Даниэла Стил - Turning Point

The informational session continued until lunchtime, when the directors left them, and they were driven to a very good new restaurant South of Market, before moving on to SF General after lunch.

They were all fascinated by how different it was from France. It was more mechanized and systematized in the United States, in contrast to the many official protocols in France and the more traditional system there, run with less manpower, since they had less. The French system was very closely linked with the police and riot squads, since terrorism was unfortunately more common in France, although that could change, as one of the deputy directors pointed out. In the case of terrorism in the United States, the FBI and Homeland Security became involved. They had more departments to draw on and more staff.

“Everything is bigger in the United States,” Gabriel commented, very impressed by what they’d seen so far. He conferred about it at length with Marie-Laure over lunch. Both cities and countries had much to learn from each other, which was the whole point of the exchange. They all felt enriched by what they’d heard.

After a delicious lunch, they headed for SF General, and Bill began the tour with one of the hospital’s directors who joined them to add additional information.

The older part of the hospital was huge and rambling, and gloomy. It was in the area of Potrero Hill. They went in through the ambulance entrance, and took a lengthy tour through the bowels of the hospital, winding up in surgery and the various trauma units, which were of greatest interest to them. It was Bill’s second home and he looked totally at ease. It was similar to the older hospitals in Paris, as the French members of the team commented. Their hospitals weren’t light and airy either, but they were efficient, as was General. It was the best hospital in the city for acute trauma. They walked through the wards together and the French team was impressed at the broad range of severe cases they handled. They already respected Bill from their time with him in Paris, but even more so after the tour. His American colleagues were impressed too. Wendy had never been there, and Stephanie not for some time, and they were impressed by how severe the cases were. They all noticed that there were access codes on every door and armed security guards patrolled the halls. Their client base was potentially dangerous in the extreme. It reminded them of a prison hospital, and some of their patients belonged there or wound up there, which didn’t seem to faze Bill. He was used to it, and moved through the halls and locked doors without feeling threatened. There were signs telling patients to remove their weapons, and metal detectors throughout.

“It really is like a war zone,” Paul said to Bill respectfully.

They toured parts of the new facility of the hospital as well, which was in sharp contrast, with extraordinary new equipment. The French team were stunned to learn that the addition to the hospital had cost over nine hundred million to build, eight hundred million provided by the city, and another hundred in private donations. Bill gave them a brief tour of their elder care unit, which was beautiful. The tour ended at six, and had been very instructive.

Marie-Laure and Wendy admitted that they were exhausted, and Valérie wanted to go back with Bill another day to visit the extensive psych ward the hospital was very proud of. She was fascinated by everything they’d seen, and she and Tom were talking about it animatedly as they left. In a whisper, Gabriel asked Stephanie to come back to his hotel.

“I can’t, I have to see my kids,” she said softly. She knew that Andy would be upset if she didn’t, even though he knew that she had busy days ahead for the next four weeks, and this was just the beginning.

“Can you meet me later?” Gabriel persisted, he was very determined and wanted to make love to her again.

“Not tonight. I need to spend one night at home or Andy will get suspicious, and he’ll make a scene. When I’m not home, he takes care of the kids.”

“Don’t you have a nanny?” Gabriel was surprised as she shook her head.

“A housekeeper a few hours a day. The rest of the time, Andy does it. He works from home. On the weekend, we do it together or take turns if I have to work. Andy doesn’t believe in childcare whenever we can do it ourselves. His mother was a full-time hands-on mom, and he thinks I should be too. And since I’m not around most of the time, he does the rest.” Gabriel looked shocked.

“Men in France don’t do that.” But he understood better now why she had to go home, although he didn’t like it. “Can’t you hire a babysitter while I’m here?”

“Andy would wonder why. He likes taking care of our boys. But he expects me to show up when I can. It’s hard when I’m on duty at the hospital. And then he expects me to come home and take care of the kids.”

“You won’t have to do that anymore, we can hire a nanny if you want,” he said glibly. It was generous of him, but she felt uncomfortable when he said it.

In the end, Gabriel went back to the hotel with Paul and Marie-Laure and wasn’t pleased about it. They were going to have dinner together, and Bill and Wendy were joining them. Tom and Valérie were going home to Oakland, to his new cozy, much cleaner apartment.

It was seven when Stephanie walked into the house. Andy was giving the boys their bath and she joined them, and sat down on the toilet to chat with them for a few minutes.

“Long day,” Andy commented.

“We had orientation at the Department of Emergency Management this morning, and a tour of SF General this afternoon. They’re keeping us busy. I’m doing the tour at UCSF tomorrow. It’s interesting because each of our hospitals is so different.” She tried to explain it while the boys splashed each other, and she helped Andy wash their hair.

She put them to bed while he cooked dinner. He had already fed the boys before their bath. Gabriel texted her three times while she was reading the boys a story. She texted him back when she finished, and then kissed the boys good night and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Andy told her he had eaten with Ryan and Aden, but he had made her an omelet and said there were leftovers for her. He didn’t know if she’d be home for dinner so they hadn’t waited for her. And he left her alone to eat in the kitchen. He hadn’t sat down with her, and as soon as he left the room while she ate, Gabriel texted her again.

He wanted to know if she had changed her mind about spending the night. “I wish I could,” she texted back. “I need to be here.” He was silent after that for a while, pouting perhaps, and then texted her again.

“Tomorrow?”

“I’ll try,” she responded, feeling pressured by her responsibilities at home, Andy looming like a jailer, and the man who wanted to make love to her every minute of the day. She went to bed early that night, and Andy stayed downstairs to watch TV. He was keeping away from her, and she was grateful not to have to talk to him. She didn’t know what to say. It was harder participating in the emergency services program here at home than it had been in Paris, where she had no responsibilities, and no husband and children to go home to at night. The juggling act she had to do in San Francisco was much more difficult, and the lies she had to tell made her feel guilty all the time.

—

The whole group met outside UCSF’s new Mission Bay facility the next morning. It was state of the art in every aspect, and everyone who worked there was proud of it, and so was Stephanie. The new facility was a masterpiece of sorts. It had taken 1.52 billion dollars to build, ten years of construction, and another ten years of planning before that. It opened on schedule. A hospital administrator had joined them to complement what Stephanie had to say. The administrator filled in numbers and statistics, and Stephanie showed the team where she worked every day. She explained that they had started at the old facility on Parnassus, above the Haight, which was why she and Andy had bought their house there. In recent years, the hospital had moved several of their departments south and east, to Mission Bay, near the baseball stadium. The buildings were vast and robots traveled the halls delivering meals and equipment.