April Isn't Just A Month

April increased the air movement in her bedroom, then fell back into bed for even more sleep. She slept with only a light film of moisture accumulating on her skin and soaking into her sweat shirt. All in all she felt very good when she awoke.

I'm hungry as hell, but pretty well rested, she thought.

A quick look at her clock told her that if she wished an update on the body in the apartment, she would have to leave for the office immediately. Since she didn't really know the woman in apartment three, she decided that she could wait until the next day for the update. Instead of running to the office, she checked her other email. Since there was nothing, she took a shower and dressed for work. If the truth be known, she showered then dressed for the drive to work.

It was no wonder April was hungry, she had slept through the traditional lunch hour. It was either go out, or fix her own lunch at 4pm. April chose to microwave a meal from her tiny chest freezer. She chose a very nice three cheese pasta gourmet dinner. It was really just a mac and cheese TV dinner. She also took a package of fancy rolls from the freezer. From the package she took only one. That she covered with real butter after toasting it in the oven of her almost barbie sized stove.

After ten minutes she sat down to eat her very simple, but fancy named frozen dinner. While she ate, she thought about how different things were in the rental units. They had the same heat pumps, but lacked the fancy fan systems. The rentals had the standard apartment sized refrigerators, stoves, and a small low wattage microwave, just like hers. They were not equipped with the small chest freezer That appliances were the smallest size made. She provided them to protect the circuits. Each apartment had it's own circuit breakers, and with them came the individual power bills. April provided hot water, kitchen appliances. but nothing else. Okay that isn't quite true the overhead fixtures came with light bulbs.

After she finished everything she had to do around the apartment, it was 6pm an hour after the time for Viv to have signed off the computer. April didn't have time to do anything productive before work. She never did during her work weekend, she knew that and planned for it. For the next three days she was totally in work mode. Nothing would cause her to lose focus. It was the only way she knew how to function. It was also why Viv was so important to her lifestyle.

When she had finished her news update from the TV, she drove to the clinic. She arrived a few minutes early. "Jason are you about finished up?" April asked.

"Just need to get a patient on the way to Biloxi Regional," he said. There was a rule at the clinic. A provider saw his or her patient to the end of his or her treatment. A provider was not allowed to hand off a patient to the oncoming provider. It was a liability issue. It also explained why there were three sniffles patients waiting.

The providers, at the Urgent Care, classified every 'non trauma' patient as a sniffles patient. Actually the first of the three was a skin rash from exposure to the sun. Then there was a referral to the eye clinic at Buloxi Regional. That was for a cataract surgery work up. Last but not least was a real case of the sniffles. April diagnosed the sniffles as summer pollen or grass allergies. First level of treatment was always over the counter drugs. That treatment kept her out of trouble with the government bean counters. Which is all the clinic administrator cared about.

Things quieted down after the allergy patient was send home with a hand full of generic over the counter antihistamines. It was 10pm so the cutting and shooting time of day hadn't arrived. The 'club violence' as they called it, once started wouldn't end till 3am. The providers could either order their delivery dinners before 10pm or after 3am.

The night passed with no gun shot wounds and no stabbings, so it was a good night. April left the clinic in her ten year old Jaguar xk8 convertible just after 7am. April had fallen in love with the five year old car, when she finished her classes in the Masters of Nursing program. The Jag became her graduation present to herself. She did wait for her NP certification, and the large salary boost at the urgent care clinic before making the purchase. For the next five years she tooled around in the car. Yes, she was almost fifty and might look a little absurd in the sports car, but she didn't give a crap what anyone else thought.

Hers was probably the oldest car in the restaurant parking lot, even if it did have the most class and get the most attention it was still the oldest. After her breakfast, she drove immediately to the motel office. She still thought of it as a motel even though it was over fifty percent apartments by that time.

She was surprised to find Viv's car parked in front of the office. She walked in to find her still visibly shaken. She was a complete bundle of nerves. "You aren't on anything are you," April asked.

"Of course not, I'm just nervous. I worry that poor Jessica's killer might come back," Viv said.

"So her name was Jessica. Do we have any idea what she did for a living," April asked.

"The cops found a paycheck stub from the Diamond Club. She was either a bartender, cocktail waitress, or stripper," Viv suggested.

"Or a little of each," April suggested.

"She had next of kin on her credit application. The one we use to decide whether or not to rent to an applicant. She was married to a guy who works on the BP oil rig," Viv explained.

"So the cops checked him out?" April asked.

"They had to call him on the rig. The company should have choppered him in today," Viv answered.

"Well if he comes around let him in. Once the crime scene tape is down that is. I'm sure not going to ask him to pay to clean the place, but get in touch with that cleaning crew tomorrow. You stay with them to be sure nothing disappears." April suggested.

"That cleaning service probably won't be able to get the blood out of the carpet. Also we probably should wait till her husband comes and removes her stuff. I'm just thinking out loud, but since it was the living room, now would be a good time to put that laminate floor down. You know the stuff you have in your place," Viv suggested.

"If we decide to redecorate, sure. Do give him a chance to clear the place out first. She is paid up till the end of the month, so we need to leave everything till then. That is unless her husband cleans it out before hand." April said. "Now I'm going to bed. I have to work again tonight."

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday without the police knocking on her door. April slept, showered and ate dinner just the same as she had on Saturday. When she left for work, it was early enough to check out the Diamond Gentleman's Club. The club was located on a strip of hwy 90 across from the casinos. The casinos were on the beach front side of the highway and the other businesses were on the other side. Even being across from the beach, the real estate rental had to be a bitch. The symbol on the marque type sign for the Diamond Club was an ace of diamonds playing card. The marque also listed the names of the strippers. One of the names was Jessica Rabbit, which might explain the flaming red hair on the body Viv found on the living room floor of apartment three.

April was a little surprised that the parking lot was full at 6:30pm. She might have stopped if she weren't on her way to work. She had always loved a good pole dance. Not really, she just told people that she did.

April 4

"Since the country lost its faith, Sunday is just another day in the shit," Jason said.

"You mean it wasn't always just another day?" April asked.

"Oh no, once upon a time there was no alcohol sold on Sundays, and no one ever had a domestic issue on Sunday. It just wasn't done," Jason replied.

"Too bad I missed those days," April replied finishing her coffee.

It was one of those evening when the day shift doctor and the NP had time to chat while they waited for an ambulance to come pick up an injured survivor of a traffic accident on hwy 90. He had a couple of broken bones in his hand and a bump on is head that might be a concussion according the Doctor Jason.

Well here is the bus. At least I'm not leaving you with any sniffle patients tonight. You don't get many of those on Sundays do you?" Jason asked.

"Mostly it's is accident, and domestic violence victims," April replied. "Speaking of which I have work to do."

The doors opened automatically spilling a half dozen Spanish speaking people into the lobby. They were all trying to speak at once. For the thousandth time April kicked herself for not learning Spanish. "I do hope one of you can speak English and interpret for me?" She asked.

It took five minutes before she understood that one of the children had been throwing up all day. Her understanding began when the little boy threw up on her scrubs. That's when the teenager began to make her understand the gibberish. Since she didn't have the ability to run tests, she gave the boy's mother a referral to the ER at Biloxi Regional.

In the meantime, she gave the boy an injection of Zofran and had him lie still for a while. If he got better, then he might just be in the vomit comet cycle. If he continued to throw up, he would need to go to the Biloxi ER immediately. Otherwise the mother could decide later what to do. She should know by then that they Urgent Care Clinic couldn't help with the underlying cause because April didn't know what it was.

Of course she had check for the obvious, easy to spot things and ruled them out. It was possibly something he had eaten, but more tests were needed. She didn't know how to ask what he had eaten. So she just kept him under observation for a while before she sent him on his way.

She checked an illegal alien who was drunk and hit a gravel truck. What the gravel truck was doing out on a Sunday evening, she had no idea. Even though Jason hadn't agreed. Sunday was still quieter than any other day of the week historically speaking anyway.

On a really slow night the staff took naps. On that Sunday night April being the boss, sort of, made the first attempt at a nap. It lasted for thirty minutes, until a patient come into the Clinic. After that patient left, there was time for the other two night shift workers to try to nap.

The RN named Priscilla, P for short ,and the CNA named Earl naturally called E gave it a shot. One at a time of course. They napped until a patient came into the lobby.

It was E's job to log them in and announce their symptoms to April. If the clinic wasn't busy April and P would treat them. Often when they got busy April would begin treatment, then move to a second patient leaving P to continue the treatment and observation of the first patient.

In the event of a loud obnoxious drunk, E would often be forced to man handle them. E was a large black man whose job partly was to protect April and P. If it was really raining blood, he could hold a towel on an open wound or observe a patient.

That night passed quietly as most Sunday nights did. When 7am came, the three person night shift walked out the door and headed to breakfast. It had become a tradition that they ate breakfast together on Monday morning. April being the highest paid member of the night shift, always paid.

When Mordecai and his partner came into Eddie's, the three from the clinic had finished breakfast and two cups of coffee. It was almost 8am. Mordecai was April's form cop lover. He was also in her opinion an all round bastard. That, she thought, was Mordecai Abraham Goldburg. Yes Mordecai was a good Jewish cop working ninety miles from New Orleans Louisianan.

"I thought I might find you here," Malicia remarked sitting at the table next to Aprils.

"Hello Mordecai, so who is your partner dejour," April asked.

"Play nice April," P said quietly.

"Earl, how you been? Is that brother of your behaving himself?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah he is detective," E said sullenly. He probably didn't like to be reminded of his gangsta brother.

"I'm Lois," the much younger female partner replied.

"Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way," Mordecai began.

"Those were the pleasantries?" April asked sarcastically.

"More than the discussion of Jessica your dead tenant," Mordecai warned her.

"Is this where you read me my rights?" April asked almost angrily. There was still a lot of resentment there she realized.

"Well I think me and Earl should be leaving about now," P said. "E it is your turn to leave the tip."

When the two of them had gone the Junior partner was the first to speak, "The patrol officers thought you might know more than you were sharing."

"Did they really, well as usual the Biloxi cops were wrong. I own the building in which she lived. All her paperwork was made available to the officers on the scene, so this meeting wouldn't take place."

"Did you know she was a stripper?" Mordecai asked.

"No, but that is none of my business. Strippers need a place to live like anybody else. As long as she pays her rent and doesn't cause any trouble in the apartment, I could care less," April stated for the record.

"We found coke in the apartment," Mordecai informed her.

"Oh, what kind of weight?" April asked.

"Not dealer weight," Mordecai replied while his partner looked at him as if he had screwed up giving out the information.

"Next you will be telling me cops don't do drugs," April said.

"They shouldn't," The partner said.

"Neither should tenants, but shit happens," April said.

Her husband will be taking care of the apartment today. I thought you might want to know, so you could keep an eye on him." Mordecai suggested.

"I'm going home to crash for a few hours. If he comes during my sleep time Viv can take care of him. Is there anything else?" she asked.

"No, anything you want to talk about," he asked.

"Not unless you left your wife," April said it to be sure their relationship was obvious to his new partner, if it hadn't been before.

"No, we are still happily living together. The girls are finished college now, so we are looking toward retirement." he suggested.

"You might want to move out of town. Surely there are bad guys who don't like you. Hell Mordecai there are good guys who don't like you much either. Not to mention old lovers by the dozen," April commented standing to leave.

"If I get shot on a weekend after 7pm, don't take me to the approved urgent care center. Take me directly to the hospital ER and I'll pay the penalty," Mordecai said.

"That would most likely be a good idea," Lois said. "Do you think she was telling the truth?"

"About not know what Jessica did in the apartment, sure. April is one cold bitch. She doesn't cares about anyone but April."

"It appeared her feelings about you were pretty far from cold," Lois commented.

"That was then, this is now," he said with a smile.

"I do like that car," Lois said looking out the window as April drove away. "Did she have it when you would screwing her?"

"She drove a Ford," Mordecai said waving a waitress over.

While Mordecai had breakfast, April drove home to the motel. She stopped at the office to inform Viv that the husband would be coming to make arrangements about Jessica's things.

"Boss lady you don't seem yourself this morning." Viv said.

"I'm fine, I just saw a ghost at breakfast. Now I'm going to bed and have a nightmare," April said with gallows humor dripping from her voice.

"I will try not to wake you," Viv said.

When she got into bed images of Mordecai ran through her mind. The five foot eleven inch dark man looked much smaller on a hospital gurney. She saw him after the shooting in the hallway as they wheeled him from surgery. Since he was separated, he wore a dog tag around his neck with April's name and phone number on it. The Admitting nurse had called April while she was in a class at Tulane to notify about Mordecai's shooting.

She made the ninety mile driver to the Biloxi Regional Hospital in just over an hour and a half. That began her weekend bouncing from one emotion to another. He was still in the recovery room when she had to leave for her twelve hour shift at the Urgent Care Clinic. She was just an RN at the time, but it was still impossible to get a replacement on such short notice.

"Would you call me when Mordecai is moved to a room?" she asked the recovery nurse. "As a professional courtesy."

"You know I'm not supposed to, right?" the nurse asked.

"Yes, I know," April said.

"Okay, I'll call but nothing else," the slightly younger RN said.

April nodded. She knew that the nurse meant she would not give her an update on his condition, that would be a clear violation of policy.

At the clinic, while she worried about Mordecai, She and the semi retired Doctor Jason worked their way through the victims of a one car traffic accident. Mostly it was a lot of blood. April spent the evening on an emotional roller coaster. She heard from the nurse as she was stitching up a gaping wound on a young oil rig worker's arm. It wasn't an on the job accident, it was a bar fight.

After work the next morning she went to the hospital. When she met with Mordecai he was pretty much drugged so she slept in a chair in his room. Cops with gunshot wounds seemed to rate one of the older private rooms. Most of the rooms in the hospital had been converted to semi-private or four bed wards by that time.

When Mordecai's estranged wife arrived, April thought it was an ideal time to go home for a nap before work. After she left Mordecai and his wife appeared to have somehow reconcile. April was hurt beyond belief by his dumping of her, but worse by far was the fact that he did it by phone. He probably would have done it by Email, if he could have been sure April wouldn't make a fuss at the hospital with his estranged wife present.

After that phone call he made it clear that he wanted to sever all ties with her. "You can be fucking sure that you won't be hearing from me again, you lying prick," she shouted into the phone then broke the connection. The rest of the week she got updates from the floor nurses, but he never knew.

That morning over breakfast, he had looked much more than five years older. She knew he was fifty three years old give or take a year. She also knew he either had thirty years in or was damn close. She wished he would retire so she never had to see him again even accidentally.

Sure she felt that way but she couldn't help remembering the good times. She went to sleep that night with pressure building in her body. What she felt that it was a physical need, not unlike what she believed a man felt while walking around with an erection. If she still felt the same when she awoke, she would take care of it in the shower, she promised herself.

April 5

After her shower at 4pm, April felt much more relaxed and ready to tackle her domestic chores. First she had to see Viv and get the low down on Jessica Rabbit. No, that wasn't her real name or maybe it was. She and her husband had listed their previous address as a small town in West Virginia. The lease was signed by her husband Thomas Black.

"So Viv," April began. "Did Mr Black show?"

"Not yet, but he did call," Viv said.

"Well, if he shows between now and five have him show you his ID before you let him in. He may not stop here, which is fine. We can check the place tomorrow and every day until it is empty," April stated.

"Yes Ma'am. I just love it when you get all Domme," Viv said.

"Sure," April said. "I'm going to do my laundry and try to get back in the apartment manager mind set. Call me on the cell if Thomas shows before you leave."

April spent an hour over the industrial washer and dryer in the motel's utility room. Back in the day, It was the place where the sheets and other linens were washed. At that time each apartment resident had a key to the laundry room. The residents all shared it on a first come first served basis. Viv had suggested that April remove all the tables from the room, to prevent people from getting too comfortable. She had also suggested the 'one load per day' signs. Since April agreed, they hung them around the laundry room immediately. In smaller print the signs informed the residents that the first violation would result in a warning. The a second offense would result in the termination of their lease. Also that the room was monitored by closed circuit TV in order to avoid any disputes.