Honor Thy Mother & Thy Father Ch. 16

What could he possibly buy Callalily and Harold, as a wedding present, for giving him his happy wife back? He would have to think about this, long and hard, before he made that decision. Harold and he were equally wealthy, and they could buy whatever they wanted on the planet. It would have to be something out of the ordinary. He did not know how Callalily would react to a bizarre gift. This was one of his main problems. He did not know anything at all about the bride. He did have some good people working for him, who knew how to get around that problem easily.

He would speak to Bob Short in the office tomorrow morning. Bob only had two duties to perform: He had to drop his two children off at school in the morning, and protect his wife, Fiona, every moment of the day, and especially at night. She was Dycke's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of all Western Hemisphere operations. Art Shell was Dycke's CFO of all Eastern Hemisphere operations. The areas he traveled to were more unstable. Dycke required him to be accompanied by a minimum of six agents, at all times.

Bob would receive an important assignment in the morning, which would return him to the world of spies. He would be Dycke's point man in the attempt to find out everything there was to know about Callalily Callaway. He had no idea of the hornet's nest, he was about to stir up. He started making a few phone calls to make Bob's way a little easier.

72. Testing One -- Two -- Three

Patricia was sure Doctor Nall was getting even with her for not finishing the exams the evening before. Her nurse woke her up at 5:30 AM to prepare her for her first exam, which she said was scheduled for 6:30 AM. When the aid showed up with her wheelchair at 7 AM, Patricia was sure of it. "Two can play your game, doctor."

The aid dropped her off in the waiting area, logged her in, and put her chart on the desk, for the secretary to file. The secretary was inundated with incoming phone calls. She did not see Patty take the chart and wheel herself to another waiting area, where she watched television for an hour. An candy-stripper approached her and asked if she needed help.

Patty said, "I have been waiting for someone to take me back up to my room. They finished my test, gave me my chart to hold, and I have been sitting here waiting here since."

The girl apologized for the mishap, and said she would take her up to her room immediately. As they passed the 3^rd floor nurses' station, the candy-stripper put Patty's chart on the desk, took Patty to her room, and helped settle her into her bed.

Patty thanked her for her kindness, and the young girl left.

The secretary at the nurse's station saw Patty's chart and filed it back into its holder.

At 11:30 AM, all hell broke loose in radiology. No one could find Patricia Parent. She had been signed in, but both she and her chart were missing. No one, not even the Chief of Radiology wanted to speak with or see Doctor Nall, after what happened the day before. She would go ballistic; when she found out they lost her patient, 'again.'

They spoke with the aid who was assigned to bring her down to radiology. He told them exactly what he did. "I put her in the waiting area. I logged her in, signed my name, and I put the chart on the desk near the secretary."

The secretary said she was so busy getting incoming calls, by the time she got to the charts, there were seven of them on her desk, and did not notice any of the names.

At 1 PM, Doctor Nall arrived at radiology to see the results of all her patients' tests, including Patricia Parent. The explosion that occurred caused the hospital to rock on its foundation.

Doctor Nall asked in the sternest of voices, "Do you know if she's in the hospital, or if her boyfriend took her again?"

The head of security said, "We have just spoken with Mister Valentino. He is on his way here now. I will not repeat what he said on the phone, but when he gets here, I would be very nice to him."

"Have you done a floor by floor to search?"

"No, we have been checking the entire first floor, and basement; every closet, room and hallway to see if she has been taken away by someone. Considering her past history, we thought that would be the most prudent action."

"Okay, seal the hospital, no one in or out, until we know what happened to her."

"If we tried to keep Mister Valentino out, he will explode."

"Alright, let him in, but no one else except the police."

The hospital sent out an emergency message via computer to all nurses' stations on all floors. "Patient Patricia Parent may have been abducted from this facility. Check all rooms, closets, and stairwells for any suspicious activity. Call security with any information."

The 3 South nurses' station, check their charts and found Patricia's where it was supposed to be. Her nurse went to room 323, and stuck her head in. She saw Patricia sleeping peacefully in her bed. She left the room, walked back to the station, and called security.

"Hello, this is Nurse Allison from 3 south. Ms. Parent is asleep in her bed. What is the problem?"

"Nurse, are you sure it's her?"

"Ms. Parent has been in this wing for more than five weeks. I know her face very well. The patient in that bed is Ms. Parent."

"Go to her room and stay with her. We will be right there."

A gaggle of people from security through administration marched out of elevators and down to room 323. Nurse Allison was standing by the door, wondering what the heck was going on.

Doctor Nall was the first to enter the room. She walked over to the bed, took Patty's wrist in her hand to feel her pulse to see if she was really asleep. Her pulse was slow and rhythmic.

Patty's eyes opened, and she saw Doctor Nall standing there. "Hello, Doctor, I have had a wonderful morning. Are you ready for my tests yet?"

"You bitch; you did this, didn't you?"

"Did what Doctor? A nurse woke me up at 5:30 AM, and a young man took me downstairs at 7 AM. They had me wait around in a room until someone brought me back up here around 9:30 AM. I thought the machine was broken, because they did not do the test. She put me back into bed, and I fell asleep."

"Were there any other people in the room with you?"

"No, it was just me and a television, until this young man brought me back upstairs."

"Do you remember his name?"

"I only saw his name tag briefly, but it was either Jon or Jim."

"Okay Patricia, we will look into it. I have to reschedule your tests for tomorrow. I will see you then."

As everyone was filing out of the room, Patricia asked Doctor Nall to stay for an extra moment. "Doctor, the next time you have me woken up at 5:30 AM, for an 8:00 AM exam, I will make sure this hospital has a fire drill."

"I knew it was you."

"No Doctor, it was you. If you are nice to me, I will be nice to you. If you try to rob me of two hours sleep again, I will have you doing paperwork for a week."

From the doorway Stephano said, "I warned you not to piss her off doctor. If she is your friend, you can ask her for anything, and you will get it. However, if you make her your enemy; by God, are you going to get it. Good afternoon, my love, what did you do to the good Doctor today?"

"Nothing too drastic Steph, I just put a little strain on her heart this afternoon. I think she has learned her lesson."

"Are you too sure you are going to be able to live together? She looks like ice, but actually is fire. You, Stephano, look like fire, and are ice. The two of you make no sense to me."

"It took us a while to figure it out ourselves, doctor, but it was well worth all the pain and suffering we went through to get to the point we are at today."

"I am going to have Doctor Pock speak to you two. He is the head of our psychiatric division. He could use you to as the lead for his new book."

"Are you sure we will not drive him crazy?"

"I am absolutely sure of that. He is crazy already. Some of his theories are so far out of the realm of possibility; his peers are saying he is either a genius or an idiot. So far, I'll go with column 'B.'

Payne said, "In 1918, the European scientific community called Albert Einstein an idiot, doctor."

Doctor Nall looked at Stephano, and said, "Where did you find her?"

"She was the prize on the bottom of the giant size box of Cracker Jacks. She was so lovely, I decided to keep her."

"Doctor Pock has to speak to you two. All three of you are crazy."

"How did yesterday's test come out, doctor?"

"Patricia, if you were any healthier, I would do a body transplant with you. I agree with your surgeon, your stroke was stress-induced, and I will put that in writing. Your left leg shows some nerve damage. With some physical therapy and the use of leg weights, you will be able to regain nearly all your strength in the leg. We may have to put you in a brace for a while, to keep you from overcompensating with your right leg. You are looking at therapy for six months, and leg weights for a year, but that should be the extent of your disability. The three tests that were scheduled for today, we will do tomorrow, and those will give us the final results."

"Thank you, Doctor Nall; you have just made my Father's Day."

"I won't even ask you why I did that, Patricia, but I have other patients to see and I have to schedule your tests for early tomorrow morning."

"When was the last time this hospital had a fire drill, Doctor?"

"It will not happen because of me, Patricia."

"Have fun today, Doctor. I am working on your glider lesson."

"I did not lose that bet to you."

"And I have not read the manual, yet."

"Patricia, you are truly a piece of work."

"Doctor, my architect, thinks I am a piece of something else."

The End

Chapter 16

Honor Thy Mother & Thy Father

By

Prolonged_Debut 10

Note: I will be away on vacation for three weeks in Europe. I will try to post Chapter 17 from there if I have the chance, but I believe my wife will kill me if I take time away from a trip we planned for four years.