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Richter Six, by Michael Donovan, is a written, but never filmed writer's script from the actual TV series Emergency! |
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Kathy did so, looking up at Morton, who was holding her hand with his free one. "My husband.. Have you been able to locate him?" Morton shook his head. "I'm sorry. All the phone lines to that area are out." Kathy slumped back onto her pillow as another contraction eased up. "Isn't it ironic? Married to a doctor and he's never around when you need him." Brackett shot a questioning glance over at Morton. Williams missed it. "I..I guess they held him over because of the earthquake. They're.. probably getting a lot of patients, too." Mike replied to Kel. "Doctor Mike Williams. He's an intern at Olive View. Works the midnight to eight shift." Brackett and Morton interacted knowledge they didn't want to impart in looks as Kathy was lost in another severe labor pain that almost lifted her off the bed. She screamed as they began work to bring another life into the world. END Act One |
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************************************************** From : patti keiper <pattik1@hotmail.com> Sent : Sunday, May 20, 2007 6:05 PM Subject : The Nature of Folks.. Richter Six, Mark VII Limited and Universal Studios Production # 35716 Original Teleplay Character Dialogue was written by Michael Donovan, August 30th, 1972. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The day was crawling by like a snail. Slowly though, the response to Alameda grew stronger and more organized. Copter ten had been cleared to land on the roof, evacuating the most critical injuries that were being found inside to other hospitals. At the north end, the emergency room's crushed receiving dock became the source of numerous litters being carried by firefighters, attending the trauma victims, and the dead. The fire department radio only punctuated the scope of the disaster that had befallen them county wide. Vast numbers of apparatus and situation reports echoed off the twisted building in splinters, matching the whole fever pitch of the scene unfolding within its shadow. Roy and Johnny picked up their pace a little faster in the parking lot, heading for the partially buried doors. Chet Kelly crawled out from underneath an exposed rafter capped crack in the pile and he motioned to them. "This way." Gage cleared his throat of dust. "Whatta you have?" Kelly showed them the widest way into the rubble and he started shoving their medical gear that they had carried into a hole in front of him. "Found a guy in Central Supply, tangled up in a conveyer belt." he replied. Hurrying, the three of them followed somebody's trail line in which led to the rescue site in the bowels of the hospital. Already, the area was lit up by portable lights focused on a gnarled conveyer track buried in debris. Already, Captain Stanley, Lopez and Stoker were pulling off pieces of rubble from around a specific spot. Hank didn't look up as he kept digging when he felt Roy and Johnny appear behind him. "He must've crawled under there for cover when it hit." he clarified. |
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DeSoto shoved his helmet a little higher up onto his head. "Have you been able to talk to him?" Stanley shook his head. There had been an adverse change. "It's been about ten minutes. We're just about through to him." Roy and Johnny moved their gear over to a safe open area and began pitching in with the task of widening their access hole. Roy found something in the dust and picked it up. It was a name tag which read Walter Jacques, Supply Clerk. Gage grunted and one last boulder of concrete finally fell away into eager firefighter hands. Inside, he could see the sprawled but unpinned frame of the fifty something man, lying on his side, coated in plaster powder. Roy quickly exposed his neck, feeling for a pulse with a gloveless hand. "He's arrested." he said when he felt no beat or signs of respirations. He turned Walter onto his back, crouching beneath the low ceiling of the collapse and began C.P.R. "Start some air." he ordered. Kelly nimbly wormed inside the gap with the oxygen bottle and began bagging Walter on ambu. Johnny, meanwhile had snatched for the biophone. He looked up after checking its antennae and wires multiple times. "Something's wrong. I can't get a transmit light." he said to the others. DeSoto grunted, keeping his compressions fast and firm. "We need a doctor's approval for drugs and he's gonna need some." he said, casting a head down at the man he was working on to further show that he was actually injury clear and possibly suffering from a non traumatic condition. Gage moved. "I'll try to dig one up." he said tightly, getting frustrated with the dead phone. He got to his feet, heading for the door with his HT to find some open sky. Roy motioned for Lopez to take over the C.P.R. so he could hook up the ekg monitor unfettered. Marco began counting off sets to match Chet's ventilations. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gage turned around in the darkened hospital corridor full of evacuating personnel and patients. He collapsed his handy talkie's antennae derisively and repocketed it. No one at Command had a doctor in the triage center to spare and L.A. was tied up to the point of standstill on live medic calls, so Johnny began searching among the Alameda staffers for some help. He shouted at large. "Anybody know where a doctor is close by?" Most of the nurses and orderlies around him shook their heads and kept on rushing their victims to the much safer conditions outside. Sighing in frustration, Gage headed for another group of rescuers. "I'm looking for a doctor. It's urgent." he said, whirling in place, still in his helmet. He recognized a pair of paramedics bearing out a man on a litter wearing white bandages over his eyes. He approached them, hoping for better information. "You guys seen a doctor around here?" he asked them. Unexpectedly, the man on the stretcher in their hands replied. "I'm a doctor, but not in much shape to do anything for you." Gage looked down and suddenly realized that the paramedic firefighters' victim was wearing a lab coat, complete with a broken stethoscope angled around his neck. Johnny looked up at the medics. "We found him in the lab... Acid." they told him. Johnny knelt down where they had paused and now, he could read the Doctor's name tag. Williams, it said. Gage grunted in disappointment when he saw the stains of burns soaking through the dressings covering the physician's eyes. Williams heard him. "What is it?" Johnny hesitated, looking around again for another option, but he didn't find it. Gage sighed. "I'm a paramedic, doctor. We have a man in full arrest." Williams was in pain, but sharp. "..and need approval for drug administration?" Gage touched him, gripping his hand in greeting. "Yes, sir." "Well, that's one contribution I can make. Let's go." he told the medics carrying him. No one protested it. Johnny led the way. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------- The scope displaying by the gang's knees was sounding a steady alarm tone. Kelly was still providing breaths to Jacques around Marco's C.P.R. compressions. Gage and the firefighters with their stretchered burden arrived with a scuffle on stone. Johnny could see Roy was in the process of starting an I.V. Johnny couldn't wait with his news. "I got a doctor." he explained. DeSoto looked up at his partner with a puzzled look and glanced again at Williams as he was set onto the ground near them. "He's blind. Hit in the face with acid." Gage told him. Roy pursed his lips in an obvious I know that frown. Williams spoke up. "Okay, what's going on?" he asked strongly over the noise of shovel digging and other search activity going on around him. Roy shifted his eyes, not really believing what he was hearing coming from somebody who was most definitely still a disaster victim. After a beat, he said. "I had a rate of 32, doc. It dropped to ten. He's male, Caucasian, about fifty." Williams turned his bandaged head toward the sound of the wailing ekg monitor declaring crisis. "I.V.?" DeSoto replied. "Yes, sir. D5W." |
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The doctor asked more. "Respirations?" Roy said. "Almost none." Johnny was crouched in front of the Datascope, studying it. "Roy,..straight line. Ventricular standstill." he said when it changed into something new. The ekg screen's activity levelled downward as they watched. Williams coughed. "Do you have atropine?" he asked, breaking them out of a freeze. DeSoto held up a grimy hand. "Right here in my hand, doc." he said quickly, holding it up so Gage saw that it was uncapped and ready to use. "Push two milligrams." grunted the injured doctor as he felt himself getting covered with a shock blanket by Cap and Stoker. Roy did so, injecting the bradycardic fix into the I.V. port. "Two milligrams." he parroted. Then his eyes fell on the monitor again where course wavers of reactive V-fib were beginning. "Recommend we increase the drip." he reported. Williams nodded from where he lay. "Okay." Gage opened up the clamp on the I.V. to wide until the flow began to gush into Jacques' vein. "Take a reading.." gasped the doctor on the ground, trying not to wince because of his burned eyes. DeSoto nodded to Marco to stop C.P.R. for a few moments. A sluggish ventricular attempt rewarded them on the monitor. Roy smiled. "He's tracking.. about twenty." he reported to Williams as he gestured to Lopez to start up again. The doc smiled. "Okay. Let's try some Isoproterenol. Two milligrams." Gage reached into the drug box, fitted a needle and squirted out a payload of air from the medication before he injected it into Jacques' intravenous port. "Two milligrams of Isoproterenol pushed, doc." he said. "Okay, hold up on C.P.R. Take a reading." Williams panted. They did so, and the oscilloscope began to show a faster rate. "Thirty five, doc." DeSoto called out. "Increase the drip." Johnny turned up the dial and finger flicked the drip chamber a few times. "Drip increased." |
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Roy nodded as he read the screen. "Forty five, fifty, sixty..." "Easy." gasped Williams. "Try to hold him at seventy." DeSoto and Gage adjusted the I.V. until the warning alarm went away. "Seventy and holding." Roy finally said, after confirming what they were seeing with a carotid pulse check. Walter began to come around, twitching under the flowing oxygen mask and bag Chet held over his nose and mouth. Gage grinned. "We have a conscious patient, doc." Taking a deep breath, Williams finally let his head fall on the pillowed emergency blanket that was warming him. "Good enough. Keep him stable.. and get him to a hospital." the doctor swallowed dryly. He finally let Hank set him on some oxygen. "Yes, sir." said Roy. Lopez, Kelly, Cap and DeSoto began loading up Walter onto a stokes as the other paramedics picked up Williams, too. Gage crossed over to him. "For the report, doc. Can I get your name?" The doc replied. "Williams. Mike Williams. And you?" "Johnny Gage." "Nice job, Gage." said the doctor, finally relaxing into rest. "Good luck, doc." Johnny told him, grasping his shoulder for a bit. Trying hard to smile around his pain, Williams half grinned. Then he was carried away. Roy and Gage watched him go with Walter's party thoughtfully. Johnny was reflective. "It's something how people hold together when the chips are down." Roy nodded, reaching for their medical gear to package it up. "I hope he gets the kind of help he just gave." Gage nodded in agreement, wholeheartedly. |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alameda was bleeding smoke on the other side of the parking lot. A fire escape stairwell tower had collapsed onto the pavement and camp crews were hard at work chipping into the concrete slabs for access. A skip loader was hauling away hastily tossed debris and a crane was being used to move cement and tangled re-bar from the site under excavation. The gang from Station 51 hurried over to this next assignment with full regalia. Hank shared what he already knew. "The best run down they could get from the Administrator is a good possibility one and possibly two people were in that smoke tower when it went." Johnny looked over at him from the scene. "Do they have a handle on how many are still missing?" Stanley shook his head. "They're working on it now. It's a big job. I understand they did retrieve the hospital records about thirty minutes ago." "That'll be a start." Gage said, tightening his helmet. Hank whistled piercingly as he held up his arms, calling for an all halt. "Okay! Let's hold it up a minute! Hold up!" he shouted. The gang waited while all the workmen with the heavy equipment shut them down one by one for complete silence. Then Hank nodded at Kelly and Johnny who went into the exposed horizontally lying stairwell with Kennedy probes. Repeatedly, Gage and Chet shoved the listening rods in between boulders and cabling, tilting their heads as they waited for any sound made by survivors. The hush over the scene grew eerie, as echoes of helicopters landing and taking off on the other side of the parking lot droned softly over the sound of sirens coming from the city. Then Chet looked up. "I've got something." he said to Cap, nodding firmly in his earphones. All eyes turned to him as he probed a little deeper, arrowing in on a telltale sound only he could hear. Chet held his breath, grimacing as he moved his head around a sharp outcropping to get to the narrow crack he had found a little closer. He let out his breath explosively. "Somebody's in there.." he said, listening again for a few seconds. "Yeah. I can hear them breathing." Kelly pulled out the long probe as the crews around him enthusiastically re-began the work of removing the gigantic pile of collapse in front of them. He patted the rock gratefully, offering a gesture of encouragement to those still trapped beneath it. -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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************************************************** From : patti keiper <pattik1@hotmail.com> Sent : Tuesday, May 22, 2007 8:04 PM Subject : The Dark Hole.. Richter Six, Mark VII Limited and Universal Studios Production # 35716 Original Teleplay Character Dialogue was written by Michael Donovan, August 30th, 1972. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Progress was inexorably slow. Johnny and Roy's focus had narrowed down to one collectively shifted piece of debris at a time. A steel rod here, a chunk of concrete there. But progress was being made only as fast as it could go that still allowed for their relative safety. DeSoto pulled out a large slab of concrete and heaved it aside, panting. He sat back, taking a short break, leaning on his knees. Gage was digging quickly, when he noticed his partner was looking somewhat dejected and hardly working. He put an encouraging smile on his face. "Word will come soon, Roy." he said. Roy shook his head, licking dry lips, reluctantly meeting Johnny's eyes with his own. "Chatsberry's a big area." he whispered. Then he finally gave voice to what was bothering him. "Why nothing?" Johnny paused in his work, sat down next to Roy, and laced his dusty gloves' fingers together. "Maybe, that's good. If there's no significant damage, they wouldn't be reporting on it." DeSoto, eagerly grabbed onto the thought. "Or the word's not getting this far.." He looked up at a crackle coming from a portable radio, tuned to a local news network. ##...The earthquake which measured 6.6 on the Richter Scale, shook the entire Los Angeles area. The epicenter was in Soledad Canyon, 10 miles east of Newhall and six miles north of the heavily populated San Fernando Valley. Fire and Police dispatchers have been swamped with calls. Major rescue activities are still underway at the Alameda Hospital which houses 800 patients and staff. Hardest hit areas include the Saugus-Newhall area, San Fernando and portions of the Chatsberry area.## Roy startled, beginning to listen more closely. ##Helicopters and ambulances have been dispatched from the entire county to assist in evacuation. There are few accurate estimates of the number injured or dead. At 3pm, Governor Ronald Reagan declared a state of disaster. He is scheduled for an inspection tour of the area...## The workman shut the radio off unexpectedly as he returned to work with a new pair of digging gloves. Roy and Johnny hung their heads, fatigued and rattled by the news. Johnny looked up at Roy. "Want to ask the Captain for relief? You could probably check it out in a couple of hours." |
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DeSoto just turned back to the debris pile in front of him, and started to dig again. "We're still getting life signs down in there." Johnny nodded and joined him to help shift a large slab he had gripped. Near them, a skiploader took another careful bite out of the fallen stairwell. Everywhere, crews were brightly colored pools of exhaustion, and depression. Another hole presented itself and Gage inserted the listening end of his Kennedy probe into the gap. He bent over the earphones as he listened to the sounds down below at another all halt called for by Captain Stanley. He smiled. "We've still got life signs. Just a couple of feet to go." he reported loudly, so everyone could hear him. Renewed, the rescue diggers turned back to the rubble pile with fresh energy. Gage, sweeping away plaster and wall sand, spoke. "Can you even imagine what it's been like for whoever's in there?" he asked Roy. DeSoto shook his head, pushing away another boulder. "I have a feeling they're going to be mighty happy to get out." A crumbling sound threw Johnny off balance in a hole. Roy caught him by the shoulders reflexively, thinking it was the start of a cave-in. But then a happy shout reassured him. "I'm through!" Gage reported, excited as he thrust his front half in a little deeper. Other workman gathered around and began to feverishly pull away more debris, making the hole around Johnny's arm, even larger. Hank approached. "Can you squeeze in?" Gage looked up. "Yes, sir. I think so." Cap nodded. "Better check their condition." |
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Johnny nodded, glancing up. "Somebody have a light?!" he yelled. A workman passed a flashlight over to him. Gage flicked it on as he turned to Roy and Cap. "Give me a hand." Hank and DeSoto helped lower Johnny into the widening, sour smelling hole. As the fire paramedic disappeared into darkness, the other workers silently gathered around, waiting and watching. The seconds dragged and expressions of worry and hope shifted on their faces when they realized the moment they all had been working for had finally come. A beam of light danced up from the hole and slowly, Gage pulled himself out. He sat on the edge of it and dejectedly turned off the torch as he looked up at the others. "Two people, they're both dead." |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The gang had gathered around the Salvation Army Canteen set up in the parking lot under some thick shade trees that hadn't been shivered apart by the quake. A young woman in her early twenties was cheerfully handing out donuts and coffee to the weary firemen from her counter. Roy and Johnny didn't yet know her name. They greeted Sally Thompson with just a look as they leaned tiredly into the window of the trailer when they realized that no one needing relief, was behind them in line. "How's it going, fellas?" Sally asked, smiling brightly as she handed them two full steaming cups. Not wanting to relive the earlier part of the afternoon, they both shrugged noncommittally. And failed to hide their real emotions. "Oh, oh.." Sally softened, toning down her good mood. "Don't tell me ol' mother dejection is setting in?" She set down her towel, untied her apron and left the trailer to join them at their side. "Can I get you something else?" she asked seriously. "Thanks, no. This is fine." said Gage. Sally studied their faces and didn't look away. "Been here long?" Gage took a sip without really tasting his coffee. "Quite a while." he nodded, looking at the cracked up ground underneath his shoes. Thompson touched his turnout sleeve. "Pretty rough in there, huh?" Johnny didn't look up, but he spoke, answering her. "It wouldn't be bad if....we could find a few more while they're still alive." Sally pegged where they had been. "Oh, yes. I heard. Those two people in the Smoke Tower." Roy and Johnny nodded, rubbing at the dirt on their skin. |
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Sally's voice changed with some news. "Did you hear about the four people they were excavating for in the Payroll Room?" DeSoto reacted with interest. "No, what about them?" he asked. He and Johnny exchanged half smiles of hope. Sally took their cups, and topped them off again with a pot near her hand. "It took them almost six hours to get to them. The people hid under desks in the room." "They got them out?" Johnny asked, some life returning to his whole body along with a grin. Sally smirked neutrally, then she nodded finally, just to tease him. "A little tired and scratched, but alive and well." Gage sighed and relaxed against the counter top. "That is good news." Sally smiled even bigger at the sight of his face. "That IS what I'm here for." "Huh?" sputtered Johnny. Sally cocked her head, all teeth and glowing happiness. "Good news." she replied. "I'm in charge of morale around here, you know." she said no nonsense. |
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Roy and Johnny both smiled, and this time without the accompanying strain, as they realized that the cute, pert girl in front of them was also very good at her job. Sally knew her mission had finally been accomplished. She got back inside the small white and red trailer, retied on her apron and started washing her hands vigorously under a water dispenser. "Now," she addressed them, looking up. "As I asked before. Can I do anything else for you?" she wondered mischievously. Gage snorted, grateful. "You've done more than enough. Morale wise, that is." he told her. Sally gripped the edges of her frilly red apron, and curtsied. "Thank you, kind sir." she remarked, her eyes twinkling as she did so. DeSoto chuckled at last, a soft released sound. "Uh, miss.." "Sally. Sally Thompson." she offered. Roy's face crusted over again in a blanket of worry and that made Sally's do the same thing. "Sally, is it possible you've heard anything about the Chatsberry area?" She set her hand on his, where he was gripping his cup tightly. "I'm sorry." Then she realized. "Your home?" Roy looked down, hiding his reactions. But she could still see the glint of tears welling in the corners of his eyes. He spoke, fighting them back. "I guess no news is good news." DeSoto tried to smile back at her. "Thanks, anyway." He started off, moving after Johnny, who had drained his cup and tossed it away into a garbage can, but was stopped at her voice. Sally cupped her hands around her mouth, animatedly mirthful. "Well, give me a chance, will you?" Roy turned around, confused, with some amusement at being resummoned. She clarified, licking at the point of a pencil unnecessarily as she pulled out a napkin from the automatic dispenser near her elbow. "Name and address, please, sir.." she sniffed, acting like a snobby hotel front desk woman. DeSoto's mouth returned to a ghost of relaxation at her exaggerated play. "Roy DeSoto. 1610 Kelmore." he told her. Sally wrote it down. "Sixteen Ten Kelmore." she nodded deftly. "I'll see what I can find out." she promised, dropping the funny air instantly. "It's nice of you to offer." Roy said politely, not assured. Then he looked back at Gage who had returned after trashing their snack leftovers. "We'd better get back to it, Johnny." Roy turned and walked off, heading in the direction of the Command Post table so they could get their next assignment from a battalion chief. Johnny watched him go on ahead. Gage turned to Sally. "You think you can find out something, for real?" Sally straightened her body. "I wouldn't put him on." she said seriously. Johnny looked around, eyeing up the totally destroyed landscape around them. "But.. but how?" Sally smiled, with confidence. "Don't underestimate the power of the Salvation Army. I can't guarantee anything but.. I'll give it a try." Gage grinned. "Can't ask for more'n that." he nodded politely, tipping the edge of his helmet at her in salute. He turned to follow Roy. "Hey, fireman." Sally shouted after him. Gage turned. "Keep smiling." she said, with a broad grin, wearing her apron like Little Bo Peep around her face in mock. |
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************************************************** From : patti keiper <pattik1@hotmail.com> Sent : Thursday, May 24, 2007 6:20 AM Subject : The Long Hours.. Richter Six, Mark VII Limited and Universal Studios Production # 35716 Original Teleplay Character Dialogue was written by Michael Donovan, August 30th, 1972. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was quiet at Rampart on the general patient floor. Dixie McCall smiled as she handed a newborn baby off to Kathy Williams where she lay on a bed. The night was almost peaceful as the young mother sighed wearily, accepting the child. Dixie beamed. "Your bouncing baby boy." Kathy, with tear filled eyes, took her son and held him tightly as Dr. Brackett entered. "Now, didn't I tell you everything would be okay with that delivery?" Kel asked. Williams nodded. "Is he.... Is he really all right?" Brackett grasped one of the infant's hands to test his grip. "Oh, a little on the lightweight side, but a few weeks should take care of that." Kathy wiped her eyes and pulled the blanket away from the baby's face and admired him for a few seconds. "He's so wrinkled." she smiled. "But the spitting image of his dad." |
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Dixie and Kel shared a look that they couldn't quite hide. They tried to tone it down but Kathy picked up that something was wrong right away. As she tried to learn more, Dixie moved to gather the baby up into her arms. "Okay, visit's over. Back to the nursery for this young man." Kathy let him go and watched as Dixie left the room softly. "Doctor, something's wrong.. What is it? The baby?" she immediately fretted. Kel touched her arm. "I told you. The baby is fine." he said as the smile washed off his face. "What is it then? Something's bothering you." she insisted. Brackett sat down on the edge of Kathy's bed. "Your husband, Mrs. Williams." Kathy sat up in her sheets, gripping them. "Mike? Something's happened to Mike?!" Kel sought to calm her, taking her hand. "The earthquake almost completely destroyed Olive View. Doctor Williams was in the laboratory.." Williams interrupted. "Oh, G*d, no!" Brackett kept right on talking, sharing more. "We have him here, now." "Here?" she asked. "What happened to him?" she said, beginning to sweat. "Now take it easy." Kel soothed, not letting go of her. "I want you to listen very closely to everything I say." Fearfully, the new mother waited on the verge of panic, as she learned about her husband. "He was working with some acid. When the shock of the earthquake hit, it spilled. His eyes are damaged." Kel said. Kathy tried to absorb the news. "He's blind? Mike's blind?" Brackett handed her a tissue, as tears began to roll down her face. "We don't know for sure how bad it is. I've brought in Doctor Lindholm. He's the best in the country. He's been with Mike for several hours now." Mrs. Williams regarded Kel, unbelievingly for a few moments, shaking her head. Turning into her pillow she began sobbing violently. "He hasn't even seen his son." Brackett leaned closer. "There's hope, Kathy. And you have to give it to him." She looked at him with a kind of anger. "It will kill him, doctor. You don't know how he's worked, studied.. His whole life is medicine." But then her fire faded into grief and she threw up her hands, looking away as she cried. Kel stood. "And it's not over. You have to believe that. Or he won't be able to." he said. "That's why I'm telling you now. There's thousands of people that this disaster has affected. Many have lost their lives, hundreds are homeless and injured. The ones that have made it through have only one thing to go on. Hope. And that's what you must give your husband." Kathy started to compose herself as her thoughts raced a mile a minute. "Does.. does he know I'm here?" Brackett shook his head. "I haven't told him anything .....about you or the baby. I want you to tell him." She looked away, grimacing at an ache that was more than just from her body. "I-I don't know if I can face his disappointment." Kel smiled. "I think you can. Doctor Lindholm has him scheduled for surgery in the morning." "Surgery?" Brackett nodded. "It's the only chance he has. And you're the only one that can make him believe it." Kathy stuttered. "He.. he doesn't want the operation?" Kel just sighed. "He's taken all day to convince himself. He won't believe it will work." "Will it, doctor? Will it work?" She began sobbing when Kel didn't say anything more. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie was at the nurses' station, handing Katy Anderson a styrofoam cup of tea. The older woman accepted it gratefully and returned back to work on some nametags. Dixie smiled at her perserverance. She moved off to sit on a stool next to where Kel was returning a patient chart. "How'd she take it, Kel?" He lowered his eyes, absently toying with the chart rack. "We'll know better in the morning." Dixie pouted. "Poor thing. She's really been through it." Kel moved over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. Dixie declined the offer of one. "I just hope she has the strength for her husband. He's going to need all she can give." he whispered. "Miss McCall.. Miss McCall?" a voice began, breaking into their thoughts. It was Katy, the senior who was complaining of a paralyzed arm at the desk. McCall moved to her side. "Yes, Katy?" "I've finished everything you gave me." And with both hands, she handed Dixie the box of completed identification tags. "Thank you, Katy. I see your arm is better." noticed Dixie. Smiling broadly, Anderson beamed in her frame of gray hair. "About an hour ago. It was like a miracle. All of a sudden, I noticed I was using it." Dixie smiled. "That's wonderful, Katy." "Is there anything else I can do?" McCall took her hands gratefully. "You've done more than enough. Why don't you go home and get some rest?" Katy nodded. "Maybe tomorrow. I'm sure you'll still be busy. I'd like to help." she said sincerely as she started heading off. "And we'd be pleased to have you." Dixie said after her. "Good night." Kathy wished them, waving her left arm. "Good night, Katy." McCall said, still smiling. Kel crossed over to his head nurse, his curiosity peaked. "Well, what was that all about?" Dixie lifted her eyes up at his. "Our earthquake brought on total paralysis in that little lady's left arm." Brackett folded his arms together. "And you found a cure." he said, not surprised. Dixie nodded significantly. "I call it, psychological nursing for imagined physical defect." Kel snorted. "I'm impressed." "You should be. After all, am I not your favorite nurse?" she said, leaning into him. He advanced toward her and they melted into a brief hug. "Maybe I need a reminder." |
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When he lingered, she fended him off playfully, pointing toward Emergency. "We're still in the midst of disaster, doctor. Back to work." Kel stopped teasing her hair around her cap. "It was nice forgetting for a minute or so." Dixie sobered. "Yes. Yes, it was." She took in a deep breath. "I wonder how things are going for Joe and the boys." Brackett started off, heading for his next patient. "I'd imagine about two degrees worse than they are here." Dixie responded with a look of worry and fatigue as the weight of her responsibilities came flooding back. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The darkness all but enveloped the temporary field hospital serving as a morgue and triage center outside of Alameda. It was composed of mattresses and beds placed in the less damaged south parking lot. A small medical supply tent was near the center and a scattering of tables were randomly arranged throughout the area. Ambulances continued to shuffle patients from the location. There were but a few patients left to evacuate. The patch of pavement was poorly illuminated by portable lights as Joe Early, DeSoto, Gage and Cap gathered near one of the tables, hovering over some paperwork. Early pointed. "...And if these records are accurate, according to my count anyway, all but four people are accounted for." Gage took in a deep breath and let it out again forcefully. "Out of over eight hundred, that's pretty close to done." Hank rubbed his dirty nose. "Yeah, if we can find them." Roy looked at all three of them. "Any suggestions?" |
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