Truth And Consequences. Lenora Worth

Phyllis?” Dr. Pennington asked in a curt, angry tone, his scowl meant for David.

      “I told her I’d help you out,” David replied, daring the doctor to say anything. “She never got her lunch break.”

      “All of my nurses know to take breaks,” the doctor spouted. “Wait till I see her tomorrow. She also knows not to leave when we still have a patient. And you shouldn’t be giving orders around here.”

      “I wasn’t giving orders. I told her I’d help you,” David repeated. “I’m here and I know what to do.”

      “Go home, Evans,” the older doctor said, shaking his head as he glanced at David. “I still don’t get why you’re here in the first place.” Grunting, he added, “I have my eye on you.”

      “I told you when I called,” David said, preparing a care kit for Mr. Ramsey to take home with him. “I need something to do while I’m visiting, and since this is what I did as a medic, here I am.” He eyed his surroundings, taking in the dents in the walls, the worn linoleum floors and the lack of needed supplies. “And it looks like you can use the help.”

      “Never enough time or help around here,” Pennington retorted on a snarl. “And I sure can’t pay you, so I hope you don’t think your time here will count toward a permanent work situation.”

      “I’m volunteering,” David reminded him, anger simmering behind his politeness. “I don’t expect pay.”

      But he did expect this man and the entire staff to show some respect to the patients. For the most part, the nurses were kind to anyone who came in. But they were so afraid of the doctor who ordered them around with angry comments and nasty expletives that they all had a serious morale problem.

      “You must have some sort of motive, or a death wish,” the doctor said to David. He stitched Mr. Ramsey’s numbed finger without regard for the man’s fearful expression. “Who’d purposely come here? Especially after serving for almost a year in Afghanistan.”

      David wondered about the doctor’s question later when he was about to lock up the clinic for the day. But before he could bolt the front door of the old ranch-style building that must have once been a family home, the door burst open, and he stood face-to-face with Whitney Godwin. And she was carrying a crying baby girl.