1997:
The tall young nurse with the spiky red hair raised her arm high and slammed her fist into the mid-sternum of her patient. She had seen him go into pulseless ventricular tachycardia on the cardiac monitor, and sometimes an immediate "precordial thump" could convert the lethal rhythm.
This time it did work, and the ER doctor hurried in with another nurse to help adjust and administer medications before the patient could go up to the ICU.
The man who had been technically dead opened his eyes and felt his chest. Glaring at his nurse, he complained:
"You're the one who HIT me! What kinda nurse does that?"
After he was transported upstairs, a short, stocky older nurse laughingly yelled over:
"Hey Rusty! Do ya hit ALL of your patients?!"
The red haired nurse playfully rolled her eyes at her friend and laughed.
Her twelve hour shift finally ended at seven that night, and Rusty wearily drove home to the small farmhouse outside of Hays City, Kansas that she rented. Peeling off her soiled scrubs, and kicking off her shoes in the barn garage, she walked into the mudroom in her underwear.
She took a long, hot shower, pulled on sweats, and flopped on her couch, sighing. "How can a twenty-two year old feel so exhausted?", she thought.
Rusty had been a nurse for two years now, and an ER nurse in Hays for one year. She realized that a great deal of the tiredness was from the emotional rush of the job, which she loved.
Three hours later she was comfortably asleep in bed with her small orange cat, Biscuit, curled up against her belly.
During a deep REM cycle of her sleep, Rusty's dream returned, as it had for the past week now.
She saw the beautiful young woman, as if watching a movie, sitting at a table in an old western type saloon. All around her were tables full of noisy cowboys, gamblers, and scantily-clad saloon girls. Rusty knew there was a piano playing lively tunes, and could see a stairway to the left with the bar to the right. There was an odd crown-like decoration made of gold tubing behind the bar. Rusty knew the woman wasn't herself, with red hair that was longer and pulled back into a knot at the back of her head. But there was a definite similarity in her features, and in her sky blue eyes. The young woman was wearing a beautiful form-fitting, low-cut, black velvet dress with a full skirt. The large oval sapphire ring on the ring finger of her left hand, and her matching drop earrings sparkled in the light. Although there was a deck of cards in front of her arranged in a solitaire pattern, the young woman had an expectant look on her face as she kept glancing up towards the swinging doors.
The dream always ended the same way. A tall, well-built young cowboy would walk in after pausing and looking over the top of the saloon doors. He had piercing pale blue eyes, curly brown hair, and wore a lawman's silver badge over his heart. When his eyes found those of the red haired woman, a palpable charge passed between them, and Rusty would wake up.
She hadn't told anyone about her recurrent dream, thinking it would go away, but after seven nights in a row, her nursing knowledge was conjuring up everything from a mental problem to a brain tumor. Most medical people she knew tended to over-diagnose themselves for every ailment, and would have to be physically dragged to a doctor's office.
The next day was Sunday, and Rusty was not scheduled to work. A rather solitary person with many work acquaintances, Rusty enjoyed her time alone, working in her large garden, playing with Biscuit, or sitting out on her porch swing, reading or just daydreaming, Recently she had started writing in a diary, and had faithfully written down the details of her repetitive dream for the past seven nights.
Early in the afternoon, Rusty sat out on the swing with her cat, portable phone, and a tall glass of lemonade. She was very close to her parents, who lived on the family ranch outside of Dodge City, and to her mother in particular, and called them about three times a week.
"Hi Mom. What's new with you and Dad? How's Nanny?" Rusty took a big swallow of her lemonade, ready for a long, enjoyable chat. Unlike many of her friends, she actually liked talking with her parents and did not consider it a chore.
"We're just fine, Hon! I just finished TWO of those maple icing donuts from 'Charlie's' that you love. Dad and I stopped on the way home from church. And Nanny is napping now, but still a whirlwind."
Nanny was Rusty's great grandmother, Katy, now eighty-two, recently widowed, and who lived in the big downstairs bedroom off of the great room.
"Robert! It's Rusty! Get on the extension!", the middle-aged woman held her hand over the speaker as she gave a good old "farm-bellow" to her husband who was outside painting the front steps.
Rusty smiled as she heard her lady-like mother yell, then listened to her father clomping in, pulling off his boots, and picking up the phone in the kitchen.
"Hey Rusty! How's my girl? Saved a lot of lives lately?" Robert Talbot never tired of bragging about his ER nurse daughter while having coffee at Charlie's Cafe with his buddies.
Charlie's Cafe was owned and run by Rusty's mother's uncle and aunt Charlie and Sally Dillon. Charlie had retired from the Dodge City Police Department two years ago. He and his wife lived above their cafe in Dodge, but still shared ownership of the family ranch.
"Oh, Dad. Yeah! Just HUNDREDS!", she laughed. Then she told them about the man who was upset at her after she saved his life and all three chuckled together.
"Ah, Mom, Dad. I have the next two days off and was thinking about driving home with Biscuit in about an hour. That OK?"
Carol Talbot sensed that there was more of a reason than just a visit. She heard it in her girl's voice. She also knew that Rusty would tell her in her own good time.
"Of course, Honey! Any time! If you're lucky, there might even be a maple donut left."
Rusty laughed, knowing as soon as she hung up her mother would start cooking, and would send her father back to Charlie's for a dozen more of her favorite treat. The treats would be free of charge, of course, once her doting great uncle and aunt heard who they were for.