Emergency Room Read Free

Emergency Room. Large when it was built, the hospital had acquired five major additions, connected by ells, above-the-road glass hallways, and underground tunnels. Diana loved thinking about everything that was happening here — every operation, every tragedy, every lab procedure, and every triumph. Most of all she loved knowing that one day she would be a medical student here.
    Okay, so she was only a college freshman now. Just wait. She’d train at this very hospital and have the edge on everybody.
    The ER was built like a letter H, with four treatment halls jutting off the control area: surgical, medical, psychiatric, and pediatric. Special rooms were set aside for eye injuries, broken bones, and police holding. Next to the ambulance arrival pad was the real excitement: the Trauma Room, where the most badly injured patients were rushed.
    Rush was the right word. It gave Diana a rush just to be here. Adrenalin spurted, making her hot and eager to see everything there was to see.
    Of course, the instant she had to check in with the clerk, she would come down off the high. Meggie detested volunteers, especially college volunteers. They were just annoying do-gooders who got lost making pharmacy runs, and had to have their hands held when things got rough.
    Diana turned down the final hall to see Seth standing between her and the desk clerk.
    Wonderful. The humiliation of their only date made her cheeks burn and her temperature rise.
    Seth was a hunk. Hair as black as her own, but longer, thicker, more casual. Eyes that burned blue, like some alien fire. Whenever their paths crossed, Diana found herself studying Seth inch by inch, starting at eye level, which for her, on Seth, was midchest. Seth was very buttoned up, and she imagined unbuttoning him.
    If only he weren’t so arrogant! You couldn’t even apply to their college unless you were pretty full of yourself, but when it came to ego, you could stack Seth’s next to anybody’s. Seth was only a college freshman, but he already considered himself a medical student, a doctor, a Nobel Prize winner, and God.
    Diana never talked to Seth without wanting to put him down.
    Sure enough, she accomplished it first sentence out, which pleased her, and she moved right along to the desk clerk. “Here I am, Meggie,” said Diana cheerfully. “How are you tonight?”
    Poor choice of question. Meggie was never well. Her feet hurt, her head ached, and her fillings fell out. She liked to take these problems out on healthy people, like, for example, this perky, bouncy little rich girl with the glowing cheeks.
    Meggie actually smiled, which meant she had something unpleasant to assign. “Insurance,” said Meggie gloatingly, “needs a volunteer.”
    Diana stared at Meggie. “ Insurance ? No way! Stuck filling out insurance forms?”
    Who do you think I am ? (She just barely kept herself from saying that out loud.) I don’t go to just any college , you know !
    Meggie heard every word even if Diana didn’t say anything. She smirked.
    Seth’s grin remained in place like a computer spreadsheet.
    Perfect for his personality, she thought.
    “What’s my assignment, Meggie?” he said.
    Seth looked terrific even in a salmon-pink jacket that didn’t fit. Possibly why Meggie was shipping Diana off to Insurance. The better to flirt with Seth. Well, Meggie could have him.
    Meggie did not smile, which meant she had good news for Seth. “After you get back from the Blood Lab, Trauma needs a runner.”
    Sexist! thought Diana, absolutely furious at Meggie. You’re giving him the good stuff because he’s cute and male. “I don’t want to do Insurance,” she said. I volunteered to help save the world, she thought, not help insure it.
    Meggie shrugged. “I got no work for you down here.” Her enormous bosom strained against the shiny lime-green blouse she wore every Monday. Why couldn’t the woman expand her wardrobe? She certainly had no trouble expanding her waist.
    Seth was laughing at