Chapter 12
*~* Jamie *~*
“Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to work I go,” singing that song aloud, I have to rethink my happy thoughts. It brings back memories from when I was a kid and my dad would sing that to me before he left for work. Only he had his own words.
“Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to work I go, with a bucket and spade, and a hand grenade. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho.”
Good grief, I can’t walk into work singing that. They’d say I was still suffering from my concussion and ban me for another three days! Well, Molly would for sure.
I can’t wait to be back and doing something productive again.
It feels like months since I was last at the practice.
I know everyone will have done everything needed and probably gone the extra mile to ensure I don’t walk into any problems, but I can’t help feeling a little apprehensive.
After all, I haven’t left my business in anyone’s hands but my own before, and as much as I trust them all, it’s still a worry.
I examine all my aches and bruises when I get out of the shower, and I feel surprisingly good about myself.
I don’t hurt like I have been, and I bet that’s all my hormones being released because I’m on cloud nine this morning.
My happy levels are sky high and I’m walking in the air, like that snowman in the cartoon movie.
“We’re walking in the air, we’re floating in the moonlit sky.
” Oh, wow, my mind is certainly in musical mode.
Now I can’t get that song out of my mind.
Eating breakfast and drinking my second coffee of the day, I wonder if Molly will let me do a full day’s work on my first day back.
I doubt she will. I wouldn’t if I were her and it was someone else’s welfare I was looking out for.
My normal day would likely be, open up at eight and lock the doors at six.
It’s past eight already, so nine to five could be on the cards, if I behave and don’t get myself in trouble with the boss.
Now that I’ve loaded the dishwasher which I’ll not switch on until after I’m home later, and have had something for my evening meal, I’m ready to go.
Grabbing my jacket, I throw it over my arm, snatch up my purse and keys, and yes, I’m taking my truck.
I may get to do a couple of house calls if she’s outside in the lot, handy for a quick getaway.
Some of the older patients can’t always get to the practice even if they aren’t suffering from anything serious.
A brief flash of visiting Mr. Phillips rolls through my mind, but it’s nothing scary or worrying. It doesn’t tell me anything I haven’t already remembered about that day, either.
“Working nine to five, what a way to make a living,” I softly sing as I lock the door. I turn toward my truck when a quiet voice beside me makes me jump and squeal.
“You are most certainly not working nine to five, young lady. I knew you’d try to slink into work and do a full shift straight off the bat.
” Molly scowls at me, and I feel like a schoolgirl trying to play hooky getting caught by one of her teachers.
She sang the words working nine to five and I use that to try to deflect her train of thought.
“What a way to make a living. Barely getting by, it’s all taking and no giving…Jump in with me, girl…They just use your mind…”
“Don’t think you’ll get out of it that easily. I wasn’t born yesterday, you know.”
“Not your first rodeo, huh?” I try to speak in an old cowboy western voice, but even I have to cringe at myself.
“Well, get off yore horse and drink yore milk. What the hell voice was that supposed to be, little lady?” Molly throws back at me, and it sure sounds like John Wayne.
“How about I take you for a drive in my new truck? You can get me all caught up on what I’ve missed.
That sounds less like work and more like fun.
” As I won’t be in the actual building, I can argue later that I wasn’t on the clock, and then she can’t send me home at two or some early hour.
I’m going to have to be as smart as a whip with Molly, I know.
“Sure, that sounds like fun, but I already have you punched in. You should be aware of that little tidbit.” Molly grins at me and I’m starting to wonder if I’m thinking out loud or she can read my mind.
“Elementary, my dear Watson-Grant, elementary. Not only is your mind so easy to read, but your face tells the world what you're thinking long before your mouth does. Don’t ever play poker. You’ll lose the shirt off your back in no time.” Molly gives me a blank look, and I wonder what’s coming next.
“See. You haven’t got a clue what I’m thinking or going to say next, have you?” Molly walks to the passenger side of the vehicle, and before I can say what’s on my mind, I hear, “Ah, ah. Language.”
Driving through town, Molly checks out all the tech and gadgets in the truck.
She tweaks a few switches and toggles some buttons, and I’m lost with some of her explanations as to what is fitted as standard or optional.
Night vision cameras I understand, but when my seat vibrates and my ass is suddenly warm, I genuinely am not sure if I just peed myself.
“Multi-contour seats with active motion. Heated massage seats for non-petrol heads, like you. They’ll be a godsend in winter.
Don’t let go of the steering wheel when…
” Too late for that warning. The wheel feels very warm, and the sensation takes me completely by surprise. “…it heats up. Another winter godsend.”
“Any other little surprises you want to tell me about, Molly, before I kill us both with an unnecessary reaction to some form of heat or vibration on my body?”
“No. I think that’s enough tuition on your vehicle's capabilities for one day.” Molly leans her head back and side-eyes me. “You like your new truck?”
“Are you kidding? I love it. It’s like the insurance company read my mind and chose exactly what I wanted. It couldn’t be more perfect, unless… Never mind.”
“Unless what?” Molly, I know, won’t be sidetracked now I’ve started to say something.
“Well, it could have been better if it had been a gift from someone special, rather than just an insurance company dropping lucky by chance, that’s all, and I wasn’t inferring anyone, either.”
“I didn’t think you were, but that someone would have to think you were something special to lay out the cash for something as special as this. I bet it wasn’t purchased from a junkyard or a ‘Buy here, pay here’ dealership. Some serious dollars have changed hands here, I’m sure,” Molly states.
“Do you think I’ll ever meet someone special, Molly? Like you met your man?” I ask her, wistfully.
“You want to be kidnapped and imprisoned just so you can meet a guy? I don’t recommend it, although it did work out in the end.
Stop spending all your time at work and get a social life.
That’s what you should be doing. Not giving all your good stuff to patients and employees who will just come and go.
Anyway, I’ve got news for you. You’re down to a four-day work week.
All you doctors are starting from next month.
You’ll all get a new schedule when I hold a staff meeting and update you on the new changes I’m implementing. ”
“I know you’re good, Molly, but even you can’t magically make that work. We don’t have enough permanent bums on seats to make that work.” I shake my head as I think that I’d quite like a four-day week.
“Well, now that I have Simon on the books permanently, we do have enough bums on seats.” She laughs at my shocked look.
“How did you manage to persuade him to stay on? He was always saying that he was just helping out. Going to move on, blah, blah. I had accepted that we’d have to interview for another stand-in before long.” I seem to be doing a lot of head shaking this morning.
“Tom let slip what his salary could be. I didn’t deny it. I just made him feel indispensable. I had everyone asking Simon for advice before they went to Tom, who was in on the entire scheme, and in no time, we had Simon hook, line, and sinker.” Molly has such a smug look I could almost kiss her.
“What other miracles have you achieved in such a short period of my absence, may I ask?”
“Let’s see. Number one. We have no vacancies for clients. The patient list is at a hundred and five percent. Tom and I did the math, and we could cope at that level without putting a strain on the practice, and it covered us if any patient left. Which, of course, they do from time to time.
“Number two. Appointment waiting times are all within the projections that you put in place when you set the practice up. We’re working on a rolling four-week basis, but we keep Saturday mornings free for emergencies or walk-ins.
“Number three. I’ve had Gabriella and Karoline go through the pharmacy and reduce the stock on non-essentials and slow-moving meds.
The space that they’ve created, I’ve had them bolster stocks of things that we may need in the event of a pandemic, or a splurge of zombies taking over the town.
A bit of a prepper mentality, but we all agree that we’ve gone the right way.
Some of the non-essentials that we had were getting close to their expiration date, so we let them go to some of the local homeless shelters.
Not drugs, you understand but band aids, bandages, stuff like that.
“Oh, and number four and my personal favorite. Marie has stepped up and is pulling her weight nicely now. In fact, she has become my assistant. I think that about covers it.”
“So, is there any point in my coming back to work today, or at all?” I ask Molly a bit grumpily.
“Certainly not until we have the meeting to go over the four-day week. You could go get a life this week if you want to find that someone special, that is.” As she says this, we’re near a diner on the outskirts of town, so I swing in and park near the door.
“Right. I need coffee and a piece of pie. You’re paying, too.
Little miss clever clogs. When I’m fed and watered, you can explain just how I’m going to go about ‘getting a life and my Mr. Right.” Stomping off in a mock huff, I enter the diner and find an empty table near the window where I can keep an eye on my baby in the lot.
As we sit chatting and I get to eat my piece of pie, cherry, which is one of my all-time favorites, I keep deflecting all Molly’s ideas for me to get a life.
I’m not going on a dating website. I’m not going to a bar.
I’m not joining any local clubs or enthusiast groups.
I most certainly am not taking my truck off-roading. How dare she even suggest such a thing?
Looking out of the window, hoping she gets the message that I’m not paying attention anymore, I see an old junker in the far corner of the lot.
I’m not sure, but I think I’ve seen that same vehicle as I’ve been out and about the last couple of days.
Sitting up a little straighter, I think I see the driver laying his seat back from the upright position as if he’s going to sleep.
Oh, how sad that people have to live out of their vehicles and grab sleep as and when they can before someone moves them along.
I’m going to try to do something to help this old, gray-haired, gray-bearded gentleman.
Seeing where I’m looking, Molly asks if everything is okay? Telling her my thoughts, she just looks at me, exasperated. “Well, when you clean up the old gray frog and kiss him, I hope he turns into your Prince Someone Special. You’re a lost cause, Jamie, you really are.”
“I know, girl, I know.”