Chapter 32: Starting Again

01 August 1993 – Bent Avenue, Malden, Massachusetts

Charlie and Emilie both moaned when they tasted their first forkfuls of dinner. Jeff chuckled while he watched the two women. They ate like they’d be getting an ambulance call any second: shoveling food in madly.

Jeff could hear his drill sergeant in his head: ’Eat it now, taste it later!’

“May I safely assume that you ladies like dinner?” he asked.

“You can’t ever move out now!” Emilie exclaimed between bites. “You’re gonna stay right here and be our chef!”

“I think Mr. Brophy might be a little upset if I don’t show up for my first day of work tomorrow.”

“Oh, Mr. Brophy will live,” Charlie mumbled, her mouth full.

“I’d like to have an EMS career before I torpedo it, Charlie. Will I see you tomorrow, do you think?”

Charlie nodded as she finished chewing. “They usually bring the new people through to see the ER during the day shift, so probably, yes.”

“Wanna have a little fun?”

“Why am I nervous?”

Jeff explained his idea. Charlie shook her head, casting a glance at Emilie. Her partner was trying to laugh with a mouthful of food.

“Such a troublemaker you are!”

“‘Troublemaker?’ Moi? Surely you’re joking?”

“‘No, I’m not. And don’t call me Shirley!’”

“Honestly, I don’t know why they’re making you ride for three weeks,” Aaron Steele commented the following day. Jeff was riding third with the crew he met two weeks ago when dropping off his application. “I mean, it’s not like you don’t know the job after a year full-time.”

“Well, I don’t know the area or how things are done here versus back in Springfield. But, hey, if they want to pay me to ride third, who am I to argue? I’ll get some good practice writing Brophy’s version of run reports, too.”

“Jeff, you’re about the only person we’ve had ride with us who hasn’t bitched about paperwork,” Robin Fiske commented from the back of the truck. “Or about having to ride third for as long as you are.”. They let Jeff ride in the front passenger’s seat so he could see where they were going. Jeff would need to drive around by himself to learn the area.

“Guys, if I’m going to stay in EMS, which seems pretty likely, I’ll be writing paperwork for some time anyway. It seems to be the one constant across all career fields. Even with a year’s experience, I’m the FNG, plain and simple. My ride time won’t last forever, and you guys can get back to your routine.”

“You already bought us each a coffee, so we’re not exactly about to throw you out at the next light,” Aaron chuckled. “Okay, here it is in all of its glory – Malden Hospital. We get along well with the ER staff here. The staff upstairs can be a little pricklier, however.”

Aaron parked the truck, and all three piled out. The trio walked into the ER through the ambulance entrance, each taking off their sunglasses. Robin and Aaron introduced Jeff to the staff in the ER. They were friendly but reserved around a new person.

Another nurse walked into the main ER from the triage area, and her eyes locked on Jeff; they bored into him. The nurse abandoned all pretense of professionalism and strutted towards him. Jeff stared back, smirking at her. She stopped a foot from him, gazing up into his eyes.

Jeff grabbed the woman in a tight embrace. He bent her into the famous pose of the sailor kissing a woman in Times Square on VJ Day. For long seconds they kissed passionately. Her colleagues stared in shock. Aaron and Robin watched with mouths agape.

Jeff pulled back from the woman.

“Anything?”

“Nope, sorry,” Charlie responded.

“Oh, well,” he muttered while he helped her stand upright, “you can’t blame a guy for trying.”

“That was a pretty good kiss, I have to admit.” She looked at their audience. “What’s with them?”

“I think they’re in shock. Did you tell your coworkers you and Emilie have a new roommate?”

“Sure, but I think I forgot to tell them you were male. Did you tell the guys you’re riding with where you live?”

“Only that I live behind Malden Catholic in vague terms.” Jeff looked at their respective coworkers again. “I think we broke them.”

One of Charlie’s coworkers found her voice. “Wha...? What was that?”

“Acting!” Charlie said, mimicking Jon Lovitz from Saturday Night Live’s ‘Master Thespian’ skit. Her hand rose above her head with a flourish.

“Brilliant!” Jeff exclaimed, playing along.

“Thank you!” Charlie responded before taking a sweeping bow.

Jeff hooked a thumb at her. “We cheated a little. Charlie was the president of the drama club in high school.”

“Hey, you were pretty good just now! But, of course, you’d have been a great actor back then if you stopped playing sports long enough!”

“Oh, a prankster, huh?” Robin asked. “I think the gloves just came off...”

Jeff found the thing he had the most difficulty with, other than the traffic volume, was telling when he entered another city. While he drove around trying to learn the area, he noted how the cities blended here. Back out by Enfield, the towns had defined centers, long stretches of low population density, and clear, posted signs when crossing town lines. In Massachusetts, there is no ‘unincorporated’ land. All lands belong to a city or town. The cities inside 128 / I-95 drove that point home.

Metro Boston is home to a staggering amount of hospitals and other healthcare facilities. In addition to the six Level One trauma centers in the City of Boston, there were smaller acute-care hospitals, specialty hospitals, clinics, two VA hospitals, and numerous psychiatric facilities. Harvard, Tufts, and Boston University each have medical schools that partner with many surrounding hospitals as training grounds. North of the city, nearly every municipality sported a small hospital or nursing facility. Jeff was sure the same was true to the south. He knew he’d learn them all at some point. As someone new to the area, however, it was overwhelming at the moment.

Even with Brophy headquartered in one of the municipalities with a functioning hospital, the sheer number of cities they covered meant that Jeff transported patients to and from many others during his orientation. As with any combination, some places were welcoming while others weren’t. Malden Hospital ER was by far the most welcoming of them all, primarily due to the performance he and Charlie put on his first day.

At the end of his third-ride time, Jeff learned that Robin and Aaron’s schedule had been split, with Robin headed off to a schedule full of night shifts. Aaron assured Jeff that Robin was the person who initiated the change. Robin’s kids’ schedules needed someone with the schedule flexibility Brophy could provide. In addition, Robin’s wife worked in a bank, and banking is not a profession known for overnight hours.

“What, do you want to work nights?” Aaron asked him.

“It wouldn’t be my first choice, no,” Jeff admitted.

“I’m guessing you’ll be headed to paramedic school eventually?”

“That’s what I’m thinking, within the next couple of years.”

“Depending on where you take your classes, you’ll likely have to change your schedule to accommodate them. But, at least they’re willing to work with you on that here. They even let employees do their field hours here if needed. Of course, those hours don’t count as work hours, and you can’t get paid and get credit for your required skills at the same time, but people make it work.”

“It’s not like I’m not used to working and going to school,” Jeff explained his schedule during high school and once he left the Army.

Aaron nodded. “You’ll be used to it, that’s for sure.”

At the end of August, Jeff wrangled a weekend off to fulfill a promise to a friend. Jeff practiced deep breathing techniques and calming exercises when thinking of what he agreed to do.

There is no accurate description of the chaos of Move-In Day in Boston for anyone who hasn’t experienced it. An estimated sixty-five to seventy percent of Boston’s rental leases turn over on September 1st each year. Upwards of fifty thousand students descend on the narrow and confusing streets of the city, many of them from out of town. Many move into substandard or illegal apartments but don’t know any better and don’t say anything. Boston’s Storrow Drive, which is off-limits to trucks, can’t accommodate vehicles taller than ten feet high. This leads to more traffic jams while the police try to clear the stuck trucks on the riverfront parkway.

Jeff fell to his knees to give thanks that Heather found her apartment well in advance and that it was clean and safe. He was also grateful that he took the MBTA system to her apartment rather than drive into town. Charlie and Emilie both came with him since they weren’t working that weekend either. The three friends arrived at Heather’s building about thirty minutes before Heather, and Tom Cavanaugh arrived in the rented moving truck.

Tom arrived early enough to find a parking space in front of Heather’s building just off Commonwealth Avenue. Jeff and his roommates stepped out of the coffee shop where they’d been waiting. Jeff made the introductions before he and Tom walked up to the second floor to scout the move.

“At least the staircase isn’t too bad,” Tom muttered while he looked over the apartment’s floor plan.

“Thankfully not,” Jeff said in agreement. “We can put most of Heather’s things in the front room, and she can sort from there.”

“Let’s get to it. This city’s going to be a madhouse in a few hours.”

“Could be worse. The Sox could be in the playoffs today.”

“Right. They’d have to not be terrible first.” The ‘90s looked as if they’d be lean years for the Red Sox after their success and heartbreaking collapse in 1986.

The heaviest items to move were first out of the truck – Heather’s living room and bedroom sets. Tom loaded them into the truck last in Greenwich. Two hours of hard work by the friends saw Heather’s things inside her one-bedroom apartment. Boston University was only a ten-minute walk away. Tom tried to bid the youngsters farewell after emptying the truck.

“Grampy, we were going to go get some lunch! We owe you that, at least!”

“Munchkin, I want to get out of this damn town before it’s gridlocked. I’ll stop someplace I can park that beast without a hassle outside 128 and eat there. You be careful out here. And kick some tail in the classroom!”

“Grampy!”

Tom kissed his granddaughter. “You don’t need some old man hanging around. You kids eat while everyone else is still trying to find a parking space. Jeff, good to see you again! Ladies, a pleasure.”