Author's note: Question: where have I been these two weeks? Answer: Prac in the emergency department of a children's hospital. In my complete and utter failure to not make everything a huge joke I wrote these shorts which are VERY loosely based on real situations I encountered- this is part 1, part 2 will be up shortly.
Carlos Garcia was six years old the first time his father took him to hospital.
Carlos was actually frequently admitted to the emergency department. He could recognize all his favorite nurses and would hiss at the doctors. Though up until that point he'd always been brought in by his world-weary mother, her other four children trailing behind in various states of uninterested.
Mr. Garcia was a whole different kind of story.
Carlos had taken a pretty impressive fall off his brother's skateboard to be sure. If his mother had been there he would have been quickly scooped up, she would have checked him over and determined; yes, this could very well be a break. She would pack up him and his siblings and make their way to the hospital.
Mr. Garcia's reaction to the lack of blood was to tell his soon to walk it off. Carlos quickly informed him; no he would not be walking off a fractured arm, by screaming and screaming and screaming and screaming.
His brother Tony picked him up and took him inside to put ice on it. When the crying didn't stop Tony hesitantly approached his dad "now dad don't freak out."
Mr. Garcia laughed, "Son- I am the picture of calm."
Tony let out a sigh of relief "good" he bit his lip "I think Carlos' arm is broken..."
Mr. Garcia chucked Carlos and Tony into his car and slapped the siren.
They were well over halfway to the hospital when Tony decided to remind his father his three other children were left home alone.
Twenty minuets later, five children piled into the car and skid marks that would remain on the road until long after Carlos would graduate high school. He pulled up at the hospital, chucked Carlos under his arm and let his uninjured children trail after him as his sprinted the remaining distance to the hospital.
Carlos sniffed pitifully and Mr. Garcia threw him in the chair in front of the receptionist. "Hi" Mr. Garcia told the bemused women "I think my son broke his arm!" another out of breath voice called out from behind him "actually I thought-"
"Shut up Tony" Mr. Garcia snapped, the receptionist cooed at Carlos "hello again Carlos." Carlos beamed at her and then winced "Hi Twacy" he waved with his good arm "I hurted my arm."
She cooed sympathetically "Okay... Mr… Garcia is it?" he nodded impatiently "I just need you to verify a few details."
Several frustrating minuets later it had been confirmed, no they hadn't moved since last month when Carlos was here. Yes that was his full name; no he didn't have a preferred name and no his birthday hadn't miraculously changed to something else. Though since Mr. Garcia couldn't exactly remember when his birthday was that last one was up for debate. It was... June something? Or was that Teresita- never mind, it wasn't important!
Mr. Garcia sat anxiously in one of the waiting seats until the triage nurse was free to assess him. "It's busy today" Carlos told him in what he probably thought was a hushed whisper but fell just under fog horn level; Mr. Garcia placed his head in his hands.
He looked up and all his children had wondered off.
Crap.
The girls were quietly reading to themselves not far away, thank god for small favours. The two older boys were wrestling in an empty corner, knocking over chairs and tables. Mr. Garcia groaned and went over to separate them.
"CARLOS! GET DOWN FROM THERE!"
Mr. Garcia turned so violently he gave himself whiplash. There, standing on a precarious stack of chairs was his youngest son. Flapping his good hand furiously "NO! I wanna see if I can fly!"
"Carlos Garcia" a woman called and Mr. Garcia grabbed his child before he could 'fly' off the chairs and took him to the nurse. She asked, what Carlos assured him were stupid questions and scribbled a large three on a piece of paper. "A nurse will see you in a minuet."
"I thought you were a nurse" Mr. Garcia said mildly, the women cocked her eyebrow "oh I am- NEXT... Katie Knight."
A calm red headed woman pulled a shamefaced blonde boy after her while holding a baby girl. "Kendall pushed her off a step" she glared at the small boy "I wanted to see if she would bounce" he defended. Mr. Garcia took Carlos back to the waiting area, glad that at least THAT wasn't his problem.
A nurse came out into the waiting room "CARLOS GARCIA?" she called; all his children looked up and stood up, following the blonde lady through. "Hi" she said warmly to Mr. Garcia "I'm Tina- I'll be your nurse... Were just going to weight Carlos first."
Carlos ran over to the chair scales without prompting and Nurse Tina laughed with surprise, "frequent visitor?" she looked down at Carlos' large file "frequent visitor" he confirmed.
She showed him to chairs in front of the x-ray room and crouched down, "okay little man- how did this happen?" Carlos swung his feet happily "playin on Tony's skateboard." Mr. Garcia glared at his son, and then his other older son who was studiously not looking at his father.
"Okay let me just get your temp" she stuck a thermometer in his ear "no fever- good!" she grinned and held his injured arm "ah" he whined and Mr. Garcia was afraid the crying might start again.
She pinched his fingers "can you feel this?" he nodded pitifully and Tina smiled at him. "You're such a brave boy Carlos" he beamed at her. She wrote something quickly on her clipboard and then smiled warmly at Mr. Garcia.
"Are you going to call mum, dad?" Terisita asked curiously, Mr. Garcia turned to Nurse Tina expectedly "can I use my mobile here?" she bit her lip "you're not supposed too..."
He nodded and the looked at his children, three of them had cobbled together some kind of drag race with wheelchairs. He sighed deeply and the nurse smiled at him sympathetically "I'll grab a student- they'll watch them for you."
"I wouldn't want to do that to a student" he said hesitantly "I would though." she smirked "I know just the one..."
She disappeared and reappeared with a tall nervous looking girl, "go and make your call- you're probably going to want to grab some food."
When he returned the student walked away quickly (probably to burst into tears in private) leaving the five terrors, who had escalated their drag race from the corridor to most of the ward.
"STOP" he yelled, they all froze "SIT DOWN NOW!" they all shuffled pitifully over to him and sat on their seats.
"Mr. Garcia?" a voice asked "WHAT?" he whipped around and then cringed "sorry what?" the women smiled softly "I'm Doctor Romano- which one of you is Carlos?"
Carlos jumped up an down in his seat, the doctor assess it all of two seconds "yes this is going to need an x-ray."
"Noooooooooooooooo noo nooooooooo no no no no nooooooooo!"
Mr. Garcia counted down the moments until his wife appeared at the hospital. She was regreting ever agreeing that she should go back to work.
******BTR******
James was seven and six months and in a great state of denial.
"James" his father glared "I don't care how much you don't want to be here you WILL speak to me!" but James looked away remaining silent, refusing to look at him. His father sighed and looked away (James would later characterize this as the moment he realized his father was spineless.)
James was pretending he wasn't in the hospital, because if he wasn't in the hospital that meant stupid Jenny Tinkler hadn't given him that stupid paper cut and he wouldn't need the stupid surgery. Was he the only one who saw how stupid this all was?
"I'm sorry" he told the nurse "he listens to his mother- but she's at work right now." James glared harder at the wall "Jamie" his father said a tad desperate "if you tell the nice lady your name you can have all the ice-cream you want."
James perked up "after the operation" he slumped back down angrily. His father gave him one last frustrated look before his phone went off "hello."
The man's face lit up "you're here?" his eyes slid onto his sons form "yes just go up the elevator to 6 and ask a nurse to show you to room 7."
He shut his phone as the nurse attempted another blood pressure and watched as James wretch his hand away- hitting the poor women in the face. "We might have to restrain him," she said in a warning tone, Mr. Diamond's hands flew up "that's not necessary!"
He grinned at his angry son who was wracking around the bed "someone's coming up that he ALWAYS listens too." James smiled widely "mum's here?" his father shook his head "nah- better."
There was a tentative knock "this is room seven sweetie" a nurse told someone from the door "thank you" a quiet voice replied.
"Hortie?" James face lit up and he sat up quickly, wincing and grabbing his stomach "it wouldn't hurt as much if you'd take your medication" the nurse scolded.
A small voice called out "James?" James called out excitedly "OVER HERE HORTENSE! I'M BEHIND THE STUPID CURTAIN!" the little brunette pulled the curtain open just enough to slip in.
"James" he scolded, "you're not taking your medication?" James' face fell "you heard that?" Hortense nodded "medication makes you better!" James pouted "but it tastes yucky!"
The nurse took this as a silent cue to put the blood pressure cuff around his arm, and the boy barely squirmed. Hortense beamed at him and James smiled back.
"Oh!" Hortense said excitedly "I got you something!" he raced out of the room. The nurse handed James the pills, he didn't take them... but he didn't throw them on the floor like last time...
Hortense stuck his head back in "James" he grinned, "Take your medication first!" James pouted "butttt" he whined until Hortense sent him a look and he snatched the pills up, presenting his hand to his nurse so she could give him some water. He made a big production of it, pretending to gag as he swallowed the pills one by one.
"Now- whatchagetme? Whatdidchagetme!"
Hortense presented a large balloon in the shape of James' favorite ninja turtle: Raphael.
James gasped excitedly "you got me a ninja turtle balloon?" Hortense grinned brightly "and..." he pulled something out of her pocket... something red.
"I made you this" he showed off the red bandana with two carefully cut eyeholes.
"YOU MADE ME A NINJA TURTLE BANDANA?"
Hortense helped tie it around his head and Jams grinned like a maniac. He looked his friend over and frowned "what about you?" Hortense pulled out a purple bandana and flushed, "I don't have to wear it do I?"
James nodded furiously "of course! You're just like Donatello... and purple is the best colour for a bandana!" James assessed his friend's face and then took off his bandana "you can he Raphael then" he said in trembling resolve and snatched the purple bandana instead. "I'm not really Donatello though... I'll be... BANDANA MAN! That makes me a hero right?"
He turned to Hortense expectedly "you're MY hero" he confirmed and James grinned sillily.
"Hey Hortense" Mr. Diamond piped up suddenly, "how did you get here?" Hortense bit his lip "mum drove me... but she's late for work so... she dropped me off."
"How are you getting home?" Hortense shrugged "bus?"
"I'll drop you- James will be in surgery for a while" and with that James grabbed at Hortense's arm so tightly he was afraid he would rip it out. "Don't leave!" he begged, Hortense blinked in surprise "I'm not- until your surgery starts."
James pouted "I'm not going- they cant make me go- I don't wanna go!"
He thrashed around and a nurse ran in, "James they're ready for you- so I'm going to fill out some paperwork real quick and we're gonna rush you up."
"No no no no no nooooooooo no no nooooooooo!" he screamed, "I don't wanna go! Hortie don't make me go!" he gripped his friend even tighter "don't leave me!"
"I won't" he friend promised, Mr. Diamond and the nurse shared a look as James clung to Hortense.
"We might have to restrain him," the nurse muttered, moving Mr. Diamond away from the bed. "No" he said firmly "Brooke was very clear about that- that I- well that I should be able to control my seven year old son." he told her in embarrassment, "I don't actually know what to do- he'll go back to like before when Hortense leaves..."
"Let me make a few calls to surgery" the women told him.
And that was why Hortense was able to stay with James all the way up to surgery, his face being the last thing James saw until he was unconscious.
One of the surgeons laughed and told the young boy he should consider a career in medicine. Hortense smiled blindingly at him and promised he would.
Please revie