The Great Doctor Thomas Moore

Meeting the Dean

After I knew my total score at the hanging board in the open garden of the medical college, I went to the subsidiary administrative building to finish the needed papers for my new monthly support.

I also didn't forget to apply again for the college dormitory, which was different from the university dormitory of students I was living at right now. Inside that building, everyone was a doctor working in the college private hospital.

As I just finished all the needed papers for all of this, I left that building in a hurry heading to the main door. My college was built over a huge stretch of land, and was divided into two great sections, the teaching section and the private hospital that ran by the college doctors.

The space between the two sections was a huge parking for cars that was divided neatly by narrow short roads that gathered up to form one main road to the north where it ended by that huge metal gate.

Just as I was taking the usual sharp turn on the corner of this building heading to that gate, I pumped abruptly into someone and lost my balance and fell on the ground with this stranger. My bag was thrown off my shoulder and many of its contents spread all over the floor.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you."

That strong voice apologized politely to me, as I was collecting my papers and books from the ground. As I put all of them into my bag again, I replied:

"No pro…"

I froze in my place when my eyes were fixed upon the man I just hit. Oh my bad luck, I pumped into my college dean and made him fall on the floor. He even apologized to me, how was that even possible?

"I'm very very very sorry Mr. Dean, it was my mistake, I'm so sorry."

This man was the highest person in power in the whole college, and I was just a nominated intern. He could fire me and end my future with just a single word from his mouth. What I learned from my life was not to anger anyone; you couldn't afford his retaliation.

"Never mind son. As I see from your badge, you are in the senior year, right? What is your result then?"

I didn't dare to delay as he was the dean after all, so I replied with the utmost respect:

"I got 95% as a total score."

The dean look became fixed more interestingly over me as he said:

"That's good, you must have gotten the full internship then, right?"

I stuttered and didn't know what to say. My hesitation was obvious to the dean who had very keen eyes as he added:

"You got the semi-internship then?"

"Yes, Mr.Dean."

"Good, what is your name kid?"

Oh, the dean was angry, as he used the word 'kid' instead of 'son'. This dean was very famous in our college; in fact, he was so famous in the whole medical society.

He was the only Great Doctor that our college had in the recent years, of course after the late and super famous Dr. Williams established the Pediatric department at the college and led it in its old days to be one of the most famous departments in the whole world.

I knew the dean's famous use of words and their relation to his mood. If he was happy, he would use words belonging to family terms, like son, daughter, and cousin.

If he was angry, then he would deal with you like we all deal with strangers, like kid, girl. If he was super mad, then he would add a title to you, like Mr. or Mrs.

"My name is Thomas Moore, Mr. Dean."

The dean looked towards me in detail. I had to admit, my clothes weren't that good, as I wore a shirt that had a food stain on it.

Involuntarily, I moved my bag from my right side to my left side as I tried to hide this spot. This move from me didn't escape the keen eyes of the dean, who asked in calm tone:

"Do you think poor is a shame, Thomson kid?"

Before I could even answer, the dean asked again:

"Tell me, Thomas son, what is your purpose in becoming a doctor?"

"I…"

"Don't dare to lie to me, son. I have honed my medical sense through all my years, so I can tell who is telling the truth from those who don't."

I was about to reply with a diplomatic answer, like to become a great doctor or something like that, but this smart dean had already predicted my reply, so he warned me.

That legendary medical sense skill was a very famous and rare skill that all the famous doctors had, and it was similar to my own skill, as I also had one just like it.

"Frankly speaking Mr. Dean, I want to become rich."

The dean looks didn't change at first, then he smiled faintly as he said:

"You can become rich in any other field, like becoming an engineer or a businessman, or even an HR. Why did you choose becoming a doctor as your own way to wealth?"

His words hit me, as I never thought about it from this perspective before. One of the most essential things that I lacked was guidance. Before I could think of an answer, the dean leaned towards me as he whispered:

"Do you want me to tell you a small secret?"

This situation was awkward, but I replied instantly:

"Sure, Mr.Dean."

"Every doctor has the ability to become a Great Doctor, but not all of us can reach this stage. Do you know why son?"

I didn't reply to his whisper as I was attracted to the way he spoke and the words he was going to say. The dean smiled warmly as he whispered:

"The secret always lies in the beginnings of my son. No matter what the doctor tries to do later on in his life, he couldn't offset the precious time wasted in starting his career. So…" He said that and stood upright and added in a strong clear loud voice, "Starting from today, you are now a full intern in my hospital. I will go now and make the necessary papers for that. I want you to report to the hospital ER and start your first day of work there."

This was like a dream to me, so I collected my chaotic thoughts as didn't delay to express my gratitude as I said:

"Thanks, thanks a lot Mr. Dean, which really means a lot to me."

The dean just smiled as he patted me on the shoulders while walking away towards the administrative building. While I was immersed in my dreams picturing my new life how would it be, the dean's voice came from the other end of this short corridor as he said:

"Don't forget, your famous dean was once a poor son just like you. Don't lose hope, and don't lose yourself to those filthy rich, as you will only be the only loser here."

I was stupefied in my place. if I didn't hear the voice of the dean myself, I would say this was a mistake. The dean of our college was a very rich man, he had many cars and owned a lot of states all over the country.

I heard once he was one of the 100 wealthiest people in my country, which turned out to be a rumor later on. This man started being a poor student like me? That was insane!

Although this was the first time for me to hear about it, I couldn't refute this as I knew he wasn't lying using my own special ability.

So far, I didn't find a proper name for my personal ability, which wasn't that special after all. This ability helped me to differentiate between those who were lying and speaking the truth.

I found it similar to the god-like medical sense ability, which came after years and years of training and required great talent and a mix of other traits that I doubted to have.

But, the two abilities shared the same result, while mine was even better as it provided me with a clear answer to a specific question, while that famous ability gave doctors vague direction about the correctness of their decisions or the information gained from patients.

I didn't have much data about my ability, as I recently got it by accident last year. I literally got it through a car accident, which hit me while walking on the pedestrian side of the road.

That drunk driver almost killed me, but I managed to survive. I just had some external wounds with bruises that lasted for a week and that strange ability.

I didn't know from where it came, but every time I heard someone speak in front of me, I knew if he was lying or telling the truth.

It was a weird ability to have, but it was better than none, to be honest, so I didn't complain and moved on my life, and now I was moving on towards the ER building entrance.

The ER building of my college hospital or I should start calling it my hospital from now on, was the most external part of this huge block. It took the whole ground floor with a very wide entrance that enabled up to five ambulances to park at the same time in front of it.

It also had a special path for using trolley and wheelchairs if needed. I found my way easily to that entrance as I always walked across during my daily exercise routine, to be stopped abruptly by one of the security men whose job was to check over the identity of the people who entered this place.

In my country, we take the issue of medical privacy seriously, very seriously, so it wasn't strange for that man to stop me, as I expected something like that to happen.

"Sorry, you are a student in the medical college, so you can't enter here without the permission of your staff.��

That was the regulation here, even I was a senior student in the sixth year couldn't enter this place normally without the company of my teaching staff.

As I started my fourth year in college, I started to take clinical rounds which were held in the hospital section. To enter the hospital, we needed to move with the company of our teaching doctor or else we wouldn't enter here.

I recalled that some of my enthusiastic mates in the fourth year tried to sneak their way in here, but they got severely punished for that and even lost some grades from their final evaluation. That was a stupid move in my opinion, as you should always abide by the rules.

"Hi, I'm a new intern here in the hospital, so I need to enter the ER department and report about my presence there."

The security man looked at me silently, as he saw many excuses like mine before.

"Do you know the consequences you will get if you turn out to be lying?"

I nodded as the man added:

"Tell me your name then."

"It's Thomas Moore."

"Wait a minute here, sir."

The guard then went inside the building and vanished for a while. He wasn't worried about me sneaking into this place, as this place was secured like a fortress. There were dozens of security guards waiting outside the entrance, so I couldn't sneak in even if I tried to.

I looked at these men while wondering: Who would bring such security to a hospital? That seemed weird to me. While I was immersed in my thoughts, I noticed the security man coming back again in a hurry, as he said even before he reached me:

"I'm very sorry Dr. Thomas, you know the routine. I checked and found your name listed there. You just need to sign in this form now and enter the ER main general department."

That man took out a paper record for those who passed through this gate into the building and a pen from nowhere.

I took the form and the pen as I found a place for doctors to sign their entrance, and I signed my name and the time I entered here and the ER department name for the specified field of the department I would work for. After I finished, I gave him the list and held the pen as I asked honestly:

"I'm sorry, I lost my pen, and so can I keep it?"

"Sure, I have an extra one if you like to have it too."

I smiled as I accepted his offer and entered the building with two free pens in my pocket. I usually forgot to bring my pen with me to the lectures, which caused more than unpleasant memories for myself back then.

Once I passed the wide-open gate, I found myself in a wide place that was full of many people moving on with a serious look on their faces. Most of them were members of the medical team in this hospital, while only a few were patients' relatives who looked lost.

I kind of understand their feeling, as when I entered here for the first few times, I got lost until I got to know the general design of this huge building.

My target was to go and report to the ER general department, that was that big hall to the right.

Just as I was about to go there, I noticed the appearance of a group of students descending from the main elevator in this building, I knew this elevator as it was the one related directly to the surgery department, as I also recognized those who came out from it.

They were also students of my year, just finished the sixth year, and started their internship. Unlike me, they got their full intern from the start easily, and the reason was simply like that, they had some relatives here.

"Oh, look who is there? Isn't that Thomas?"

"What are you doing here Moore? How does security let you pass here?"

I looked towards the two who spoke to me; one was the son of the head of the surgery department, while the other was his cousin. I replied briefly in a way to avoid dealing with them:

"I came here like you did, and I have work to do, so I'm sorry guys, let's talk later."

I moved rapidly going towards the main ER department. I really was in a very good mood today, so I didn't want to deal with those guys, as all my previous memories about them weren't that pleasant at all.

Just as I was about to enter through the opened door of this department, I heard the footsteps of a group of people coming slowly after me. I didn't need to look to know their identity, as they were those annoying bastards after all.

It seemed they decided to turn my good day into another bad memory, I sighed, if only I could break their false ego and make them see the true reality of this world then I could call it the best day ever.

The ER department was designed in the most efficient way, as the entrance led into a very wide hall that was divided into small treatment rooms with some isolation walls between each other, and some semi-transparent plastic thin cover that acted like what you could call a simple door.

These treatment rooms were arranged in a semi-circle while in the center of this department you could find the counter of the nurses, where more than 5 nurses were sitting there.

At the other end of the entrance, there was a small corridor which led to the doctor's room. Once I appeared there with the gang behind me, we attracted the attention of everyone here.

"Students of the college are forbidden from entering this department. If you need any help, you can go to the information desk out there and ask them for help."

I looked to this 18 years old female nurse wearing the blue uniform of the ER department in our hospital as I replied calmly:

"I came to report here to the senior doctor here, my name is Thomas Moore."

"Oh, you are Dr. Thomas, I'm sorry I didn't know it was you. Why are you still wearing the college uniform?"

Before I could even open my mouth, a nasty voice came from behind me as he said:

"It's because he doesn't have any other clothes except these."

I turned to look to this group of wolves, I already had withstood their annoyance for all these years, but now I was different. I wasn't that student anymore; I was now part of this hospital just like them.

"If I have no other uniform, why is then the son of the head of the surgery department wearing the student uniform? Don't you have another uniform? Or this is the only clothes you have?"

That ill-educated son of the surgery head was shocked by my reply, as his body trembled from anger while pointing out his index finger threatening:

"Thomas, you… you… how dare you?"