Sweet Dreams

I fell madly in love with Bridget while I worked on the ENT ( Ear, Nose, and Throat) floor at a major hospital. On my first day, she warned me that I’d be sick as a dog for the first several weeks. “Why?” I asked. She grinned and told me that I’d have to acquire the “normal flora” associated with the floor. She was right, I was sick, but gradually got over the round of colds and fevers that I picked up tending to some fairly buggy patients.

I was used to working in an operating room where we were extremely germ phobic. This was my first taste of taking care wide awake patients in years. The ones I was used to were asleep while we worked on them.

I had determined to take a break from the operating room largely because there was so much about medicine and healthcare that I knew little of, and I was seriously considering pre-med and medical school. But first, I wanted to see how the non-surgical side of things worked. My last months in the OR, as I considered this, had been uncomfortable as I pondered making the break after four years. One friend said that watching me in between surgical cases was like watching me pacing my cage.

So I took the job on the ENT floor. I was basically a glorified aide, but one who could prepare a small surgical kit under sterile conditions, assist as needed, and do sterile procedures. I soon came to be trusted by some of the nurses and resented by others. Bridget was a in the middle. She used all my skills, but withheld any praise. I found that her praise was what I wanted most. I remember walking out of the hospital one afternoon and realizing that now I have a new goal. Gain Bridget’s respect, and praise. and then gain Bridget herself. I was infatuated.

Things Develop

Over the months, I saw a gradual softening of Bridget towards me. She joked with me, gave me more challenging assignments, and defended me against Luna’s attacks. Luna was the west wing Charge Nurse. Luna considered that a mere Surgical Technician should not try to usurp a nurse’s prerogatives. Whenever I worked for her, there were issues.

Then, on my birthday, Bridget pulled together a small celebration in the staff break room. I thought now I was making headway. My dreams were full of Bridget, and they were tasty dreams too.

Then I received my letter of acceptance for college. The idle on the ENT floor would end this September when I left for school. I had been day dreaming about Bridget for most of a year without effect. As I walked home that day, I detoured down to the harbor and spent an hour spinning rocks out over the waves. Having cleared my head, I started back home.

While passing the super market I saw the object of my desire struggling with a load. She wasn’t big enough to carry it, so I rushed to her assistance, and offered to help her get it all into her apartment. She agreed, and soon we were driving away and headed to her apartment.

At last, I was alone with the object of my desire; she was taking me to her apartment, and who knew what might happen? When we got to her building I lugged all the heavy stuff to the third-floor landing, while she checked the mail box. AS she opened the door I heard a familiar voice, Luna. “Honey, is that you?” Luna came to the door, and saw me with an arm full of packages. “Bridget, what did you pick up on the way home, besides the groceries?”

Ah, blind love. The hints had been there all year, but I’d refused to see them. Maybe you’ve been in a situation where the scales have fallen from your eyes all at once, and you see the actual lay of the land. Bridget and I were not to be.

I smiled politely and retreated in as good order as I could. I found myself at the bar that night with some buddies, who were less than sympathetic about my lost year of blind love. Going to work the next day was awkward, and the last few days seemed to drag.

On my last day, Bridget and Luna gathered the staff in the break room for a going-away coffee break. At the end of it, Luna gathered me into her arms for a long hug and affectionate kiss, “You know you’re not bad for a guy!” Then she laughed and punched my arm.

******Well, full disclosure, this is fiction, but fiction drawn from real life and actual happenings. Names, places, and details to protect the innocent and the not-so-innocent.