Anotherstab of piercing pain and Henry doubted the intelligence of his decision todrive himself to the ER. He wasn’t about to call for an ambulance. Not worththe cost, regardless of what his insurance covered. He didn’t know and wasn’tgoing to find out. He could have called a cab. That would have been the smartthing to do but he was already paying for the rental car.
“Turnright in a quarter mile.”
Henryglanced at the glowing map on his smart phone. Meridian Street.
TheGPS dinged for a turn, he almost missed it. There was no street sign but itmust have been the turn. He hoped. Sometimes city streets were so close hewondered if he had turned at the correct ding.
Anotherstab of deep pain. He cried out. He yanked the steering wheel, pulled alongsidethe parked cars. Unfamiliar with the rental car controls, he took a moment tofind the hazard lights and jabbed the button. He gasped and caught his breath.He grabbed the bottled water from the cup holder and gulped down the last sips,even though his stomach was roiling.
Hisstomach wasn’t the actual problem but the pain nauseated him.
“Fuckingkidney stone.”
Hepeered out the streaked windshield. He saw no lit windows, no porch lights ordriveway illumination. Only streetlights. Parked cars lined the street. Nopedestrians. No luck catching a leaving car.
Wherethe hell was he going to park?
Hedrove on, pained and frustrated.
Aftera few blocks, the GPS chimed again.
“Youhave arrived at your destination.”
Helooked at the smart phone in the cradle. The glow lit his pained features. Theaddress stated he was at Boston City Hospital.
Henrycraned his neck, looking out the window, past the rain drops on the glass.
“Thehell I have.”
Acrossthe street, he saw light. A brick building with entrance columns capped withrounded spheres. An old chandelier lit the entranceway. The building matchedthe age of the light fixture. It looked like a small apartment building, with arow of windows over the entrance doors. Initially, Henry thought the wroughtiron fire escape over the door was a balcony, until he realized it was designedfor occupants to crawl from their windows.
Onewindow was lit. There were no front steps. A ramp ran from the sidewalk to theentrance. Letters were carved in the stone over the double doors;
BOSTONCITY HOSPITAL
EASTBOSTON RELIEF STATION
EST.1902
EastBoston Relief Station?
Whatthe hell was that?
Theplace didn’t look like a hospital. Henry doubted it had ever looked like ahospital, even in 1902.
Takenwith the odd building facade, Henry hadn’t noticed the obvious – an openparking space, directly in front of the ramp entrance. He glanced around,looking for signs or meters. Nothing appeared to forbid his using the openstreet space. Pain stabbed again.
“Jesusfuck!”
Henrywhipped the car around and backed into the space. Sweat pouring down his face,he wiped his sleeve across his forehead.
“Ticket.Towed. I don’t give a shit.”
Hegrabbed his briefcase from the floor. All his luggage was at the hotel not inthe car. He still had two days before his flight home. The business trip wouldbe shot but so long as he passed the damn stone before then and could go homeon time.
Henrypaused, stood in the drizzling rain and stared at the entranceway. He couldn’tpossibly be at the right place. No blue light, no red light, no EMERGENCY sign.No ambulance driveway. Wooden doors and brick and stone.
Thedoors opened. Light from an interior hallway limned a woman. She wore a longwhite dress, and her hair was tied back. Blue cloth wrapped her head.
Anun.
No,not a nun. A nurse. Or perhaps a nun who was a nurse. Her old-fashioned uniformincluded a dark blue cloak she had placed over her hair to keep off the rain. Awhite surgical mask hid the lower half of her face.
Sheglanced about, looked past Henry and then returned through the doors.
“Wait!”
Henrydashed up the ramp. Dark lines indicated where once there had been tread stripsbut they had long since worn flat. His dress shoe soles slipped on the wetsurface. He almost fell on the hard surface but kept his balance. He let out agruff growl. Kidney stone – bad. Broken bones plus kidney stone – he didn’twant to think about it.
Heentered the doors into a hallway of brown and white tile, cold and antiseptic.He saw a flash of dark blue and white turn a corner ahead.
“Nurse!”Henry cried. “Nurse!”
Aroundthe corner, a heavy steel door led to a staircase. Henry took one flight, sawlights through small window on the next door and stepped out. He was in a longhallway, bright fluorescent ballasts leading the way. He saw signs withdirectional arrows. RADIOLOGY(X-RAY.) BLOOD LAB. 1025-1065. EMERGENCY.
Hefollowed the signs to the emergency room.
Awave of sounds washed over him. Voices. He passed rooms with pinging electronicmachinery. Televisions droned quietly. He assumed they’d be shut off shortly.Wasn’t it already late?
Hehadn’t noticed how quiet the night had been outside and in the old entrance. Hetried not to consider the entrance too much. He didn’t like the idea of anyonebeing able to walk into the hospital unchallenged – as he had. He thought ofpatients, vulnerable in their beds. He could be one of them.
Henrylost track of the signs and only realized he’d reached the emergency room when hesaw the seats and the usual cast of misfortunate people. Pain etched on somefaces. A mother holding her child’s crudely bandaged arm aloft. Plenty ofhacking, wheezing, and coughing. Old, young, foreign and domestic judging fromthose who were able to carry on quiet conversations.
Arotund woman behind a desk waved him over.
“CanI help you, sir?”
“Yes,you can. I’m in some pain and would like to see a doctor.”
“OK,sir. Have a seat.”
Beforethe woman – Peggy, if her name tag was not borrowed – could ask, Henry pulledout his insurance card and license. He didn’t know if she needed the license.
“Thankyou.” Peggy took the card and license and started typing. “I see you areambulatory?”
“What?”
“Canyou walk?”
“Yes.”
“Areyou here alone? Did anyone drop you off?”
“Oh,alone. I came in through the old wing.”
“Theold wing?”
“I’mnot from around here. In town on business. I have a rental car. GPS freaked outand turned me all around. Wound up at the old entrance.”
“Old?”
Henrypaused. He looked back over
