C.K. Alexander Heart of Montana

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.""Dr.Booth, this is Dr.Cook, he had a little flat tire adventure on the way here this morning.""My apologies for being late." They shook hands."Have a seat Dr.Cook.Thanks, Karen." The medical director took a seat as well.From their phone conversations, Adrian was expecting a much older man, but Dr.Booth was maybe thirty-five and was clearly trim and fit."So are you cut out for this Dr.Cook?" His tone was cool, and not very welcoming, Adrian thought."Or are you just another big city doc using our community to get out from under your student loans?"Dr.Booth's brusqueness caught Adrian by surprise.Either this guy was having a really bad day or he was an utter jackass."Dr.Booth, I certainly intend to give every one of my patients the best possible care.I even boned up on tick-borne diseases to prepare for what I might encounter out here."The doctor nodded in response, "I'm sorry, I've had a terrible night.We had to have an eighteen-year old girl from Chicago airlifted to Billings early this morning.She had never been camping before, and put food in the foot of her sleeping bag.""Grizzly?""Yeah, she was hanging on by a thread." Dr.Booth rubbed his eyes."The only reason she made it here at all is because the ranger who's in charge of Emergency Services in the park is so good.""Randall Banks.""You know him?""Weirdly enough, he stopped to give me a hand with my flat tire."Dr.Booth nodded, "That's Randall, up all night, on his way home from a terrible ordeal, and he stops to help someone he's never seen before change a tire."There was something in Dr.Booth's voice, an emotion, that seemed to be more than just admiration for a good citizen, Adrian thought.He had that intuitive 'ping' hit him, maybe Randall and Dr.Booth were both gay.What would be the chances that the first two guys that he met in a tiny town like this were both gay? Adrian shook it off; in a big city, maybe five to ten percent of men were gay, but in Red Wheel? That would mean like 100 to 200 gay men.It seemed improbable, but then again.maybe not."We've got some really lousy coffee in our cafeteria, would you like to go get some?""With an endorsement like that, how could I refuse?" Adrian smiled, and Dr.Booth offered a weak smile back."Coffee is always free," Dr.Booth said as he poured.Adrian had a chance to look his new boss over.He had a runner's build, he thought, muscular, but slim.He looked like a westerner: brown hair cut short, faded blue eyes, a weathered complexion.He had little creases around the corners of his eyes and a slight furrow to his brow that spoke of concentration.What was it about Montana, though, Adrian wondered, were all the men incredibly handsome?"What do you take in your coffee?" Dr.Booth asked."If it's truly awful coffee, then a splash of milk."Dr.Booth held up a plastic creamer, and asked with a little laugh, "One Mini-moo or two?"They sat down at one of the tables in the tiny but cheery little cafeteria.There were hard red and yellow plastic chairs, and the walls were also painted in primary colors.There was a big bulletin board with children's artwork.Dr.Booth indicated the space with a wave of his hand."Not Mass General, I know, but we like it." He took a sip of his coffee."Tell me why you wanted to come out here, I mean, other than to get rid of your loans.""Well, yes, the loan relief was a huge incentive, but you know, I've spent my whole life east of the Mississippi.I'm from Portland, Maine, went to school in Boston, and I guess the idea of working in a community that really needs a doctor has its appeal after being some place like Boston that has amazing doctors out the wazoo.And I liked the idea of getting really different types of hands-on experience, I think it will help if I decide later to specialize."Dr.Booth nodded, and his expression relaxed."Believe me, you'll get experience.""What about you, how'd you end up in Red Wheel?"Dr.Booth rubbed his jaw."I grew up in Red Wheel and I went to med school in Seattle.My dad-from what my mother has said-was a guy from back east who worked for a summer spotting forest fires.He got my mom pregnant, and disappeared back to the East Coast and left her to raise me alone.He coughed a little nervously, "So, anyway, here I am." He rubbed his head."That probably comes under the heading of too much information.""Why don't you give me an overview of things? Anything particular you think I should know?" Adrian inquired helpfully.Dr.Booth seemed relieved to change the topic back to work."Karen finishes the pediatric clinic at two o'clock.Frankly, she's keeps this place together.She helps me with the scheduling and she can tour you around the facility and introduce you to folks.There are two internists, two family medicine docs, one surgeon and a nurse anesthetist.We have a dozen RNs and about that many LPNs.There's a nutritionist, a pharmacist with an assistant, a lab that can handle the usual stuff, and a radiology department consisting of a doctor and a tech.""Sounds like you've got things under control.""We try.Anything complicated-like the bear victim this morning-we stabilize and then send them on to the regional medical center in Billings."Adrian found that he was warming up to Dr.Booth.He seemed like a good doc, like he cared."Dr.Booth." Adrian paused, but then he thought he should just be blunt, "Is there anything I should know about being a gay doctor practicing in a small Montana town?"To his credit, Dr.Booth didn't flinch at the question."If you're doing your job, and you don't run your sexual orientation up the flagpole, people for the most part will accept you just fine.With the staff, I think you can be yourself, no one expects anyone to keep their life under lock and key.Our pharmacist is a lesbian, and we have an openly gay, male nurse.No one really pays too much attention.""Thanks, I appreciate the honesty.One other thing [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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