FULL CIRCLE
Chapter 18
The insistent buzzing of his alarm clock awakened Miles from a deep sleep. Resisting the urge to hit the snooze alarm, he sat up slowly. The uninterrupted sleep had done him a lot of good and now he felt more than ready to face the world and his patients again. Opening his bag he pulled out a change of clothes and wandered into the bathroom to take a quick shower.
After shaving and getting ready, Miles finally turned his attention to the fact that he was hungry. Picking up the room service menu, he quickly perused it finally deciding on a bowl of tomato soup and agrilled cheese sandwich. That sounded filling enough and would keep him going until if and when he could grab something for supper. Picking up the phone, he quickly dialed room service.
"Room service. How may I help you?" the young woman who answered the phone asked.
"I'd like a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich delivered to room 417," Miles told her.
"Do you want anything to drink with your order?" she asked.
"Yes. I'll have a glass of iced tea," Miles decided.
"Thank you. Your order will arrive shortly."
"Thank you," Miles said and hung up the phone and sat down to wait for his meal. It arrived promptly and he immediately began eating, knowing full well that if he got busy with patients, supper could be a long time coming.
Frank arrived back at the hotel precisely when he said he would. Looking at Miles, he asked, "You feeling better now?"
Miles nodded, getting to his feet. "I am. I just needed some sleep is all. Let's go."
"The samples from Bay View showed no trace of the disease so we have no idea how it originated. Someone visiting may even had brought it in.So now we're back to square one. The good news is that Natalie thinksshe has this narrowed down to some sort of virus," Frank explained.
"Maybe by now she'll have it identified," Miles said, following Frank out the door.
When Miles and Frank arrived at the quarantine area, Stephen again to a minute to silently study the younger doctor. He could tell that Miles looked almost a hundred percent better than when he'd left. "I have a new patient for you. Mrs. Louise Randolph, age seventy-four. She has been complaining of much the same symptoms as the others. But until the tests come back, we won't be absolutel certain. As a precaution I had her put here," he told Miles.
"Okay, let me check her out and then I'll see what her chart says," Miles replied, pulling on a pair of gloves as he went to examine hisnewest patient.
"Frank and I will be over at the hospital seeing what Natalie has found out. Give me a call if you need any help," Stephen told him as he headed for the door.
"Okay," Miles replied, his attention focused on the woman lying in the bed.