ER: Doug and Carol Series

Story #23 continued

Learning To Cope

by: Courtney

Carol is typing busily at one of the terminals when Anna Del Amico approaches the counter. “Jerry,” Anna says and Jerry turns to face her. “Could you ask Haleh to assist me in exam two please?”

“Sorry doctor, she just went to lunch,” Jerry replies.

“Well, where’s Wendy?”

“She’s helping Dr. Weaver and the others are assisting Dr. Greene with two traumas that just came in.”

Hearing of this dilemma, Carol turns and says, “I’m free, I can help you.”

“Um, no, that’s okay. I’m fine on my own. It’ll be okay, I can see you’re busy.” She turns toward the exam room and Carol quickly follows.

“I’m never too busy to do my job,” she tells Anna. Anna sighs and nods. She was obviously trying to avoid having to ask Carol for help on this case. As they enter exam two, Carol sees why. The patients are two twin girls. They are about three years old and dressed in identical white sundresses with tiny butterflies appliqued on the bodice. Anna looks carefully at Carol as they enter. Carol sees this and proceeds into the room.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Rollins,” Anna says to the woman sitting with the girls on her lap.

“Hello doctor,” the woman replies.

“This is Nurse Hathaway,” she gestures to Carol, “and she’ll be assisting me today with the girls.” Mrs. Rollins nods and smiles at Carol. “So, lets get started, shall we?” Anna picks up one of the girls and puts her on the table and Carol follows suit with her sister. “Now, which of you is Mallory and which is Morgan?” Anna asks the children.

“She’s Mallory,” the little girl in front of Anna states in a tiny voice.

“Well then, you must be Morgan,” Anna says to her. The little girl nods and looks at her mother.

“It’s okay honey, the doctor is very nice,” Mrs. Rollins says to her daughter. Morgan looks back behind her and sees her sister. She reaches out and takes Mallory’s hand.

“So, your mommy says you haven’t been feeling well,” Anna says to the girls.

“Our tummies hurt,” Morgan explains.

“I see, well Nurse Hathaway and I will just have to fix that won’t we?” She smiles and begins the exam. Anna and Carol take both of the girl’s dresses off and Anna does a routine exam. Both girls are running fevers and have several other mutual symptoms. Whatever has made them ill, it seems to be the same thing in both girls. Carol stands by during the exam and mostly just watches. Anna had obviously thought she would have a harder time than this during an exam on two three year olds. But, both girls are very quiet and cooperative. Carol smiles at the questions Morgan seems to constantly ask and at the tight grip she and Mallory maintain on one another’s hands. They seem like very sweet little girls. She feels a pang in her chest as she watches them, thinking of how cute Sarah would have been at this age. However, she quickly pushes these thoughts aside.

The exam ends and Carol and Anna put the dresses back on both girls and return them to their mom’s lap. “We’ll just run these tests and we should have some results pretty soon, Mrs. Rollins,” Anna says. The woman nods and Anna and Carol exit together.

“You okay?” Anna asks as they walk back towards the nurses station.

“Yeah fine,” Carol says.

“You want to talk or anything?” Anna asks her.

“I’m fine, really,” Carol smiles at her. “Besides, you have tests to run and I have to get back to my paperwork.” She turns back towards the nurses station. Anna watches her go for a moment, then sighs and heads off to get her tests to the lab.

“Madamoiselle Chimengo?”

“Here,” Charlie says. It’s fourth period and she is sitting in French class. Madame Haynes is calling roll. The seating is done by last name in this class so Michelle is on the other side of the room. Charlie is doodling on her notebook as the teacher finishes calling the roll.

“Okay, today we will assign lab partners,” the teacher says in an accent that betrays her as not a French woman, but an American. She told the class on Monday when they first met that she was from Indiana and that if she could develop a decent French accent, they could, too. “We will draw names to see who is partners with who.” She picks up a large container from her desk and starts down the first row. Each student is instructed to choose a slip of paper from the container. “There are 30 students in this class. The papers in this bowl are numbered 1 through 15 and there are two of each number. Your partner will be the person whose number matches yours. When everyone has been partnered up, we will reassign seats so that you and your partner can sit beside one another for the remainder of the year.”

Charlie takes her paper from the bowl and unfolds it. ‘Thirteen,’ she thinks, ‘figures.’

When everyone has taken a number, Mme. Haynes begins to call the numbers out one at a time. “Raise your hand when your number is called and look around to see who your partner is,” she instructs. Michelle has number 10 and ends up being partnered with Riley Phelps, a basketball player who Charlie had English with last year. Michelle shrugs sadly at her friend as they realize they will not be partners.

When Mme. Haynes gets to number 13, Charlie raises her hand and looks around. She sees Josh Moreland several rows away with his hand raised as well. Josh smiles at her and she turns quickly back to face forward. After the last two pairs are called, Mme. Haynes begins to rearrange the seating. Ten minutes later, Charlie is sitting on the other side of the room beside Josh. “Okay, we have another ten minutes before lunch so you may all take this time to get better acquainted with your partners,” Mme. Haynes says. She sits at her desk and looks down at some paperwork as the students begin to converse with each other.

“So, you’re Charlie Chimengo, right?” Josh asks.

“Yeah,” Charlie responds.

“I’m Josh. I think your locker was near mine last year,” he says. It was, Charlie remembers. Josh is very cute and she has noticed him before. She knows he is one of the more popular boys at school. He’s a junior, like her, and he is definitely part of the ‘in’ crowd, so to speak. She’s surprised that he remembers their lockers being near one another last year. She’s actually surprised he has ever noticed her at all or that he knows her name.

“Well, I’m glad we’re partners,” he says to her. She smiles and nods. “So, I guess we get acquainted now, right? What do you want to know?” She looks questioningly at Josh and he replies, “What should I tell you about myself?”

“I don’t know. Whatever you want me to know, I guess.”

He smiles at this and begins, “Well, I’m 16, on the track team, the baseball team, the basketball team. I just got a car, I work at the movie theatre on Fifth Street. Anything else you want to know?” She shakes her head. “Well, then, now it’s you’re turn.”

She looks at him for a moment then finally says, “Um, I’m 15, my birthday’s next month. I don’t have a car, um, I volunteer at Cook County General, I don’t know, I guess that’s all.”

“What kind of stuff do you do outside of school?” he asks.

“Um, well, I take some art classes.”

“How come you volunteer at the hospital? Don’t you want to get a job where they pay you? Or do your parents make you do that? That sounds like something my parents would make me do.” Josh grins and looks at her.

“Actually, my . . . my parents work there,” she replies. She had started to say foster parents but she isn’t sure if she wants Josh to know she is a foster kid.

He nods, “Cool. Do you like it? What kind of stuff do you do?”

“I mostly help the doctors in the ER. That’s where my parents work.”

“Your mom and dad are both doctors?”

Charlie hesitates, wondering if she should clarify her family situation. She decided against it. What difference does it make anyway? “My dad is, he’s a pediatrician in the ER,” she tells him. “My . . . my mom, she’s the head nurse.”

“That’s cool,” Josh smiles. “So, you ever play basketball?”

“Sometimes,” Charlie smiles, thinking of all of the games she and Doug and Carter have played outside the ER while it was slow.

“Maybe we could play sometime,” Josh says.

“Sure, maybe,” Charlie smiles back. Just then, Mme. Haynes announces that it is lunch time and the students get up to head for the cafeteria. Michelle comes over to Charlie and grabs her arm to pull her out the door.

“I guess I’ll see you after lunch,” Josh says as she and Michelle leave.

“Okay,” Charlie says behind her. “What is your problem?” she asks Michelle as they are further down the hall and out of Josh’s earshot.

Michelle turns to her and grins, “Josh likes you.”

“What? What are you talking about? You’re crazy. He’s just my lab partner. That’s it,” Charlie says as they continue to walk towards the cafeteria.

“Riley is good friends with him and he told me that Josh has a thing for you. He’s been talking about you.”

“Oh he has, has he?” Charlie smiles sarcastically at her friend as they both grab their trays and enter the lunch line. She obviously thinks Michelle is full of it.

“Really Charlie, he does. Riley said he couldn’t believe you guys got the same number because of how hung up on you Josh is. He thought it was really weird.” Charlie picks up a salad from the counter in front of her and looks back at Michelle. Her friend smiles and asks the woman behind the counter for a baked potato. The girls pay for their lunch and walk to a corner table. They sit down and Michelle says, “So, do you like him?”

“I don’t even know him,” Charlie says.

“That hasn’t stopped Josh,” Michelle grins. “Check it out,” she gestures towards a nearby table where several of the basketball players are sitting. Josh is among them and his eyes are practically glued to Charlie. When he sees her looking his way, he waves. She waves back then turns back to Michelle.

“How am I going to be partners with him now?” she asks.

“You’ll think of something,” Michelle grins and digs into her potato.

“Ready for lunch?” Doug asks as he approaches the nurses station where Carol is standing.

She looks up at him and smiles. “Almost, give me about five minutes,” she says.

“Okay, I’ll be in the lounge.” Carol nods and turns back to the work she needs to finish before their lunch date. Doug walks over and enters the lounge. Peter Benton is sitting in one of the chairs. He looks up as Doug enters.

“Hey Peter, you on break?” Doug asks.

“Yeah,” Benton replies. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you off today?”

“Yeah, but I’m taking Carol to lunch,” he says.

Benton nods, “Her first day back, huh?” Doug nods a yes. “How’s she doing?”

“I don’t know. You tell me. Does she seems okay?”

Peter shrugs, “I haven’t seen much of her today, but she seems okay.” Doug nods again and it is easy to see his worry. “How about you? You doing okay?”

Doug is a little surprised to hear this question from Peter Benton. They have never exactly been friends and his concern is not something Doug ever expected. “I’m okay. We’re both doing okay,” he says. Peter nods sadly. Everyone at the hospital knows how much this has effected Doug and Carol. They have both been so different since the accident, and rightfully so. They had suffered a major loss. “So, how’s your son doing?” Doug asks Peter. Peter’s son, Reese, had been in the hospital for several months after his birth. But, Peter and Carla had finally been able to bring Reese home shortly before Christmas last year.

“He’s good. He started walking about two weeks ago,” the pride in Peter’s voice is unmistakable and the normally rough expression on his face melts as he talks about his son.

“That’s good to hear,” Doug says. Just then, Carol comes in.

“Ready Doug?” she asks.

“Yeah,” he turns to her and says. “I’ll see you around Peter. Hey, tell Carla and Reese hello for me, okay?”

“Sure,” Peter smiles.

Doug walks into the hallway and finds Carol. “What were you and Benton talking about?” she asks.

“Nothing really, just talking,” he says. She nods.

“So, where are we going?”

“Doesn’t matter. Where would you like to go?”

“I don’t care,” Carol replies.

“Why don’t we have lunch at home? Charlie’s still at school so no one is home. I think we need to talk anyway.” Carol nods and she and Doug get into his car and make the short drive back to their house.

“Oh come on, Charlie!” Michelle says to her friend. They are walking down the hall together towards their next class. Charlie has English and Michelle has history and their classes are a few doors down from one another. Michelle has been trying for the last few minutes to convince Charlie to come with her to the school football game the following night. “It’ll be fun,” she says.

“Why would I want to go to a football game? I hate football.”

“Because Jeremy says Josh will be there and he’d love it if you came, too.” Jeremy Sullivan is Michelle’s boyfriend who just happens to be one of Josh Moreland’s best friend.

“Why do you go to these things anyway? Jeremy spends the whole time on the field. You don’t even get to see him,” Charlie comments.

“I know, but everyone is at the game, what else is there to do? Besides, we always go out afterwards and do something. Come on, you never would go last year and you promised to go at least once this season. You’ll see, it’ll be really fun. Plus, if you’re there I’ll have someone to talk to,” Michelle says.

“Michelle, you have plenty of people to talk to. In fact, everyone talks to you. Why do you even want me there?”

“Because, you’re my friend. Please say you’ll come to the game. You can even stay over at my house tomorrow night. We’ll have a blast! Come on . . .,” she coaxes.

Charlie sighs. She doesn’t really want to do this. The last thing she wants to do is go to a football game and talk to a bunch of people she barely knows. But, she did promise Michelle she’d go eventually and since she doesn’t want her only real friend to be mad at her, she finally agrees. “Okay, as long as Doug and Carol say it’s okay.”

“Great!” Michelle says. She looks up at the clock in the hall. “I better get to history. I’ll call you tonight.”

“Okay, bye,” Charlie says and turns to enter her English class.

Doug and Carol enter the house and go into the kitchen. “What do you want to eat?” Doug asks her as she gets a glass of tea for both of them.

“I’m not really hungry,” she says, handing him his tea.

“You need to eat something,” he says.

“I’m fine. Maybe later,” she says. He nods and looks at her with concern as she takes her tea and goes into the living room. He follows her.

Carol sits on the couch and Doug sits down beside her and puts his arm around her. “How has your day been?” he asks.

“Pretty good. How about yours?”

“It’s been okay,” he lies. The truth is, he’s spent most of his day worrying about her. “You know, if you want to talk, I’m always here to listen.”

“I’m fine, Doug.”

He looks at her a moment. Then he says, “Carol, why do you do this? Why are you shutting me out?” His voice isn’t angry, more worried than anything.

“I’m not,” she says.

“Yes, you are. You won’t talk to me at all lately.” He looks down at the floor and sighs. “What’s happening to us Carol? We used to be able to talk about anything. Now, all we ever do is sidestep any kind of conversation.”

She looks at him. “I don’t know Doug. I just . . . things are just really confusing right now. It’s just been hard to deal with all of this.” She looks sadly at him and he nods.

“I guess we just have to try harder,” he tells her.

“I know, I’ll try. I really will,” she wraps her arms around his neck and they spend the rest of her lunch hour in silence in each others arms.

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Created by Courtney Stovall © 1998

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