First Post|Previous Post|Next Post
The woman, hearing his approach or perhaps sensing his eye upon her, looked up from her tablet. She had light brown hair and hazel eyes, and on closer inspection was probably in her late 30s. “Come in,” she said, leading Stephen into the berth and seating him on a stool. She pointed the thermometer into his mouth for a reading while taking his wrist in her other hand and folding it up to his chest. An embroidered caduceus sat above her left breast, and a strip above her right breast read Collins. “The doctor will be in in just a moment,” she said, “he just stepped down to the lav.”
“The doctor?” asked Doctor Russ.
“Doctor Russ will be in in a moment,” the woman repeated, “just be patient.”
“I am Doctor Russ.”
“Oh!” exclaimed the woman, dropping his wrist and stepping back. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“You didn’t ask,” said Stephen, standing up. “May I ask who you are?”
“Katya Collins, medical corpsman, second class, MC-3JVE589. I’ve been appointed your loblolly boy, sir.”
Stephen returned Katya Collins’s salute and considered. “Have any patients come in?”
“No, sir.”
Stephen nodded. “I suppose that loblolly boy - boy?”
“Loblolly boy, yes, sir,” said Katya.
“- that loblolly boy indicates that you are my assistant?”
Katya blinked. “Yes, sir,” she said slowly. “You are the Roth’s surgeon, yes?”
“So they tell me. I am new to the service, however, and I confess that some of the niceties still elude me.”
First Post|Previous Post|Next Post
No comments:
Post a Comment