Top researcher Emily Penhaligon was having a pretty lousy day.
For starters, she'd recently found out that the increased taxes were coinciding with a decreased paycheck. Never mind that she was the top-paid doctor in the country- it still put her in a bad mood, and finding out that one of her staff had accidentally misplaced almost all of her files (which she needed for a meeting just ten minutes after she'd clocked in) only fueled the fire.
Her lunch break soured when her receptionist told her that the Minister of Public Health, Ms. Friday, hadn't clocked in that morning and most probably wouldn't be seeing Emily. Although Emily pointed out she'd had an appointment for weeks, there was nothing to be done. Ms. Friday was beginning to acquire a reputation for unreliability amongst the researchers, but Emily wasn't so much worried about the Minister skipping out on commitment as much as she was upset that the meeting was supposed to discuss the possibility of replacing the Deputy Minister of Public Health (a position that Ms. Friday had all but promised Emily).
Convinced things couldn't get worse, Emily was glowering while she was working when her phone rang. It was Bob, and she answered with an irritable tone. "I told you not to call me at work unless it's an emergency," she said. She felt bad about it the instant she said it- Bob knew that. It most likely was an emergency.
"It is an emergency," Bob said, confirming it. "Arthur's had an asthma attack at his new school, and he's in the hospital."
Emily's face contorted. "Is he okay?"
"He's still out, but he's breathing normally now."
"What happened?"
"He just passed out on a cross-country run…"
"The hell, Bob! Why was he on a cross-country run?"
"I don't know…"
"I'll be there in a bit," Emily snapped and hung up, slamming the phone into its cradle.
