It was 2 a.m. when...
Illustration
It was 2 a.m. when the woman strode into the Emergency Room with the feverish child. His temperature was 105, and he was having a hard time breathing. His clothes were quickly removed, and the doctor's exam was brief. Red in the face, he turned to her and nearly shouted, "This child has double pneumonia! Why did you wait so long to bring him in? How long has he been sick, anyway?" Before she could get words out, the doctor ordered the child into intensive care, where a respirator would boost his rasping breathing. "What were you waiting for, lady?" he demanded as they began treatment.
The woman fisted away the tears as she shouted back, "You listen to me, doctor! You think I wanted to just wait, and see my baby get this sick? But I have a job, doctor, and they don't want me to take off to take my kid to the clinic, because that takes all day. So if I take him in during the day, I have to take a day without pay, and that means less money for medicine and your bill! I don't have any medical insurance unless I bring him to the hospital, either. So, I have to try to treat him at home first, because if it's not an emergency, we have to sit out in that waiting room with all the old guys who cough on him and spit on the floor. Maybe you have a nice home, doctor, where the floors are warm and a boy can play without snowpants on, but I don't. My landlord refuses to seal around the storm windows, and the storm door is broken, so we have drafts across all the floors. There's no carpet, so I have to put rugs everyplace he wants to play. When I go to work, he has to go to a babysitter, and he catches every cold the other kids bring in. He has had a cold a month, doctor, and his lungs are getting weaker. So when he came down with another cold three days ago, I gave him what I could buy at the drug store. When he got worse, I worried, and tonight I brought him in." She began to sob, but finished by saying, "There's not a whole lot I can do. So just shut up and get my boy well, you hear me." She turned her back to hide her tears, and the doctor, who had gone from red to white, turned back to the child and muttered, "Yes, ma'am, we'll do the best we can. And hope it's enough."
--Herrmann
The woman fisted away the tears as she shouted back, "You listen to me, doctor! You think I wanted to just wait, and see my baby get this sick? But I have a job, doctor, and they don't want me to take off to take my kid to the clinic, because that takes all day. So if I take him in during the day, I have to take a day without pay, and that means less money for medicine and your bill! I don't have any medical insurance unless I bring him to the hospital, either. So, I have to try to treat him at home first, because if it's not an emergency, we have to sit out in that waiting room with all the old guys who cough on him and spit on the floor. Maybe you have a nice home, doctor, where the floors are warm and a boy can play without snowpants on, but I don't. My landlord refuses to seal around the storm windows, and the storm door is broken, so we have drafts across all the floors. There's no carpet, so I have to put rugs everyplace he wants to play. When I go to work, he has to go to a babysitter, and he catches every cold the other kids bring in. He has had a cold a month, doctor, and his lungs are getting weaker. So when he came down with another cold three days ago, I gave him what I could buy at the drug store. When he got worse, I worried, and tonight I brought him in." She began to sob, but finished by saying, "There's not a whole lot I can do. So just shut up and get my boy well, you hear me." She turned her back to hide her tears, and the doctor, who had gone from red to white, turned back to the child and muttered, "Yes, ma'am, we'll do the best we can. And hope it's enough."
--Herrmann
