The guard got up an grabbed the wheelchair from the corner of the room.
“Doris? Hello, Doris?” Suzi said as she squeezed the patient’s hands.
“Hey, hey, is it time for dinner?”, Doris asked, still very disoriented.
“Let’s sit up and slide over to your livery my dear,” Suzi said, as she and Amy helped Doris slide into the wheelchair.
“Oh, look at that!” Doris said with her head bobbing. “It’s a kitty!”
“No, remember it’s a beaver,” Suzi said to Doris. “Who am I kidding, she won’t remember any of this,” she said to Amy and the guard, smiling.
The guard wheeled Doris out of the room and then Amy walked outside to have a smoke break. The next two patients were just some easy drill and fills, so Suzi washed her face to get the majority of the makeup off. There was still a haze of white left, but Suzi thought that made her look even more mysterious.
When Amy came back they took care of an arsonist’s bicuspid and then a molar that was giving a white collar criminal some problems. Suzi wrapped up the day by helping Amy get everything cleaned and then she left instructions for what Amy was to get prepared for the morning.
Suzi, changed out of her black scrubs into some brightly colored yoga pants and a tie-dyed shirt. She stowed her gear into a locker and then walked through the cursory inspection area. After she left the prison grounds, Suzi drove to Kopachuck State Park and walked down to the beach. She sat on the gravelly shore and tried to get into a meditative frame of mind.
She kept getting distracted by all the creatures scurrying around the rocks. When she closed her eyes she could hear the madrona trees swaying in the wind behind her. She could hear the crabs falling over the small rocks on the beach. She could hear the mosquito homing in on her, SMACK, as her hand dealt the insect a death blow against her neck.
“Sorry,” she said to the spirit of the mosquito as it left the beach.
Suzi gave up on the silent meditation and pulled her iPhone out of her purse to check her email. There was something from Marie with a large attachment. “A new song?” she asked herself, and then pressed for the file to download. It took a few minutes since she wasn’t anywhere near an optimal location for data services, but it got into her phone and she dug her earphones out of the bottom of her purse to give it a listen.
The melody was strong and she started to groove on the guitar track just when the words started. For the second month in a row, everything fit together really well. If the three of them kept it up, they might have to actually decide on a name for the band.
