A Step Further
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.
To borrow a phrase: ER no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?
"Oh my God!" Abby was holding her stomach she was laughing so hard. Carter and Luka were both chuckling hardily too, though the exact point of the joke was obviously only something women would understand. It had taken all three of them to get Ria to agree to go out for her birthday and they knew all the hard work was paying off now. They had chosen a bar and grille along the lake on Navy Pier for the occasion now that it was warm out once again. Carnival lights and the sound of laughter filled the air and the smell of water and grilling vegatbles mingled. Seagulls were diving and swooping over the restuarant's patio trying to find left over morsals for their dinners. Luka's cell phone rang and he reached into his pocket to retrieve it.
"Hello?" he said, still chuckling.
"Hello Uncle Luka. Aunt Ria told us to call every hour" Caroline's voice said from the other end.
"Here, it's for you" he told his wife and handed her the phone. He waved the waiter down while she spoke and ordered a fresh round of drinks for everyone. Ria hung up and handed the phone back to him.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yep" she nodded and took another bite of her sandwich. She was wearing tight jeans and a emerald green tank top, her curly chesnut hair blowing in the light breeze from the lake and glowing in the lamp light. Luka thought again how lucky he was he'd been driving down that street the night he'd found her.
"So, Ria" Carter started, still choking down laughter, "How is your practice coming?" Ria swallowed quickly, always eager to talk about her newly founded practice.
"Em, good!" she told him, "With all the people I get from the ER I don't really have a need to look around for paitents"
"Are you still doing it for free?" Abby asked.
"For some. I do all my initail work for free of course, so I don't have as many paying as I have coming, but it's a good start. Plus, I hate to charge those who really need it" Luka knew his wife had a soft heart for the hard cases, and for the parents who couldn't really afford the additional payments. Any money she got went directly to her because she didn't have anyone working for her and she ran everything out of the apartment. She kept detailed records of everything herself for professional reasons, but Luka didn't suppose the work she did was really considered "official". Yet anyway. But she was happier than he'd seen her ever before and he had recently begun to wonder if he shouldn't have let her get a job earlier, because she dearly loved it and she didn't seem strained at all. In fact, the "stress" of having an infant, two teens that barely spoke English, an often absent husband and a budding practice seemed to enthrall her. He thought she was crazy, but he wouldn't have had her change in the slightest.
They finished their evening happily and found everything well when they got back home. The apartment was cramped, it was true, but everyone was happy, even Caroline and Frederic who had adjusted to the change rather well. They were working on finding a house big enough for all of them, and a few more eventually according to Ria, but it was slow going. They had a limited budget, even with Luka's check, and they didn't have the time to really search hard. He supposed one of these days they would have to crack down and find something, but right now he wanted to take his time.
As they layed down in bed to go to sleep, a passing thought went through Luka's head. He was finally, complete.
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.
To borrow a phrase: ER no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?
"Oh my God!" Abby was holding her stomach she was laughing so hard. Carter and Luka were both chuckling hardily too, though the exact point of the joke was obviously only something women would understand. It had taken all three of them to get Ria to agree to go out for her birthday and they knew all the hard work was paying off now. They had chosen a bar and grille along the lake on Navy Pier for the occasion now that it was warm out once again. Carnival lights and the sound of laughter filled the air and the smell of water and grilling vegatbles mingled. Seagulls were diving and swooping over the restuarant's patio trying to find left over morsals for their dinners. Luka's cell phone rang and he reached into his pocket to retrieve it.
"Hello?" he said, still chuckling.
"Hello Uncle Luka. Aunt Ria told us to call every hour" Caroline's voice said from the other end.
"Here, it's for you" he told his wife and handed her the phone. He waved the waiter down while she spoke and ordered a fresh round of drinks for everyone. Ria hung up and handed the phone back to him.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yep" she nodded and took another bite of her sandwich. She was wearing tight jeans and a emerald green tank top, her curly chesnut hair blowing in the light breeze from the lake and glowing in the lamp light. Luka thought again how lucky he was he'd been driving down that street the night he'd found her.
"So, Ria" Carter started, still choking down laughter, "How is your practice coming?" Ria swallowed quickly, always eager to talk about her newly founded practice.
"Em, good!" she told him, "With all the people I get from the ER I don't really have a need to look around for paitents"
"Are you still doing it for free?" Abby asked.
"For some. I do all my initail work for free of course, so I don't have as many paying as I have coming, but it's a good start. Plus, I hate to charge those who really need it" Luka knew his wife had a soft heart for the hard cases, and for the parents who couldn't really afford the additional payments. Any money she got went directly to her because she didn't have anyone working for her and she ran everything out of the apartment. She kept detailed records of everything herself for professional reasons, but Luka didn't suppose the work she did was really considered "official". Yet anyway. But she was happier than he'd seen her ever before and he had recently begun to wonder if he shouldn't have let her get a job earlier, because she dearly loved it and she didn't seem strained at all. In fact, the "stress" of having an infant, two teens that barely spoke English, an often absent husband and a budding practice seemed to enthrall her. He thought she was crazy, but he wouldn't have had her change in the slightest.
They finished their evening happily and found everything well when they got back home. The apartment was cramped, it was true, but everyone was happy, even Caroline and Frederic who had adjusted to the change rather well. They were working on finding a house big enough for all of them, and a few more eventually according to Ria, but it was slow going. They had a limited budget, even with Luka's check, and they didn't have the time to really search hard. He supposed one of these days they would have to crack down and find something, but right now he wanted to take his time.
As they layed down in bed to go to sleep, a passing thought went through Luka's head. He was finally, complete.