The Protector

Alessa stood there staring at the clock. This has been the longest shift of her life and this final one minute was going by just as slow! It seemed to be taking this minute an hour to pass. Freedom was just on the other side of 6:59. "Rough shift?" Bob, a small middle aged man asked her breaking her from her staring contest with the clock. "Hmm?" She shook the cob webs from her brain and tried to process the information coming in. "Rough shift?" He repeated. "Oh yes! We put 400 miles on the truck today." "Anything good?" "We had a few MICU patient transfers down to University that got a little dicey but not quiet a pucker level of 10." They shared a small chuckle. "Oh, the truck is good, you are down one portable oxygen but the other two are full everything else has been restocked, you're refueled, washed, tons of linens and that's about it. Oh the pulse ox is dead, no batteries, Leo says they are on order." "Well I'm glad yall ran your butts off because that means we will get to rest!" He let out a small sarcastic chuckle as Alessa's hand quickly moved to the punch her employee number into the time clock. Ah, freedom. "Well I am officially out of here, if you need something," she bent down to pick up her bags, "don't call me" She winked and wearily spirited for the door. She loved her job as an EMT and helping people has been the thing she has wanted to do for as long as she could remember but, sometimes it gets old. The people that really need the help are always so grateful but those people seem to be few and far between. If she gets waken up at 3am for altered mental status one more time she just might strangle somebody. Its 3am, who doesn't have altered mental status at 3 Am.? Ugh why do I park so far away she asked herself? After working for 24 hours last thing she wants to do is walk what feels like a mile to her car. And why does she take so much junk with her? I mean really how often does she use her spare uniform? Of course though the one time she leaves it at home will be the day she needs it. Finally she reached her vehicle, a 1990 Ford F250. She wasn't the prettiest or newest truck on the lot but it got the job done every time. She couldn't count how many times she has gone to go jump a buddy or stopped to help a stranger changing a tire on the side of the road. It was just in her nature to lookout for others. Just as she was tossing her bags into ol' faithful she heard somebody call her. "Hey Ale! Where are you heading?" A balding man asked her as he walked to his car. Really where am I going? She thought to herself. I just spent the last twelve hours being ran ragged by you the last thing I want to do is spend another 12 seconds on you. Where do you think I am going clubbing? It is 7am and I just go t off of work, you surely can't be that stupid. "Ooh, hi Ed. I am just headed home after an AWESOME shift." She said as she turned and got into her truck. Times like this she wish she had never put the lift kit on her truck. "Well you know our motto: when the hospital is your last resort make us your first choice." "Yea," she started the emerald green beast, "well I have to go." "Sure thing, see you Tuesday!" She hurried up and put ol' faithful into gear before he could utter another useless sentence. That man was the source of her anger twice a week for 12 hours at a time. The less time she is around him the better chance he has of seeing another sunrise. The familiar sound of the Jackson 5's 'I'll be there' rang out from her pants pocket. It was either her mother or her sister Cora calling. They are the only people bold enough to call her at 7:03 am. She activated her Bluetooth and began to speak. "Hello?" a woman's voice said on the other end. "Hey momma." "You sound tired darling," there was a short pause in her speech, "I wont bug you then." "No ma'am, I am just glad to be off is all." She lied. She was so tired the yellow dotted line had started to look like a solid line. "Is everything good at the house?" "Oh, yeah, honey all is well." Her mother's voice was uneasy. "What is wrong?" "Oh, it is your sister. She is having a bad morning. I can't get her to eat anything." "Mom its not even 7:30 yet, can we give her a minute to wake up before you start trying to toss food at her?" "I know, I know but I can just tell she doesn't feel well. She didn't even ask for her tea this morning." Cora can not function without her morning tea. I don't know what it is about the stuff I don't like tea or coffee, never have. Those two can't seem to get enough of the stuff. You can always tell when Cora has given up before the day has even stared by if she asks for her tea or not. "Could you maybe call her and try to get her going, please? I am afraid she is going to have a bad day." "Yes mom I'll call her. I will swing by Moon Dog Café and pick up her favorite tea. Is she still in bed or is she up?" "In bed." "I will make it an extra large then." "Get her some food too please?" "Yes, I'll call her now. See you in a little bit mom, bye." She didn't wait for her response she just hung up the phone. If Cora is having a bad day then there is nothing we can do but ride it out, forcing food on isn't going to help thing but make her mad. If Cora is in a funk there isn't anything mom can do to make it better. She turned the massive truck around and headed for Moon Dog Café and dialed her sister's number. First ring, no answer, second ring, no answer, 3 rings and still no answer. She really must be feeling bad today. Cora is always on her phone texting or emailing or playing some game. Finally on the fourth ring she picks up. "Hey sissy." A small pained voice answered the phone. "Hey pumpkin head!" Alessa replied it was their customary greeting for each other. "I just got off work and have this craving for some pastries and some caffeine. Moon Dog?" "I know what you are doing." Her voice was flat. "You are working for Mom." "Oh come on, I'm standing in line right now, there are about a million people in front of me as we speak, so what do you want?" "Liar." "What how dare you, I am not!" "I can hear the beast rumbling away in the background." "Hey now, it's Old' Faithful, not the beast. As I recall Ol' Faithful has gotten you and mom out of a jam or two so let's have some respect now." "You're right." I can nearly hear her eyes rolling through the phone. "So now back to business, what do you want to eat? You have to get something because if you don't then mom won't eat until you eat and if you have a bad day then she is going to have a bad day. Then she will bother me all day about making you eat something and we don't want that. So what do you want pumpkin head?" "You are a nut case." "Yep, I sure am and I can either be a nut case in your room with you or I can go home and sleep." "Orange mint frappe and a honey bun." Alright lady, see you in a little bit, and oh, be nice to your mother. She does this because she loves you!" "Fine." "Thanks pumpkin head!" Moon Dog Café's drive through line was clear out the parking lot spilling into the street. The line was full of rich snobby impatient people driving high end cars. It is so much faster to just run inside and place your order. I never did understand why people would wait in that long line instead of going inside. I guess is I drove a Lexus I wouldn't want to get out my car either. Parking Ol' Faithful is always interesting in this lot. This is not exactly a small vehicle then add in all the expensive cars being driven by impatient business men chatting away on cell phones makes it that much harder. Ol' Faithful rumbled to a stop. The only open space was between a Porsche and an Audi. I lined the old truck up to the spot perfectly in order to back it in and then out of nowhere a man driving a BMW came whipping around the corner and came just inches from taking out the front bumper. "Hey I am parking here cant you see that?" I screamed out of my window at the other driver. He put his hands up in an apologetic motion with his free hand, the other still hold the phone to his ear. If he wasn't such a jerk he would have been a handsome man. I grabbed my wallet from my work bag and hopped out the truck and shut the door only to reveal the other driver standing there looking at me with the same apologetic look, and his hand firmly clutching his blackberry. He was a very handsome young man. He wasn't tall but wasn't exactly short either. He had warm brown eyes the color of brown sugar. His blonde hair was expertly quaffed to perfection and eyebrows were well managed. He had an elegant nose and a small cluster of freckles graced his left cheek. His lips were thin but inviting and pink as a ripe strawberry. He wore a button down shirt that was neatly tucked into his slacks. The top 2 buttons of his shirt were not buttoned and his untied necktie lay around his neck. "Hey look, it's the jerk in the beamer." I said as I rolled my eye as I started walking towards the door. "Yeah, I am the jerk in the beamer. I was coming over to apologize. If I scared you and..." "Oh, believe me you didn't scare me." I said interrupting him. "Either way, I am sorry my boss was on the phone and just didn't see you there. Not sure how I didn't, that truck is big enough." "So first you tried to hit me and now you're talking bad about my truck?" "Um no. That's not," he scrambled in front of me to open the door, "My name is Erebus, can I buy your coffee as a peace offering?" "Thank you for holding the door and for the apology buy I can buy my own coffee. Erebus, that's a strange name." "Family name." He said shyly while he looked down at the ground. Good manor, rich and humble, maybe I should let him buy my coffee. He is just a really bad driver. There were a couple people in front of us. "Sorry to hear that." He looked up and smiled a smile that could have melted anybody's heart. "You have no idea. What was you name?" "Alessa." "Very beautiful. Protector of mankind." He stated very matter-of-factly. "Yes, how did..." "I studied a lot of Latin in college." "Welcome to Moon Dog Café, what can I get for you?" The cashier chimed in. "Hi, I'll take a cosmic orange mint frappe, a honey bun, a wild berry tea and a bear claw." "Hi, we are together. Can you add 2 soy frappes extra whip, 1 black tea with cream, 3 blueberry muffins and 2 cheese Danish." "Ma'am can u split that please." How dare he just think he can take over my order! What kind of normal person does that? "I'll have to go through the whole thing and void it out..." The cashier's voice trailed off. "Here," he swiped his card before I could even say anything to the cashier. "Problem solved." He turned and winked at me. "You might be the most frustrating person I have ever met."