There was a knock on the door. Well, to be precise, three. The woman sighed, stood up from her seat on her comfortable 8,000-dollar couch, smoothed down the skirt of her 486-dollar Elie Tahari suit and walked to the door.
"Miss Kellerman, I am so sorry to interrupt, but three more were rushed to the hospital today." Said the redheaded Assistant manager with the pixie haircut.
"Three? Are you sure?" Miss Kellerman asked, concern painting creases on her forehead. The Assistant Manager nodded grimly. Kellerman frowned and walked back to her couch, deep in thought. The redheaded woman walked in and stood next to the couch.
"You can sit down, Gappy. You don't have to act like this is business all the time. Lord knows I don't. Sometimes it's just easier to forget, and pretend you're not the head manager of a successful resort with such a screwed up history." Kellerman said, motioning to the seat next to her.
"Miss-Um . . . Cecilia? I know that this might not be cheap, but. . . I think we should consider calling in another-"
"Shut up! We cannot afford to hire yet another doctor when the outcome is going to be exactly the same! No one knows what's going on, and no one can figure it out. We've paid for so many people to investigate, and we've made no progress. If anything, we've LOST progress because we're well on our way to bankruptcy and all of our customers keep dropping dead!" Kellerman snapped, but Gappy didn't flinch, and her face didn't change. She'd been through this routine countless times before. Within the next ten minutes, Kellerman would decide to try one more doctor, and they'd be back on track to figuring out what was killing the customers. Gappy listened to her boss rant and rant, and sure enough, at the ten minute mark, her mind had changed.
"We have to hire another doctor. We don't have a choice. If someone doesn't figure this out, then we'll have to close the hotel, and I'll . . ." Kellerman's eyes flew to Gappy, "Nevermind. It's not important. What's important is finding someone who can do the job, and do the job well. Gappy? Get Elmo to research any doctors we haven't tried, and if there aren't any in our immediate area, then have her try the Earth's database."
Gappy nodded, stood up, and went to go find Elmo. Kellerman walked over to the bar in her apartment, poured herself a shot of whiskey, and threw it back without it touching her tongue. She really needed a drink.
Gappy walked with determination to the reception desk, where a blonde-haired Elmo sat, with the phone in her hand.
"-and if you stay one more night, I can take off three hundred dollars from the overall cost. Does that sound okay? Great! If I could just have your credit card number, to hold the room for you . . . Okay. . . alright. You will be in room B138 from Blierno 4- to Blierno 14. Is this correct? . . . . Good. Goodbye!"
"Three hundred dollars? Really?" Gappy asked, raising an eyebrow. Elmo blushed.
"Just don't tell Kellerman. The word is getting out about you-know-what and people are having a bigger issue wanting to stay here. I don't know how much longer we can pretend this isn't happening."
"I actually have orders from Kellerman on the subject. She wants you to research any doctors we haven't called yet. She says if you strike out, to try looking at Earth's database. I don't know what help she's looking for from Earth, but they don't exactly know anything about their surroundings. If they got a call, from another planet, they'd probably freak out and their ignorant minds would explode." Gappy laughed. Elmo laughed with her, writing down the orders from Kellerman.
"That is true. If they'd just open up their eyes to the fact that other planets and populations exist, the universe would be filled with many more explorers, which means visitors, and customers, and everyone knows they love to eat. And do stupid things. But I suppose they'd also want to take over the other planets. Which wouldn't be good. So maybe it isn't that bad that they're ignorant. How did this conversation start?" Elmo asked, running a hand through her hair.
"Orders for a new doctor. Keep up Elmo!" Gappy laughed. "Well I should go check on the other employees. See you later."
"Bye Gapo."
"It's Gappy."
"I do recall one drunken conversation where you explained to me that was only a nickname." Elmo smirked. Gappy gave her friend the evil eye as she walked away. Elmo chuckled.
"Alright. So we need a doctor. Hmm. . . nope. . . . . nope . . . already called him three times . . . no . . . no . . . no . . . Geez. We've called every doctor in the book. At least twice." Elmo frowned. Her blond bangs fell in her face and she blew them away instinctively. She spun her chair around, pushed off the reception desk with her feet, and slid across the deep mahogany floors to a small table with dozens of thick, dusty books on it. Cringing, she wiped the dust off the spines of the books, looking for the one that read: Earth and All You Need To Know About It. She slid it out of its pile and plopped it onto her lap, sliding slowly back to her desk, just as the phone rang. Sighing, she picked it up.
"Kellerman Resort, this is Elmo speaking, how may I help you?" she asked, flipping open the book. As she listened to the customer call, she flipped through the book the medical section and skimmed for doctors.
Doctor Neil Evans, Specializes in: Radiology, Neurology.
Doctor Kady Markham: Podiatrist
Doctor Elizabeth Martin: Gynecologist
Doctors Marie and Hakim Morgon: Heart Surgeons.
"No Ma'am I'm afraid I can't do that. We're not allowed to just give you a room for free." Elmo said, looking up from her book, shocked that someone would even bother asking. "Ma'am I understand the economy isn't the best right now, but that doesn't mean I can just give away rooms for free. I can offer you one of our cheaper rooms. They range from 250 to 300 dollars a night. If you only plan on staying for a couple of days that isn't so bad. . . . Alright ma'am. I understand ma'am. I'm going to forward you to one of our assistant managers, okay? I'm sure they can figure out an arrangement that works for everybody, alright? . . . . Okay, have a good day ma'am."
Elmo shook her head and continued to look through the big book. She soon became so engrossed in finding someone that she didn't notice the three people who had walked up to her desk until the little telltale bell was rung.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! How may I be of assistance?"
"What are you looking up?" said one man wearing suspenders and a bow tie. The fiery-haired girl raised an eyebrow. The other man stood with his arm lightly around the fiery-haired girl's waist, staring into space.
" Uh . . . I . . . Why does it matter? Nothing's going on. Nothing's wrong, really!" Elmo stammered, silently cursing herself. Well now it was obvious something was wrong. Why couldn't she keep her cool? Normally she was fine.
"Well obviously something's wrong. Come ooooon. You can tell me!" said the man in the bow tie, leaning over the desk to get a look at the book. Elmo snapped it shut and threw it under the desk.
"I don't know who you are but nothing is wrong and what I'm looking up is of no importance to you, so if you wouldn't mind, please either check in, or get out." Elmo snapped, her cheeks turning the color of the roses sitting prettily in the vase on her desk. The man smiled.
"See that's where you're wrong. I can tell there is something wrong, obviously. What you're looking up must be of importance to whatever is wrong, so, it is, in fact, important to me." He said, standing up straight and straightening his bow tie.
"Who, in the whole wide universe, do you think you are to say such a thing?" Elmo said through gritted teeth.
"I'm the Doctor."