Nurse O Bannon: A Short Story

Lisa clutched the cone of the stethoscope to keep it from bouncing on her chest as she tripped down the stairs. Something was up. Claire’s call wasn’t only out of the ordinary; it was outside of standard or even acceptable procedure. Lisa wouldn’t have recognized the syrupy voice if her sister-in-law hadn’t started with an introduction.

“Is this the podiatrist’s foot clinic? This is Nurse O’Bannon from urgent care. I have a patient down here who might need an examination. Could you please send Doctor Hahn’s head nurse down to assess him?”

“Claire?” Lisa was the only nurse in the podiatry clinic.

“Thank you.” The words were clipped. “I’ll look for you in five minutes.”

The urgent care clinic teemed with noisy activity, but she saw the small

Speaking of which…”

“Let me get you some scissors and water.” Claire trotted back to the examining rooms and came back with a tray and some gloves. “Just clean him up and get the rest of them out of here.”

“Okay, but you and I are going to have a talk later.”

“Yes!” Claire pushed her toward the group of men. “Later.”

Lisa sliced through the laces and tried to ease the shoe off of his foot. She stopped when he flinched. “I’m going to have to cut it off. The shoe, not the foot.” No one laughed, and they all watched intently as she worked. When the foot was exposed and relatively clean, she stood up. “What happened?”

“Pete was standing on a ladder, and it slipped in the grass and he tried to jump off sideways, but he got tangled up in it and fell on his face into the mud and the ladder fell on him and he just got out from under that and then the two by four he was pounding on fell onto his foot. But the hammer missed him.” The men were talking together and one of them finished up, “He didn’t swear, but it was starting to bleed pretty bad, so we brought him here.”

“Forcibly,” said Pete. “I suppose that shoe’s not wearable

“No, right now I’m staying with a friend on Oak Street.”

“Are you a veteran?”

He shook his head. “Even if I thought it was what God wanted me to do, I wouldn’t have passed the physical exam.” He laid his hand on his leg. “But it wasn’t something I really considered.”

The religious reference surprised her. She’d heard many people say things like that, but he did it more naturally.

“I wish God would tell me what He wants me to do. Just write it down, in ink, on paper, in English.”

Pete chuckled. “That would make it a lot easier.”

“Anyhow, I’m sorry I said that about the boots. I haven’t had much experience with homeless people or veterans.”

“It’s a complex situation. I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been at the center. Those guys are amazing. Look what happened today! I got hurt and they took care of me. They didn’t let anyone stop them.”

“Not even you.” She smiled. “I’ll get the nurse for you.”

It was hard to reconcile this insightful man with the rudeness of Thursday; maybe he had just been having a bad day. Living that way - alone, in poverty, homeless… she ought to make allowances for