“I agree,” Phoebe said softly.
“As do I,” Conleigh approved. “We’ve been trying to share the problems this ER is facing for months. It’s unsafe.”
Kelley’s eyes narrowed on me. “Leave or lose your job.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why would I want to work anywhere that’s unsafe?”
Kelley’s eyes snapped fire.
“Mrs. Mackenzie…”
I turned to the other rude old man that knew about our problems and corrected him. “Miss.”
He sighed and leaned back in his chair, his sizeable bulk making the chair creak as he did.
“Fine, Ms. Mackenzie, we do understand that y’all are upset. Understandably so, but please give us time to dissect the problem…”
“You’ve had plenty of time to dissect the problem,” my mother supplied. “And it’s more than obvious, even with what happened to Mr. M as well as what almost happened to the night charge nurse, that you don’t care about our safety. And, like I said when I came in here, making these farces you call meetings private do y’all no good. Y’all don’t realize that there is something rather awful going on out there, and y’all aren’t the ones putting your lives at risk. In the last month alone, we’ve had two drug dealers try to shoot the place up over a turf war. We’ve had a nurse nearly maimed because y’all refuse to give us sitters. And now, someone has lost their life. Yet y’all still don’t care.”
“We care,” a woman, older and in her late fifties, early sixties, said. “Mr. M was a valuable asset to us. We will make the ER safer.”
“Start by hiring a professional that can look into the workings of the ER,” I suggested.
“As I’ve already told your mother, we’re not hiring your father’s company to do any work for us. That’s bias,” Kelley all but snarled.
I wanted to stab him in the face with the pen he kept pointing at me each time he spoke.
“Then don’t hire anyone local,” I suggested. “Hire someone that’s from out of the city. Out of the state. Hell, I don’t care if he’s from out of the country. But you need to do it, or I’m not working in your ER any longer.”
Kelley narrowed his eyes, then turned to my mother.
“Are you going to allow this insubordination?” he asked, eerily calm.
“Yes,” she said. “Because until further action is taken, I’m on strike as well.”
Kelley’s mouth thinned. “We have the choice to fire you as well. You’re all easily replaceable. We’ll just get other nurses to work double shifts.”
“Um, no.” Conleigh butted in now. “I will not work double shifts. I’m busy as it is and health wise, I choose not to work extra. I’m also in agreement. I will not work in an unsafe environment. I don’t have to for one reason and secondly, I’m fairly sure that my husband won’t allow me to after hearing what happened today.”
Yeah, I had no doubt in my mind that Linc would be pissed off.
Hoax would be, too.
“Then you know where the door is,” Kelley suggested.
“Kelley…” the older man said hesitantly.
“No.” Kelley held up his hand for silence. “You may all go.”
My mother grabbed my arm, and then my sister’s, and guided us out the door, Conleigh hot on her heels.
“I’m staying,” Phoebe said. “This is my last clinical. I’m done after today. But I want to know what’s going on, too. So as soon as I get home, I’ll give you the dirty details.”
My mother’s eyes were hot. “Do that. But honey, be careful. Keep your eyes peeled, and if anything seems suspicious, leave.”
“That’s okay,” another nurse and also Phoebe’s teacher said. “We’re done. Today will count toward your graduation. Until things have been figured out here safety-wise, my students will no longer be attending.”
That was when I saw the halls lined with doctors and nurses. Hundreds of them.
Nurses, doctors, patient care technicians, a couple of paramedics, orderlies. Jesus. All colors of the rainbow hospital scrub-wise were standing in the hallway, and none of them looked happy.
And, based on the number of people that were here, we also had night shift as well as day shift’s people. We’d also likely gotten some of the floor nurses as well. The ones that were forced to rotate down here when we were shorthanded.
Another thing, if everyone was in the hallway with us, then nobody was out on the floor.
My eyes widened even more.
“We’re on divert.” Cheyenne clapped her hands. “Kelley, you might want to figure this out before you have to hire ninety-seven new people. Also, each day you’re on divert is a day that this hospital doesn’t get paid. FYI.”
“I’ll get the floor staff to replace you, don’t worry,” Kelley hissed, not liking what he’d heard.
He followed us out into the hallway and saw everyone standing there for himself. His eyes narrowed even further.
“Actually,” another nurse, this one at the end of the hallway, spoke up. “We will not be allowing our nurses to come down. If you force us, we’ll go on strike as well.”
Kelley looked irate.
The other five people on the board with him looked tentative as if they were just now realizing the repercussions of not keeping their staff safe.
The hospital would bleed thousands and thousands of dollars a day—because fuck yes, we had a nurses union and we would be getting paid regardless, thank God—until they could figure out which way was up.
In the meantime, I’d be looking for another job, just in case.
“That’s super,” my sister said excitedly. “I have an interview at the prison to fill a nursing position.”
“You what?” my mother asked, slightly too loud for the crowded hallway.
Meaning everyone looked our way.
“Shhh,” I hissed. “We’re not doing this here.”
I grabbed hold of my sister’s hand and started to pull her outside, leading us first to the break room to grab all of our crap, and then to the ambulance entrance so my mom didn’t explode for everyone to see.
My mother wasn’t usually the type of person to get upset over where a person worked, but my sister was five foot two, got picked on for her strawberry blonde hair that had developed when she was a little over a year old all through school, and mom started to become overprotective of her littlest girl.
Then again, so did Dad.
The day that we heard that she’d been beat up because some kid had called her a hobbit and had fought the group of girls, my mom had started to become that overprotective person.
That’s when my dad had taught us all how to fight. Well, we were always in training for those worst case scenarios of abduction and then we were taught self-defense against our peers.
“This is bullshit,” I said under my breath.
Mom followed behind us, fuming, and glaring holes in anyone that looked at her—i.e., two men from the board who were lingering outside, looking worried.
I felt my lips twitch as I rounded the corner and came to a sudden halt when I saw all the news vans and reporters interviewing people.
There were too many for them to just be local, too.
Someone must’ve heard about the murder and the strike.
My eyes lit on the motorcycles in the back of the lot, and that’s when I saw my dad…as well as Hoax.
Hoax had on a hat that shielded most of his face, but I didn’t need to see his face to know that body.
I’d had my hands all over it this morning as I’d made love to him before going to work.
Unfortunately, before I could head in their direction, we were spotted by the media.
Luckily, my sister, who was a nervous puker, chose that second to let go.
She spewed vomit everywhere and the reporters halted only two steps into their progression.
I pulled Phoebe with an excited tug and led her across the parking lot and into the shadows provided by the large trees that covered the back of the lot, which was rather convenient depending on how you looked at it, directly across from a cemetery.
“As do I,” Conleigh approved. “We’ve been trying to share the problems this ER is facing for months. It’s unsafe.”
Kelley’s eyes narrowed on me. “Leave or lose your job.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why would I want to work anywhere that’s unsafe?”
Kelley’s eyes snapped fire.
“Mrs. Mackenzie…”
I turned to the other rude old man that knew about our problems and corrected him. “Miss.”
He sighed and leaned back in his chair, his sizeable bulk making the chair creak as he did.
“Fine, Ms. Mackenzie, we do understand that y’all are upset. Understandably so, but please give us time to dissect the problem…”
“You’ve had plenty of time to dissect the problem,” my mother supplied. “And it’s more than obvious, even with what happened to Mr. M as well as what almost happened to the night charge nurse, that you don’t care about our safety. And, like I said when I came in here, making these farces you call meetings private do y’all no good. Y’all don’t realize that there is something rather awful going on out there, and y’all aren’t the ones putting your lives at risk. In the last month alone, we’ve had two drug dealers try to shoot the place up over a turf war. We’ve had a nurse nearly maimed because y’all refuse to give us sitters. And now, someone has lost their life. Yet y’all still don’t care.”
“We care,” a woman, older and in her late fifties, early sixties, said. “Mr. M was a valuable asset to us. We will make the ER safer.”
“Start by hiring a professional that can look into the workings of the ER,” I suggested.
“As I’ve already told your mother, we’re not hiring your father’s company to do any work for us. That’s bias,” Kelley all but snarled.
I wanted to stab him in the face with the pen he kept pointing at me each time he spoke.
“Then don’t hire anyone local,” I suggested. “Hire someone that’s from out of the city. Out of the state. Hell, I don’t care if he’s from out of the country. But you need to do it, or I’m not working in your ER any longer.”
Kelley narrowed his eyes, then turned to my mother.
“Are you going to allow this insubordination?” he asked, eerily calm.
“Yes,” she said. “Because until further action is taken, I’m on strike as well.”
Kelley’s mouth thinned. “We have the choice to fire you as well. You’re all easily replaceable. We’ll just get other nurses to work double shifts.”
“Um, no.” Conleigh butted in now. “I will not work double shifts. I’m busy as it is and health wise, I choose not to work extra. I’m also in agreement. I will not work in an unsafe environment. I don’t have to for one reason and secondly, I’m fairly sure that my husband won’t allow me to after hearing what happened today.”
Yeah, I had no doubt in my mind that Linc would be pissed off.
Hoax would be, too.
“Then you know where the door is,” Kelley suggested.
“Kelley…” the older man said hesitantly.
“No.” Kelley held up his hand for silence. “You may all go.”
My mother grabbed my arm, and then my sister’s, and guided us out the door, Conleigh hot on her heels.
“I’m staying,” Phoebe said. “This is my last clinical. I’m done after today. But I want to know what’s going on, too. So as soon as I get home, I’ll give you the dirty details.”
My mother’s eyes were hot. “Do that. But honey, be careful. Keep your eyes peeled, and if anything seems suspicious, leave.”
“That’s okay,” another nurse and also Phoebe’s teacher said. “We’re done. Today will count toward your graduation. Until things have been figured out here safety-wise, my students will no longer be attending.”
That was when I saw the halls lined with doctors and nurses. Hundreds of them.
Nurses, doctors, patient care technicians, a couple of paramedics, orderlies. Jesus. All colors of the rainbow hospital scrub-wise were standing in the hallway, and none of them looked happy.
And, based on the number of people that were here, we also had night shift as well as day shift’s people. We’d also likely gotten some of the floor nurses as well. The ones that were forced to rotate down here when we were shorthanded.
Another thing, if everyone was in the hallway with us, then nobody was out on the floor.
My eyes widened even more.
“We’re on divert.” Cheyenne clapped her hands. “Kelley, you might want to figure this out before you have to hire ninety-seven new people. Also, each day you’re on divert is a day that this hospital doesn’t get paid. FYI.”
“I’ll get the floor staff to replace you, don’t worry,” Kelley hissed, not liking what he’d heard.
He followed us out into the hallway and saw everyone standing there for himself. His eyes narrowed even further.
“Actually,” another nurse, this one at the end of the hallway, spoke up. “We will not be allowing our nurses to come down. If you force us, we’ll go on strike as well.”
Kelley looked irate.
The other five people on the board with him looked tentative as if they were just now realizing the repercussions of not keeping their staff safe.
The hospital would bleed thousands and thousands of dollars a day—because fuck yes, we had a nurses union and we would be getting paid regardless, thank God—until they could figure out which way was up.
In the meantime, I’d be looking for another job, just in case.
“That’s super,” my sister said excitedly. “I have an interview at the prison to fill a nursing position.”
“You what?” my mother asked, slightly too loud for the crowded hallway.
Meaning everyone looked our way.
“Shhh,” I hissed. “We’re not doing this here.”
I grabbed hold of my sister’s hand and started to pull her outside, leading us first to the break room to grab all of our crap, and then to the ambulance entrance so my mom didn’t explode for everyone to see.
My mother wasn’t usually the type of person to get upset over where a person worked, but my sister was five foot two, got picked on for her strawberry blonde hair that had developed when she was a little over a year old all through school, and mom started to become overprotective of her littlest girl.
Then again, so did Dad.
The day that we heard that she’d been beat up because some kid had called her a hobbit and had fought the group of girls, my mom had started to become that overprotective person.
That’s when my dad had taught us all how to fight. Well, we were always in training for those worst case scenarios of abduction and then we were taught self-defense against our peers.
“This is bullshit,” I said under my breath.
Mom followed behind us, fuming, and glaring holes in anyone that looked at her—i.e., two men from the board who were lingering outside, looking worried.
I felt my lips twitch as I rounded the corner and came to a sudden halt when I saw all the news vans and reporters interviewing people.
There were too many for them to just be local, too.
Someone must’ve heard about the murder and the strike.
My eyes lit on the motorcycles in the back of the lot, and that’s when I saw my dad…as well as Hoax.
Hoax had on a hat that shielded most of his face, but I didn’t need to see his face to know that body.
I’d had my hands all over it this morning as I’d made love to him before going to work.
Unfortunately, before I could head in their direction, we were spotted by the media.
Luckily, my sister, who was a nervous puker, chose that second to let go.
She spewed vomit everywhere and the reporters halted only two steps into their progression.
I pulled Phoebe with an excited tug and led her across the parking lot and into the shadows provided by the large trees that covered the back of the lot, which was rather convenient depending on how you looked at it, directly across from a cemetery.
