bit better then the first but not by much,, He showed up on time but informed us that his starting salary was going to be 6 figures or no go, we had no problem with somebody being paid what they were worth, but we wanted someone dedicated to the people not to the bank account, after a few easy questions he was sent on his way, don’t call us we’ll call you. In fact it was over so fast he never even noticed Sings tats… no taste on his part!

After talking about Ellen and how we were going to approach her on what we had in mind we called her back to the Suite, As soon as she walked In she pretty much won us all over, she had changed from the business suit and was wearing a pair of jeans with a tank top and very little makeup and had her hair down, she looked at us and laughed right out loud and said “well I figured you better see the real me instead of that blow dried Brooks Brothers wanna be, this is the real me take it or leave it.

Jody led us all to the more comfortable sitting room of the suite where he said, its happy hour someplace in the world and I’m having a drink who will join me? All three of us said me! And he looked in the mini bar and read off what was there, surprising nobody Ellen asked for a beer, we all dittoed that and settled down to chat.

Sing had left the room for a moment and returned wearing her Black jeans and a tank top and no shoes, Ellen looked and took hers off and curled her feet under her the way only women can do.

Jody sat a moment and waited for Ellen to get nervous, never happened, she made eye contact with him and never blinked or moved, just sat and watched in a relaxed way, he then said with no warning, I think we want you.

Here’s the deal, we are going to open a clinic in a small rural town, we will pay for the whole thing, we will cover all costs, we will pay an honest salary plus all insurance including malpractice, health and furnish you a vehicle plus fuel, for this we expect you to care for the people of the area, house calls are fine depending on the political climate so to speak at the time, we expect to while not make money we wish to not lose money, BUT, we expect the people to be cared for regardless of insurance or not, if they can pay even a small amount on time that’s fine, the motto on the wall will be “TANSTAAFL” when Ellen raised her eyes, he explained. “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”

We feel if a person needs help they should get it, but they will feel better if they pay for it even if it’s a buck a week, and no child will ever not be cared for.

Ellen sat there looking at Jody a bit then at me, last she looked at Sing for a moment and taking a deep breath said, I love your tattoos, where is your tribal home?

First Sing then me and lastly Jody burst out laughing, he got up and grabbed 4 more beers and said ok, we going out to eat or calling room service? the over whelming vote was room service.

While waiting for the food Ellen said well now that we have that out of the way what are you guys really doing? Jody raised an eye brow and said, what…but Ellen interrupted and said look guys, all was cool until you tossed in the bit about house calls being ok depending on the political climate at the moment, now I’m a doctor, I will care for whoever, wherever, however and whenever they need me, politics be damned so lets get it all out in the open and settled before my food gets here because if I don’t like it I’ll leave on a full tummy.

I sat back and thought “Well Jody, I think you just met your match” Sing thought so to because she leaned over and high fived Ellen, to make the long version short, Jody laid it all out right up front, from his and my first meeting to right this minute, Ellen never interrupted, never frowned, nor looked away from Jody’s eyes, when he was done she started to say something but the food arrived and she and Sing jumped up and let the Waiter in and helped get the table set, we all dug in and soon the conversation was rolling around the table but none was about the subject of the job offer.