Slow Burn | HS

let the flames begin

April 2017

Joelle finalizes a few emails to various branches of Doctors Without Borders that are similar to her own at Massachusetts General Hospital as Cindy, her boss, darts in and out of their shared office. There's an emergency in Nepal. Two devastating earthquakes have shaken the nation in a matter of days, and they're in need of all the help they can get. Supplies, beds, and medical equipment had to be organized, shipped, and unloaded in each various hot spot. Doctors needed to be contacted, travel plans needed to be arranged, and aid stations needed to be organized. Cindy, the brains of this operation, prioritized their responsibilities, listed the people to contact, and brainstormed the best solutions, while Joelle was the body. She wrote the emails, made the phone calls, and ordered all the necessary supplies.

Joelle was up to her eyeballs in work, but she was thriving. She loved being busy, and days like this made her feel like her job wasespecially important. She could keep up with Cindy; it just meant that she would spend the remainder of the afternoon burned out and ready for bed. She didn't have much to do. Her only assignment that needed attention soon was for a gen ed course that she could push off for another day or two.

She was in the middle of filling an order for extra sets of Personal Protective Equipment when her phone buzzed on the desk. It was face down so she couldn't read who was calling, and furiously typing on her computer, she let it go to voicemail.

The incessant buzzing stopped for a few moments, effectively reminding Joelle to get focused again. She was in the middle of typing the last line of the shipping information when the vibrations began again.

Cindy huffs from her place behind her desk, kneeling with one leg on her chair, too antsy to sit down. "Go ahead and answer it," she tells Joelle. "It does no good as a distraction. You'll get more done after that conversation than you will listening to it go off again and again."

Joelle flips the phone over and sees Mara's name on her screen. She tucks it between her cheek and shoulder as she continues to type on her computer.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Jo," Mara says, and something about her tone is worrisome. She sounds almost worn out and weary. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm doing okay," she says. She's too distracted to think much about Mara's question, other than a brief acknowledgment that it was a bit odd. "How are you?"

"Don't worry about me!" she cries. "You must be stressing so much."

Joelle glances at her long "to-do list" stuck to the bottom of her monitor. She definitely is stressing, but she has no idea how Mara would know that. Joelle hasn't even spoken to her in a few days. She figures Mara must have seen the news about Nepal and put two and two together.

"I'm a little bit stressed, but I think I'm holding up pretty well." She clicks the complete order button and sends a copy of the confirmation page to the printer to be filed.

"I'm glad to hear it," she says. "I know you guys aren't together or anything, and I haven't really seen either of you make a move in about a month, but I know that you're still close. And it's obvious that you care about each other."

Joelle's rhythmic typing grows slower and more erratic. Now she's confused... weren't they just talking about earthquakes in Nepal?

"So, how is he doing?" Mara continues. "Have they reset the joint yet?"

"I'm sorry?" Joelle asks.

"Harry," Mara clarifies. "Liam called about an hour ago and said that they were just taken into a private room."