True to her word, Dr. Daniels called my mother on her bullshit and sent her packing with nothing stronger than acetaminophen. “She comes in and tries that abdominal pain bit every couple of months, hoping a new doctor will be working. What she doesn’t realize is that her history is listed right there in the chart for all to see,” she said. “So, hopefully you won’t have to see her again.”
Unfortunately, she was wrong. My mother and her male friend were waiting for me in the parking lot. How they knew which car was mine, I have no idea, but there they were with their disgusting asses resting on my bumper.
My plan was to completely ignore them, get into my car, and drive away with or without them still sitting on my car. They had a different plan. One that involved the male party wrapping his hands around my throat and choking me while my mother spewed spittle all over the side of my face as she flapped her toothless gums at me.
“I’ll be back tonight, and you will make sure I get some pain pills or I will fuck you up, you hear me, whore. Fuck. You. Up. You owe me, and now that you’re back, you’re gonna pay.”
With that, I was released and shoved away as they scurried off and disappeared between the cars. And at that moment, all I could think was, I hope they didn’t give me lice.
I went home, showered, and slept. Or tried to. Despite my best efforts, my mother and her friend had gotten to me. I wasn’t scared of them, but I didn’t want to have to deal with them. And I knew I would, because addicts were relentless, and she saw me as a means to an end.
After staying in bed for hours and not falling asleep, I got up and moved to the couch hoping I would fall asleep while watching my belovedGolden GirlsDVDs. Finally, somewhere between the fifth and sixth episode, I did fall asleep only to be woken up some time later by someone knocking on my front door.
I got up and peeked through the window, groaning when I saw Jonah standing on my front porch, staring at me. Growling to myself, I opened the door and didn’t bother to hide my annoyance. “What do you want?”
He stepped forward and tried to crowd me into my own home, but I refused to move, and he ended up with his body pressed almost flush to mine. “The fuck happened to your neck?”
“None of your business. Why are you here?” I asked.
“I wanted to talk to you about the other day, but now I want to know who did that to you,” he demanded.
“I like rough sex, and I don’t want to talk about the other day. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready for work,” I huffed and closed the door in his face.
“River! Damn it. We’re going to talk about this!” he yelled through the door.
“No, we’re not. Go away, Jonah.”
Things only deteriorated from there. When I got to work, it was still a madhouse. On top of that, Kennedy was off and so was the doctor I usually worked with, but I couldn’t complain too much, at least not about the staffing. I had yet to meet anyone who wasn’t confident and friendly, which had never happened to me in my few years as a nurse, even as a student nurse.
As promised, my mother showed up about halfway through my shift claiming she broke her finger. Once she was triaged, the charge nurse assigned Virginia to be her nurse, and I breathed a sigh of relief until Virginia returned and said the patient was asking for me to be her nurse.
Instead of putting up an argument about it, I sucked it up and accepted the assignment. I knew she wouldn’t go away until I made it clear that I would not help her in her quest to acquire prescription narcotics. And that’s exactly what I was going to do.
“What brings you in tonight, Ms. Lawson?” I asked in an overly cheerful tone.
She held up her hand and pointed to an extremely swollen and misshapen finger. “I broke my finger.”
Yeah, I had to agree with her. Yuck. “Okay, let me get the doctor for you,” I said and quickly left the room.
“Dr. Alvarez, the patient in room three appears to have a broken finger. Would you like for me to go ahead and get an x-ray?” I asked.
“Yes, please. And thank you,” she said with a smile as she continued typing and clicking on the computer in front of her.
It didn’t take long for the x-ray to confirm the break, causing my mother to smile with glee. Dr. Alvarez placed her in a splint, went over her discharge instructions, and gave her a prescription for ibuprofen.
“I want something stronger,” she demanded.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Lawson, but your injury doesn’t warrant something stronger,” Dr. Alvarez said and left me standing there while my mother fumed at me.
“You go after her and get me something else!” she screamed.
“It doesn’t work like that. It’s people like you who’ve made it damn near impossible for people who actually do need pain medication to get it. Now, you have your paperwork, and it’s time for you to leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I have something for pain!” she screeched.
“You have a prescription for pain medicine. If you don’t leave on your own, I will call security and have you escorted out,” I told her.
“I’d like to see you try,” she spat.