MADMAN'S ARMS

6

Monday, August 12

After three weeks of constant learning, I was finally beginning to find my way around the immense hospital edifice.

All the nurses were so friendly despite the different ages, experiences, and departments, and they all helped me get along and find my way all over.

There were especially three nurses from the ward with whom I got a special connection to almost right away. The first one was Harriet Campbell, the woman who was responsible for my introduction. We connected very fast by the time she showed me around and taught me about the patients and all the different routines of treatment.

At lunch on the first day already, she introduced me to her friends, Mildred Darwin and Janet Sullivan. The three women were caring and funny and they all welcomed me very well to come and sit with them every day during lunch or supervising hours.

All nurses on our floor worked in different shifts and it appeared that me, Harriet, Mildred, and Janet shared the same working hours. Then there was Donald. It was obvious that he tried to get my attention every time we passed by each other.

I was flattered by his flirting and he was indeed a very handsome man, but I had only spoken to him a few times in the span of three weeks, and for me, it was impossible to catch interest of a man in such a short time if I wasn't only focused on his looks.

Either way the most important thing for me right now was to concentrate on my job. I didn't feel like it was a priority for me to flirt with the hospital guard when I was already troubled finding my way around the big, maze-like hospital.

The weekend was finally over and I was longing to go back to work. I didn't do much this weekend since I was still trying to focus and study the things I learned in the past weeks.

Dolores always told me that I was too ambitious, but I never really comprehended how that would be possible. I just loved what I was doing.

I closed my locker in the changing room and looked in the mirror to make sure that everything was in its proper place before I walked out in the hallway to get to the elevator.

I was excited for this day because I was finally assigned my own patient list after these initial weeks of office work, signing medical files, taking care of visitors and supervising in the gathering room. Harriet and Janet walked beside me and I could hear them talk about some patient I didn't know anything about. They laughed at each other and I smiled to show my interest even though I didn't understand a thing.

"Beverly, you have a session with Jacob Clarke today, don't you?" Janet asked and I picked up the scheduled calendar from my chest pocket. I still hadn't learned all the names of the patients, and I realized that this Jacob Clarke probably was the person they just talked about. I found the name in my calendar and looked at Janet again and nodded my head.

"Yes that's right, he's my first patient after the furlough planning for Grace Jackson, why?" I asked while looking at her with a curious face. I was a little bit ashamed that I didn't pay enough attention to their earlier conversation.

"Well, he's a little bit... tense, sometimes so I would recommend making sure that he gets his meds before the session begins," Janet's voice got a bit more serious than before. I still looked at her like I had a question but as she didn't continue her talking, I decided just to nod my head and not ask any further questions.