On days like these, with two nurses on the wards instead of three, the feeling in her feet at the end of her shift was a more reliable indicator than the pedometer on her phone. Anna frequently called in sick on Mondays. Tomorrow she would probably tell us all about yesterday’s festival. Arriving early, Fleur’s shift began at 7 am, and she often worked an extra hour. In the locker room in the basement, Fleur took off her dress. Fleur bought her bullet bra from Etsy; she made the petticoat to go underneath the dress herself. Her co-workers hardly noticed this old-fashioned fashion-style. Ever since she started working here, Fleur had been wearing vintage clothes.

Very few of her work ‘friends’ had visited Fleur’s house. Those who did came back with exaggerated stories about the stuff in her house. “Her kitchen is a replica of a kitchen in 1954, with no dishwasher, microwave-oven or Coffee pod machine to be seen.” “It is like stepping into a fifties museum.” “It’s rather eerie how clean everything is.”

Fleur was open about her faith. She called herself a Proverbs 31-woman. Often, she would quote the wisdom of King Lemuel’s mother regarding the Wife of Noble Character. She included the verse and number, of course, for fact-checking reasons. A lot of her co-workers looked down on the very traditional values Fleur breathed. What kind of woman would long to be back in the fifties of the last century? None of the women on the oncology wards, that’s for sure. To most of them, the fifties were a nightmare of traditional roles where the husband was the head of the family and must be obeyed in all things. The leader of the household? Surrendering control of her freedom and independence was something her colleagues frequently made fun of. Behind her back, of course.

Today had been an especially rough day. Steven, her little patient in room 7.5, had been told all possible treatments had been exhausted. He was in a lot of pain and begged his parents to let him go. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live. Jonah 4:3. Fleur talked to the parents, but it had been a difficult discussion. Undoubtedly, the hardest thing for a parent to do was finally letting go of their child. These were emotional conversations that took time. Time she really didn’t have because she had to check on the other patients as well. Mandy, at 7.2, had to be prepared for her first chemo. And she had not even checked her vitals yet.

Fleur’s sole focus had to be on the parents, and as a result, her patient became more and more agitated. Finally she got them into a waiting room with the promise she would be back soon, after they had the time to think about what would be best for Steven.