The Blizzard
I was never a big fan of winter. My first year living in the Boston area in 1977 saw the big blizzard that crippled the bay state. The governor actually closed the state. It was several days before the major roads were clear enough to allow something close to normal traffic flow. l lucked out as my apartment complex didn't loose power, and I had a well stocked refrigerator. Thinking back, that blizzard may have been the inspiration for me to take a job in Florida two years later.
Fast forward forty some years. Here I am sitting in the lobby of Mass General hospital, looking out the window. A light flurry of snow has been falling for several hours with no accumulation. The weather report is for a light snow fall throughout the day, and into the night, with no more than an inch or so on the ground. Right now the sky is bright, with just a light cloud cover, just enough to justify the current light precipitation
"Alvin Peng?" I turned about to face the person who had just entered the lobby from the elevator. "That's me," I answered. "I assume you're the hospital director."
"Guilty as charged," Dr. Charles Medcoff replied. "My staff is quite anxious to see your company's presentation."
"Well, that's why I'm here." I smiled, extending my hand.
I've worked as a programmer for quite a long list of technology companies over the years, and now close to my retirement, I had landed a job with a startup that had developed a high tech imaging system. We'd been trying to market this invention in several fields, I was now assisting the sales force in landing our first contract within the medical field. Mass General is one of the major hospitals in the New England area, and they saw our equipment as a way to enhance the abilities of surgeons to visualize complex surgical procedures, both in the O.R. and as a teaching aid for new surgeons.
"Has the rest of my team arrived yet?", I asked. "I had to take a later flight, I assumed that the two technicians bringing our equipment would have got here before me."
"I don't think so," Charles replied.
"Excuse me then," I said reaching for my cell phone. There was a text message from one of technicians that had been supposed to meet me at the hospital for our demo. It seemed that the flight that Bob and Eric booked had left late due to the flight crew getting stuck on the turnpike, the result of a bad traffic accident. It then had to make an emergency landing in Atlanta after a passenger suffered a heart attack. Then the pilot had the plane taken out of service due to a mechanical problem that suddenly developed.
"Looks like the demo might be a tad late," I sighed, explaining the situation. "If you like I can always give you the slide show presentation I've prepared," I added, picking up my laptop bag.
"Sure," Dr. Medcoff agreed. "I already have the conference room booked and waiting for you. Hopefully your coworkers will get here eventually and we can have the full monty just a bit late."
Charles pined a visitor's badge onto my shirt pocket, and then led me upstairs. The conference room was actually more like a small auditorium with large theater seats, and a small stage at the back of which hung a large projection screen.
"This room also serves as an OR theater for training purposes," the director explained. "Every operating room in the hospital is equipped with a 4k IP camera system, the video can be pipped into this room, or other smaller ones like it. With two way voice links, we can have even the most invasive surgical procedures witnessed by a large crowd for training purposes."
"But not in 3D," I pointed out.
"That's why you're here." Medcoff replied. "Well I'll leave you to getting setup," he added, "I'll be back in about 20 minutes, I have a short staff meeting to attend."
I walked up the two steps to the stage area and set my laptop on the table that was in the middle of the area. I quickly found the controls to the UHD projector and plugged the HDMI cable from the panel into my laptop. I set the system up for a dual mirrored display, with each screen having different resolutions. The slide show would be in the full 4K resolution, and my laptop would be in a pan and scan mode. I then navigated to the directory containing the presentation and opened it up. I put the computer into sleep mode, and then connected the power brick that I'd just plugged into an available AC socket.
With the slide show now queued up and ready to go, I walked over to the window where a good view of the Boston skyline was available. The snow fall seemed to have picked up a bit, instead of a swilling flurry that melted as it hit the ground, it was now a steady snow shower that had begun to accumulate on the ground below.
The trance that my mind had drifted into while watching the outdoor snow globe was shattered by an intense buzzing sensation in my pocket. I quickly extracted the phone to answer it, Eric Flynn, one of the missing techs was on the other end.
"Give me an update," I asked.
"We're just about to taxi to the active runway and finally get out of Atlanta," Eric replied. "The pilot warned us we may face delays landing at Logan due to the nor'easter that is sitting over most of NYC and Connecticut."
"That might explain the snow we're getting right now in Boston," I replied. "Only light showers, but it's starting to stick to the ground. The weather forecast only called for an inch or two though."
"That's not what we heard," Eric came back. "The forecaster here said there was a 50-50 chance of blizzard conditions moving up the Atlantic coast into the evening. I think we'll make it into Boston before then though."
"Very well," I replied. "Keep me updated as to your progress. I'm going to start off with the slide show, and we'll do the full out demo when you make it in."
I hung up the phone and put it back into my pocket, and gazed out the window again. The top of the John Hancock tower had disappeared into the clouds and the snow fall seemed to have picked up a bit.
Gradually the conference room became filled with an audience. I looked back into a sea of suits and greens, the hospital administrators and board of directors mingled with the interns, residents and medical students. The mutter of voices reduced to a hush as I put the splash screen of my presentation up on the projector. Dr. Medcoff mounted the stairs to the stage, and introduced me, he apologized for me about the full up demo being delayed, and promised the audience that it would happen as soon as possible. I thanked him for the introduction, and repeated my regrets that the rest of my team had been delayed by Murphy's law.
The slide show presentation went well. Although not as impressive as our holographic projection system was, the still images and videos that I had brought with me did capture a good percentage of the capabilities of our advanced imaging system. While my presentation didn't have the full impact of the real McCoy, I think I still did manage to knock the socks off of my audience, while leaving them wanting to see more.
My presentation had taken about an hour to run, and I then spent another three quarters of an hour answering questions from the audience. Dr. Medcoff thanked me for my time, and inquired about the live demo main event. I checked my cell phone, but there wasn't any further messages from either Bob or Eric. Mentally, I had calculated that their flight should be getting close to the New York area by now, so may be they'd have another hour or so before they landed.
As I packed up my computer, I gazed out the window. I now couldn't see anything but a dense swilling fog of white. The clouds seemed to have completely surrounded us, and there was a good six inches of white on the ground.
As I hadn't had anything to eat since 10 am, and it was now nearing 4 pm, I decided to head to the hospital cafeteria for something to fill the void. Despite the usual urban legends about hospital food, Mass General's facility was not half bad. Most of the medical staff would take their lunches or dinners from the cafeteria's selections, and not just because they were a captive audience. The food was actually quite healthy, and facility clean and spotless. I found a mostly empty table, and set my tray down next to an Asian doctor with a head of half white hair, wearing his scrubs. His name tag indicated that he was a visitor to the hospital, I would find out later that he was a 'hired gun' who was brought in to treat a special patient.
While I was slowly chewing on a turkey sandwich, several red lights began to flash, and klaxon sounded. "What's going on?" I asked another man dressed in greens on a table behind me.
"Probably accident victims being brought in," he told me. "With the growing blizzard outside, that's quite possible. I hope we don't have a triage situation here."
In mass, the room quickly emptied out as all of the people dressed in scrubs darted out into the hall. Suddenly, my phone began to vibrate and I fished it out of my pocket. This time it was Bob Levinson calling me.
"Hello Bob," I began, "Where are you guys?"
"We just set down in Atlantic city," Bob cried. "JFK, Newark, Laguardia, Islip and Logan are all snowed in, according to our pilot. He opted to set down here rather than being stuck in an endless holding pattern. We're going to see about getting on Amtrak or Greyhound, but that's not likely."
"Just find yourselves a hotel for the night and we'll regroup in the morning," I said.
"Right," Bob replied. "Guess we'll take in a show, or hit the one arm bandits."
I hung up the phone and pocketed it, and then headed for the lobby. Through the front doors of the building I could see that the city was now in a whiteout condition. The snow was now falling at a rate of several inches per hour, and the wind had picked up to a near gale intensity. A TV screen hanging on a wall was showing a newscast, and the weather was now the front page story. Dr. Medcoff came out of the elevator and spotted me.
"You're still here?", he asked.
"I was up in the cafeteria grabbing a sandwich," I told him, "Now it looks like I'm not going anywhere," I said pointing to the television. "Seems the T is now shutdown, and the police have issued travel warnings. No buses or cabs are available."
"Well you'll be warm here, but just try and keep out of the way," Charles said. "There have been many accidents on the interstate because this blizzard developed so quickly. We expect to be overloaded here in short order, and might have patients piled out into the hallways."
"Look, I have no medical training, but if you need any help carrying or moving anything let me be of assistance," I said. "Also I'm blood type AB positive, if that helps."
"We'll probably be getting around to looking for blood donors," the director sighed. "With the president's day weekend, and now this blizzard, our blood bank is in rough shape."
Another klaxon sounded to indicate the arrival of ambulances at the emergency gate. I followed a group of doctors towards the area, doing my best to keep out of the way. From what I overheard, a bus carrying a group of Asian grade school students for a math contest had skidded off the interstate. A short rotund man with a distinctive mustache, trying to make himself understood in a mixture of Japanese and English was worried about the students under his charge. His mostly minor cuts and scrapes were already being bandaged by a student nurse.
I was put to work pushing gurneys about, shuttling patients from the ambulances to treatment areas. All in all there were about twenty of the Asian children, mostly aged 8 to 11 years old on the bus. Fortunately, most of the injuries hadn't been life threatening, but a few of the children had been quickly rushed off to available operating rooms for emergency surgery.
I sat myself down in one of the waiting rooms where the short man with the mustache was comforting his students. Many of the children now sported casts on broken bones, and bandages over their cuts. One boy with auburn hair, dressed in short pants and red boots was sobbing. He appeared to have emerged completely unscathed from his ordeal, yet he was in the worst of spirits.
"What's the matter son," I asked, adding, "Do you understand English?"
"Hai, yes I do," he voiced. "I couldn't stop this," he sobbed, "It happened too quickly."
A young looking doctor, his greens now soiled, appeared in the doorway of the waiting area.
"Any news on Tamao?" The man with the mustache asked.
"He's been treated, but will need surgery," The doctor answered. "We're trying to locate enough blood in his rare type before we can proceed. Hopefully, it won't take long." His voice trailed off.
The boy in the red boots started sobbing again, this time a bit louder. "Tamao will die if they don't operate," he sobbed.
"The doctor didn't say that," I said, trying to comfort him.
"He didn't have to," the child quavered, "I could tell it in his voice."
I quickly got up and ran after the doctor that had just left the room. "That child that needs the operation, what is his blood type?" I asked.
"It's a rare RH variant," he said. "Our blood bank doesn't have any. I've checked online and there is some available at a blood bank in Worcester, but with the whiteout conditions nothing is flying, and they've shut down the Mass Pike."
"Just how bad is the child's condition," I asked, "Will he die without surgery?"
"His internal injuries are life threatening," the doctor offered. "We need to do something as soon as possible, but without blood for transfusion we can't operate."
I went downstairs, and out into the street. The wind cut through my jacket like a knife and chilled me to the bone. I looked down the length of the street and I was amazed that any ambulances were getting though, the snowdrifts were now two stories high in places and the wind would make driving anything even slightly top heavy dangerous.
I turned about and spotted the kid in the red boots behind me.
"I heard what the doctor said," the kid sobbed. "Where is Worcester?"
"About an hour and a half drive to the west from here," I said, adding, "when there is no traffic on the Pike."
"Tamao needs the blood," the kid sobbed. "I'm going to get it for him."
"You're crazy!" I yelled, grabbing him by the arm before he could run off. "There's no way you or anybody could make it in this weather."
"Don't try to stop me!," he replied in a defiant tone. He starred at me and I almost felt frozen with fear. The boy's auburn hair suddenly hardened into a steel textured black, his unruly hair now formed into two sharp spikes. The boy grabbed my arm and yanked it away from him, his grip was like an iron vise.
Free from my grip, he ran off into the blizzard, heading westward. In a state of shock, I headed back into the hospital, when the night was shattered by the sound of a sonic boom.
I returned to the waiting room to find the class still there. The man with the mustache looked up at me, "Did you see Atom?" he asked.
"Who," I said.
"The kid in the red boots," he answered. "He followed you out a few minutes ago, I think."
"I'm sorry," I said. "I couldn't stop him. He ran off into the blizzard. He said something about getting the blood for Tamao. Poor kid, I hope he doesn't get lost and freeze to death in this blizzard."
The man in the mustache just smiled back at me. "I don't think I'd worry about that."
The excitement and stress must have been too much for me. I think I fell asleep in the waiting room and started to snore. I do know that I suddenly woke up with my head spinning at the sound of quite a number of loud voices.
The doctor that had spoken to me and the Asian teacher looked in awe at the child in the red boots who had miraculously returned. The boy was soaked to the skin, clutching a white and red cooler tightly against his chest. "I got it," he said, pushing the insulated package into the doctor's hands.
The man in the soiled greens opened the container and his eyes widened. "Where did you get this?" he demanded in a shaky voice.
"From the Worcester blood bank," the boy stammered.
"How?" the doctor stuttered.
"Does it matter!", I cried out coming to my senses. "Go save Tamao!"
"Right!" the doctor replied, running out into the hallway.
"I told you not to worry," the man with the mustache winked back at me.
Some thirty six hours later the north eastern part of the country started to dig itself out from the blizzard of the century. I had been stuck in the hospital wearing the same suit of clothes for all that time having been unable to get back to my hotel. My associates had faired a bit better off enjoying themselves in Atlantic City until the airports up north had reopened.
With our equipment now in place, we were able to conduct the full demo of our holographic imaging system, and to no one's surprise we landed the contract we'd come up from Florida for.
Bob and Eric had heard the story of the visiting class from Japan, and they put together a bit of a hack job to '3Difiy' some anime they downloaded and entertained the class with it. The recuperating children were amused by their efforts, but two of them were absent from our show.
I made my way upstairs to find the room where Tamao was resting. The boy in the red boots was at his side, now in much better spirits.
"Hello," I said, poking my head into the room.
The two children looked up at me.
"Sorry to have been rough with you," the boy not in the bed said. "I hope I didn't hurt you by breaking away from your grip on me."
"Not really," I said, rubbing my wrist. "What happened?"
"I'm afraid that's a national secret," he said.
"Well I can guess," I said glaring at him. "Bob and Eric did manage to hack into the Boston area FAA radar server and came up with some data from during the storm. They confirmed a supersonic object traveling between Boston and Worcester, and back again."
"Really," the kid laughed.
"Well?" I asked.
"You might as well show him, Atom," Tamao said. "I think we can trust him."
"You promise to keep this a secret?", Atom asked.
"I won't tell anyone," I said. "I don't work for the US government. I'm just an engineer in private industry."
"Well in that case," Atom said, slowly unbuttoning his shirt. He then revealed his true nature, opening a panel in the front of his body to show the inner workings of the machine that he was.
"Satisfied?" he said, closing the panel and rebuttoning his shirt.
"As I suspected," I laughed.
I left the room, the two boys happily telling jokes and laughing.