Tornado

I watched her leave before I remembered I had to get to work, too. I looked at my phone that had my GPS open so I could find the new building. It took me a little longer than I had hoped but I eventually came to the hospital. I straightened my tie, nervous. There really wasn’t any reason for me to be, after all, I was already hired, but it was my first day and I wanted to make a good first impression.

I walked into the lobby and checked the map. I ran my finger down the list of names until I saw “Zachary Pipps, M.D.” in bold letters. He was on the fifth and top floor, suite 508. I went to the elevator and pressed the “five” button, wiping my sweaty palms on my slacks. That’s the last thing Dr. Pipps needed to see: me practically dripping with sweat in nerves.

The elevator doors opened and I turned right. The halls were empty since it was still pretty early in the morning. The door to 508 had his name and was fogged slightly. I opened it and approached the secretary. She was popping gum and reminded me of the stereotypical woman with long red nails and grey hair.

“Hello,” I said and she looked up.

She sighed and opened the glass panel between us.

“Dr. Pipps isn’t seeing anyone right now,” she said in a bored voice.

“I’m not a patient,” I said quickly. “My name is Ryder Vance. I’m-”

Her eyes widened and she turned red. “Oh! I’m so sorry, Mr. Vance. Yes, please follow me.”

She opened the door leading to the offices and led me to the far back office. She knocked once and announced me. I nodded in thanks and walked in. Dr. Pipps was an elderly gentleman with long white hair he pulled back in a ponytail. He was pretty fit for being so old and he beamed when he saw me.

“Mr. Vance!” he said, coming to me to hug me.

That was one thing it would be hard to get used to: people in Oklahoma seemed more interested in hugging than shaking hands.

“Please, Dr. Pipps, call me Ryder,” I breathed.

“Only if you call me Zachary,” he laughed and handed me a cup of coffee. “Sit down; we have a lot to discuss.”

I sat in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk and poured some creamer, mixing it with the spoon he gave me. He settled behind his desk and pulled out a folder with paperwork in it.

“I was very excited when they said you were willing to come here,” Zachary said happily and I smiled nervously.

“Frankly, I’m still surprised you requested me.”

“Why?” he asked, handing me a pen and a clipboard with some of the paperwork on it.

“I’m only 27 years old,” I said. “And I’m sure there are people who have much more experience than I do.”

Zachary snorted. “Experience. This business doesn’t need experience, Ryder. Now, if I wanted you to be a doctor then, of course, you’d need experience.”

“My employers weren’t very clear about what you wanted me for,” I said, glancing at the paperwork.

The first word that popped out at me was ‘Partnership’ and my mouth dropped open. Zachary was grinning at me.

“We need younger people on the Board,” he told me. “And your credentials are very impressive.”

“I don’t know the last thing about running a hospital,” I breathed and he waved his hand.

“I’ll teach you. It’s much like running the bank you had before you came.”

I laughed a little. “At the bank I was managing money, not people’s lives.”

He smiled kindly. “We all have to start somewhere, Ryder. And this is the next step up the ladder for you. What do you say? You want to join us?”

I looked back down at the papers in front of me. He was right: this was the next step up and a very big step up. My decision would greatly affect my life both personal and in my career. If I were to accept, I would have the best job in the world. If I were to decline, I’d be back at the bank in Las Vegas, Nevada. I took a deep breath and smiled at Zachary.

“When do I start?”

“Great!” he cried, clapping his hands. “It’s going to be wonderful having you here! First, let me show you to your office.”

I followed him out, gripping the papers in my hand. My office was one door down and had a window, too. Unlike Zachary’s whose looked out over the hospital, mine looked over the rest of Downtown Oklahoma City. There was a mahogany desk with a pretty recent desk top computer and four chairs; two in front of my desk and two in the corner. A cliché fake plant was in the corner behind my desk and a gift box sat on one of the chairs.

“A welcome to the business gift,” Zachary said as I picked it up.

With shaking hands, I opened it to see the best pen on the market. It was smooth and dark brown. It fit perfectly in my hand and I couldn’t wait to write with it.

“Thank you,” I said with a grin.

He looked at the clock. It was 11:30.

“Are you hungry?” he asked and I nodded. “I know the perfect place.”

We walked out, Zachary saying good bye to the secretary whose name I learned was Margaret. I tried not to laugh. Not only was I still nervous, but the name was so stereotypical, just like the rest of her.

“When we get back from lunch, I’ll give you a tour of the hospital,” he said. “You won’t have to go out in it much but it’s very important that you know every part of it.”

I nodded. “I agree completely.”

We got into a sleek black car. A drive took us back down the street I had walked. I could still see the shattered coffee mug and winced a little.

“You all right?” he asked and I chuckled, telling him the story. He laughed, too. “That happens more often than you’d think.”

“I still feel awful about it,” I admitted as we got out and entered a restaurant called “Mama’s Southern Cookin’”.

I had never had authentic southern food so I was excited. We sat at a table by the window and Zachary rubbed his hands. I could tell this was his favorite restaurant. I opened the menu.

“Do you know much about this kind of food?” he asked me and I shook my head.

“Dr. Pipps!” someone said and Zachary grinned, standing up to hug our waitress. I blushed when I saw it was the woman I had bumped into. She hadn’t noticed me yet and I wanted to shrink into my seat. “I haven’t seen you here in so long!”

“Well, after Dr. Arthur left, I had to pick up extra work.” Her blue eyes were sympathetic. “But, we have a new partner!”

She looked at me and her eyes widened. “Oh!”

“Ryder Vance, this is Juniper. She’s my usual waitress and she helps out at the hospital sometimes.”

She smiled at the doctor. “It’s the least I could do after how much you did for my mother.” She held her hand out for me to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Vance.”

“Ryder,” I blurted, shaking her hand. “And I still plan on replacing your mug.”

“Seriously, don’t worry about it,” she laughed and Zachary laughed, too.

“So this is the young woman you bumped into!” I smiled nervously. “Well, Juniper my dear, let’s have my usual for him as well.”

She wrote it down on the notepad. “We can manage that. What to drink?”

“I’ll have Dr. Pepper,” I said and Zachary beamed. Did this man ever stop smiling?

“And I’ll have the same.”

“All right,” she said and smiled at us again. “I’ll get those entrees put in and I’ll be right back with your drinks.”

She walked off and, when she was in the back, I put my head in my hands.

“Oh, that’s embarrassing,” I groaned and he snorted.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. If there’s one person who it’s hard to rile up, it’s June.”

For the rest of the meal, we talked about my time at the bank.

“I enjoyed it,” I said when Juniper placed fried chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans in front of us. I gave her a shy smile of thanks. “I really like working with numbers.”

“Then why did you transfer out here?” I cut up the fried chicken, making him laugh. “Usually people eat with their hands.”

I blushed. “I know but I’ve got a thing about getting my hands messy when I eat.” He shrugged and bit into his chicken leg. “Anyway, I transferred out here because I looked at your site and it seemed like a good fit for me. I like what your hospital does, too.”

He looked at me strangely. “How much do you know about what we do?”

“Well, I know that you help people with cancer and mental illness,” I answered sadly.

“Did you have a family member with cancer?” he asked gently.

“No. My youngest sister is mentally ill. She’s schizophrenic and bipolar.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that. Is she taken well care of?”

I nodded. “My parents are great at supporting her. They were the ones that really pushed me to accept the job.”

“Well, I’m glad you did,” he said, smiling again.

“Me, too,” I smiled back.