Chapter 1: O Glitt'ry Brice
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"Brice! Watch out!"
Dixie's shout came a moment too late as a runaway supply cart careened down the corridor and barreled into Craig Brice, knocking him sideways into the Christmas tree near the emergency room entrance. Brice, caught in the tree's piney embrace, went one way while the neat stack of supplies he had been carrying out to the squad went the other. Bags of D5W slid across the newly polished floor and into the boots of Captain Hank Stanley who had just entered.
"Are you alright, Craig?" Hank asked at once, striding over and lifting the compact tree from the paramedic. A few dozen glitter-covered ornaments, detached from the tree by the impact, huddled on the linoleum around Brice while a piece of blue tinsel garland draped itself over his glasses.
"I'm fine, Captain," he replied formally, removing the tinsel before accepting Hank's hand up from the floor.
"Let's have a look at you anyway," Dixie said, taking him by the arm and leading him into Treatment 1. "Those Christmas trees can be vicious."
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A few moments later, a dark-skinned nurse stuck her head into Treatment 1. "Captain Stanley said you needed me, Dixie?"
"Yes, Carol," she replied. "Craig here took a tumble into that Christmas tree – ."
"I wondered who it was this time."
" – and he needs to be checked out. Can you get his BP for me?"
"I'm fine, Nurse McCall."
"Hush," Dixie said sternly, frowning at the man until he subsided. "Anything broken out there?"
"No, those new ornaments from Pediatrics are holding up well this year," Carol replied with a smile, noting traces of the tree-paramedic collision on Brice's uniform. "George and Captain Stanley are putting the tree back up now. And, BP's normal."
"Good. This scratch could do with a bandage but otherwise I think you'll be fine, Craig."
"Thank you, Miss McCall. I appreciate it."
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"You're not going to tell him, are you?" Carol asked quietly.
"Absolutely not." Amusement curved a smile onto Dixie McCall's face as she noticed how the lights from an arriving ambulance created a bright glow around the departing form of Craig Brice.
"How long do you think it will be before he notices?"
"Given it's mainly on his, uh, posterior, it may be a while."
"The real question, Carol," Hank Stanley said conspiratorially, "is how long will it take for him to get it all off once he does notice it. My wife says glitter is the absolute worst!"