Chapter 4

April 4

"Since the country lost its faith, Sunday is just another day in the shit," Jason said.

"You mean it wasn't always just another day?" April asked.

"Oh no, once upon a time there was no alcohol sold on Sundays, and no one ever had a domestic issue on Sunday. It just wasn't done," Jason replied.

"Too bad I missed those days," April replied finishing her coffee.

It was one of those evening when the day shift doctor and the NP had time to chat while they waited for an ambulance to come pick up an injured survivor of a traffic accident on hwy 90. He had a couple of broken bones in his hand and a bump on is head that might be a concussion according the Doctor Jason.

Well here is the bus. At least I'm not leaving you with any sniffle patients tonight. You don't get many of those on Sundays do you?" Jason asked.

"Mostly it's is accident, and domestic violence victims," April replied. "Speaking of which I have work to do."

The doors opened automatically spilling a half dozen Spanish speaking people into the lobby. They were all trying to speak at once. For the thousandth time April kicked herself for not learning Spanish. "I do hope one of you can speak English and interpret for me?" She asked.

It took five minutes before she understood that one of the children had been throwing up all day. Her understanding began when the little boy threw up on her scrubs. That's when the teenager began to make her understand the gibberish. Since she didn't have the ability to run tests, she gave the boy's mother a referral to the ER at Biloxi Regional.

In the meantime, she gave the boy an injection of Zofran and had him lie still for a while. If he got better, then he might just be in the vomit comet cycle. If he continued to throw up, he would need to go to the Biloxi ER immediately. Otherwise the mother could decide later what to do. She should know by then that they Urgent Care Clinic couldn't help with the underlying cause because April didn't know what it was.

Of course she had check for the obvious, easy to spot things and ruled them out. It was possibly something he had eaten, but more tests were needed. She didn't know how to ask what he had eaten. So she just kept him under observation for a while before she sent him on his way.

She checked an illegal alien who was drunk and hit a gravel truck. What the gravel truck was doing out on a Sunday evening, she had no idea. Even though Jason hadn't agreed. Sunday was still quieter than any other day of the week historically speaking anyway.

On a really slow night the staff took naps. On that Sunday night April being the boss, sort of, made the first attempt at a nap. It lasted for thirty minutes, until a patient come into the Clinic. After that patient left, there was time for the other two night shift workers to try to nap.

The RN named Priscilla, P for short, and the CNA named Earl naturally called E gave it a shot. One at a time of course. They napped until a patient came into the lobby.

It was E's job to log them in and announce their symptoms to April. If the clinic wasn't busy April and P would treat them. Often when they got busy April would begin treatment, then move to a second patient leaving P to continue the treatment and observation of the first patient.

In the event of a loud obnoxious drunk, E would often be forced to man handle them. E was a large black man whose job partly was to protect April and P. If it was really raining blood, he could hold a towel on an open wound or observe a patient.

That night passed quietly as most Sunday nights did. When 7am came, the three person night shift walked out the door and headed to breakfast. It had become a tradition that they ate breakfast together on Monday morning. April being the highest paid member of the night shift, always paid.

When Mordecai and his partner came into Eddie's, the three from the clinic had finished breakfast and two cups of coffee. It was almost 8am. Mordecai was April's form cop lover. He was also in her opinion an all round bastard. That, she thought, was Mordecai Abraham Goldburg. Yes Mordecai was a good Jewish cop working ninety miles from New Orleans Louisianan.

"I thought I might find you here," Malicia remarked sitting at the table next to Aprils.

"Hello Mordecai, so who is your partner dejour," April asked.

"Play nice April," P said quietly.

"Earl, how you been? Is that brother of your behaving himself?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah he is detective," E said sullenly. He probably didn't like to be reminded of his gangsta brother.

"I'm Lois," the much younger female partner replied.

"Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way," Mordecai began.

"Those were the pleasantries?" April asked sarcastically.

"More than the discussion of Jessica your dead tenant," Mordecai warned her.

"Is this where you read me my rights?" April asked almost angrily. There was still a lot of resentment there she realized.

"Well I think me and Earl should be leaving about now," P said. "E it is your turn to leave the tip."

When the two of them had gone the Junior partner was the first to speak, "The patrol officers thought you might know more than you were sharing."

"Did they really, well as usual the Biloxi cops were wrong. I own the building in which she lived. All her paperwork was made available to the officers on the scene, so this meeting wouldn't take place."

"Did you know she was a stripper?" Mordecai asked.

"No, but that is none of my business. Strippers need a place to live like anybody else. As long as she pays her rent and doesn't cause any trouble in the apartment, I could care less," April stated for the record.