Amnesia Read Free

someplace to fill their neglected stomachs.
    Doctor Brandon went back to the patient, lifted the eyelids, and passed her miniature Maglite back and forth over the exposed pupils. They accommodated by shrinking obediently when the light passed over either one of them, magnifying the surrounding light blue iris. They sure are pretty eyes , she thought to herself. I hope someday they will see again .
    “Yep, a nice little coma,” she remarked to the waiting attendant. “May as well leave him here until the day crew shows up. Give them something to do, trying to figure out what to do with him. I still have a huge pile of charts to sign and orders to write up. Let me know if anything changes.”
    She tucked a renegade wisp of blond hair behind her right ear as she walked back over to the waiting stack of paperwork, a tottering tower of charts perched precariously on the station counter, heedless of the “Yes Doctor” the nurse called out affirming she knew what to do.
    Grabbing the top folder, Lissa, short for Clarissa, started the laborious task of double-checking the charts for accuracy, penning any missing details or follow-up considerations, and finally adding her signature taking responsibility for the decisions. She no longer felt the near panic of signing her name to these papers as she had felt back in her residency, fearing that she might make some fatal mistake. She had grown past that through years of experience and a myriad of mistakes that only other, more experienced, doctors would ever know about.
    She couldn’t believe how tired she was. She used to handle these 30 hour shifts without a blink, but right now, after only covering one shift, she was exhausted. Being a pediatrician had its advantages, one of them being that she got to send her patients to the ER in the middle of the night, allowing her to lead a fairly normal routine. She almost regretted accepting her old roommate’s plea to take her shift for her. As if getting married was all that important.
    Too late she tried to stop herself from thinking about Cami’s wedding. She wasn’t upset at all that she hadn’t been invited; she wouldn’t have flown to Fort Collins anyhow. No, it was her present state of “unmarriedness” that pulled at her. Maybe she should just accept Darrion’s offer and be done with it. Her mother would be happy, her marrying such a successful and handsome young surgeon, even if it weren’t in the temple. But regardless of her mother’s attitude about the church, Lissa just didn’t feel that she would ever be happy as Dr. Stanton’s bride. She’d even tried to break off the relationship time and again, but he was an aspiring man who would not be deterred. Secretly she felt he only wanted her as a token wife that he could show off at community and hospital events as he climbed the social ladder.
    “Doctor Brandon?” She heard her name through a shroud, the sound muffled yet shimmering like heat waves off the desert floor. “Doctor Brandon.” This time she started as she realized she had dozed off.
    “Yes? What?” She stood and smoothed the conventional white smock covering her turquoise scrubs before facing the person behind the voice. “What is it?”
    She heard the low chuckle as she turned, seeing the smiling broad face of Doctor Cliffe. “Been a few years since residency for me as well,” he confided, attempting to soothe the embarrassment. “Now what do you have for me?”
    She sighed, grateful for the caring demeanor of the older man. She had always liked David Cliffe although there were several on the staff who snubbed his caring, open ways of doctoring. Instead she admired that quality, and many others, about the soft spoken physician. The man’s average height and full frame epitomized the quiet grace of the southern gentleman, from the soft lilt in his voice to the red suspenders and matching bow tie. She tried to emulate many of his attributes in her own practice, although working with kids was