Duby's Doctor

Chapter 3 - Listeners

ILLUSTRATION:  Hospital food tray delivery cart.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

The man now known as John Doe has survived amazingly and is recuperating in the hospital.  But the recovery process is going to be more difficult than usual, because of problems that have nothing to do with John's serious injuries.   Agent Frank Stone continues to secretly monitor John Doe, hoping to learn something useful that might still reside in the patient's memory.

Enjoy Chapter 3 of DUBY'S DOCTOR.

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Hector Velez enjoyed his job as a hospital orderly. He worked alongside polite, educated people, many of whom were young and female. His muscles often came in handy for heavy lifting in the course of his duties, and he was a compassionate and kind caregiver.

All of this, combined with a decent salary and the ability to live economically at home with his parents, boded well for Hector's social life. He was saving up for his eventual home, wife, and kids, but there was no reason not to enjoy life in the meantime.

Hector was an excellent orderly. He was inventive when necessary, and he learned from his mistakes. So, after a week of dealing with the new John Doe, Hector had devised certain procedures.

He pushed the tall, stainless steel food cart down the hallway. He stopped at a room, checked his tickets, verified the room number and name on the door, selected a tray, and carried it in.

Then he emerged and pushed his cart on to the next room. The plastic whiteboard beneath the room number said "John Doe," but some wag had drawn a line through that and inserted with a felt-tip pen: "Jean Deaux."

When Hector arrived at this door, he reached under the covered tray on the bottom shelf of his cart and pulled out a catcher's mask. Then he selected a meal tray, squared his shoulders, and marched into the room.

A moment passed in silence. Then a string of loud French epithets resounded in the room, followed by crashing and clanging of utensils and dinnerware. Hector backed out of the room, holding an empty tray, cursing under his breath in Spanish, and wearing a waterfall of spaghetti and meatballs on his mask.

Outside the door, Nurse Erskine passed him in the hall, acting as if this were an everyday occurrence – because it was. "If at first you don't succeed...," she teased.