DASHED DREAMS (2 page)

Jillian was leaving the cafeteria, carrying her lunch tray, with a sandwich and a bowl of fruit. Lynda came cruising through the door, and they almost collide, “Yee, Dr. James, I thought you were in surgery this afternoon.”

“Yeah, probably to at least seven or after. Hey, I heard that Seattle’s going to be rainy. I talked to Em, and we decided that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to drag our golf clubs and not be able to play. What’cha think?”

Lynda picked up a salad and found a table with a group of ladies. She was chatting to the others, even before she sat down. Jillian headed upstairs to surgery.

In the Doctor’s lounge Jillian grabbed a tea from the fridge. Starting to eat her lunch, she reviewed her upcoming cases for the afternoon. Dixie came in and announced that Mr. Moore had arrived in the surgical holding area, Dr. Dwight wanted to know when she’d be ready to start, and that they were in OR4.

“Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be ready.”

“Done.”

Jillian finished her lunch, reviewed her upcoming cases, changed into a set of scrubs, and a colorful surgical hat. At the scrub area of OR4, she looked in the window, where her patient was draped, ready to be anesthetized at her command. Nodding to Nancy Dwight was an indication that her scrub was beginning. Dr. Dwight motioned back. As always when starting a scrub, Jillian plotted out the case before her, said a prayer and when finished, entered the operating room butt-first, and her hands held high. Her afternoon had begun.

By 5:30 Jillian was finished with her day. She’d finished all her surgeries, dictated her operative reports, followed up with the families of her surgery patients, and saw her patients either in their rooms or in the recovery room. After finishing a case, Jillian always came with news, for the waiting family, regarding their family member, and updated them on the surgery performed. Then again, after seeing the patient in the recovery room, and after dictation, she met again with the family to answer any questions they might have.

In the Doctors’ lounge, Jillian changed back into her street clothes. She paused and thought: I’m so lucky…doing what I’ve always wanted to do. I’m so pleased with my life. I have everything I’ve ever wanted, well almost…. Her thought trailed off; she shook her head and closed her locker door.

Jillian walked back across the street to her office. The Nevada sky was turning a blue-gray color over the Singatse Mountain Range and the sun had set. The temperature had dropped dramatically, and the wind had a deep cut to it. Once in her office, Jillian paused to soak in the welcome quiet. Most of the time the office was really busy -- phones ringing, people talking, and the general office noise.

Jillian called over to PT. The girl who answered said Lynda had finished and was already gone. Jillian thanked her and then called Lynda’s cell. She answered on the first ring. Jillian queried her friend, “Hey, you said you were going to work late.”

“My six cancelled. You almost finished?”

“Yes, just finishing up last-minute paperwork.”

“Hey, Em and I are over at Dini’s. Do you want to join us in the Steakhouse? We haven’t been seated yet. If you want to, we’ll let them know that there’ll be three.”

“Nah, you guys go ahead and enjoy your dinner. I’m kind’a tired. I think I’ll go on home. Got a tub of laundry to do and then have to pack.”

“Well, we have to pack too. Come on.”

“Okay, you talked me into it. See you in a few.”

Emma Elliott’s the youngest six months shy of 32. Her red hair and fair skin match her temper. She stands five-foot-one, and her friends call her “short stuff.” Her hobbies include scrapbooking, gossip, and gardening. She has a flower garden to die for and won the Mason Valley News contest, “Yerington’s Best Neighborhood Flowers Award,” several years in a row.

She and Jillian have lived with only an alley separating their houses since they were small children. They remember having sand-throwing fights in Emma’s sandbox at the age of four. Emma still lives in the same house in which she grew up on tree-lined Franklin Street. Her parents passed away about ten years ago, and she just continues to live in the house. Although, she complains about this and that needing repair, she would never sell. She’s a beautician with a large clientele. Her own shop, Hair 4 U, is on Main Street in Yerington. She loves gossip and has the perfect setting for the Yerington rumor mill. Em, as her friends call her, is always criticizing the overall appearance of strangers. Emma’s never married. Since the death of her parents, she’s become extremely close to Jillian’s parents.

Lynda Brockhurst, on the other hand, has been married three times. She always says that at her age of 37, three times is enough. Her first husband was her high school sweetheart; they married right after graduation. They were good as high school sweethearts but lousy as married struggling college students. They divorced after only six months of marriage. Husbands number two and three were total jerks -- one was extremely jealous and the other a freak. What she saw in them, who knows? Both Emma and Jillian saw what they truly were, but Lynda wouldn’t listen. After her last divorce she swore off men and she put her total concentration on her career, her home, and the girls’ friendship. She lives around the corner from Jillian and Emma.

Lynda’s a natural blond-haired beauty with a complexion that women spend hours in tanning salons to achieve. She stands about 5’ 5” and is a physical therapist at Yerington General. Her hobbies are the same as Emma’s; maybe that’s why the girls are so close.

The three girls have been best friends for many years. Em, Lynda, and Jillian are closer than best friends; they are each other; one feels and the others also do. The old saying doesn’t apply to them: Two’s company, three’s a crowd. For the past four years the three have been taking weekend trips, and if they can break away, three-day trips.

Jillian found the two girls playing the penny slot machines across from the cashier’s cage. She stopped to look at her two best friends, laughing each time the reels spun. As Jillian watched, Em slapped Lynda on the arm, looked up and noticed Jillian, “Hey look! I just hit 750 pennies!”

“Em, that’s only $7.50.” Jillian laughed.

“I know, but it’s fun. Did you hear that Joanna was down last night and hit one of the penny machines for 25,000 pennies?”

“She called me the night before last, asking if I could come over and help her with her TV. I reprogrammed the remote for her. We had a cup of tea and chatted for a while. Oh, looks like our table is ready.”

Lynda volunteered to drive to Reno. They decided that nine o’clock would be a good time to leave. Going early to Reno, they could do some shopping at Meadowwood Mall before going over to the hotel.

Lynda pulled the Volvo out of her garage, and she stopped between Emma and Jillian’s houses. Emma came out of her house, carrying her suitcase and three diet sodas, and almost at the same time Jillian came out her back door. The girls put their suitcases into the trunk. Jillian decided to sit in the front, as Lynda and Emma have a tendency to get involved with gossip and lose track of what they’re doing or they argue about which way to travel. Once they were all loaded, and double-checked on their airline tickets, they were off to Reno.

“You know, Mrs. Hollister was in the shop yesterday and she said that she’d seen Harrett Howard in church without Mr. Howard. And that she had seen Gloria in the market. She said that Mr. Howard’s moved away,” Emma said.

“Jillian, it’s not a tale. I heard it from the source. Anyway, you’d be telling more, if you weren’t bound by some oath you took. I promise to keep all the gossip I see and hear to thy doctor’s self.” The three girls laugh.

“I saw the sale ads in the paper that the nursery’s going to extend their hours during the start of planting season.” Lynda continued, talking to Emma. “I’ve been thinking about giving you some competition in the best garden contest. Think I’m going to start my mother’s flower garden again. She’d like that.”

“Grow all you want, girl, you’ll never beat me!” Emma exclaimed.

Jillian listened to the girls banter back and forth. She smiled, thinking of how blessed she felt.

The Reno airport’s about 93 miles from Yerington. Usually with any early-morning flight the girls felt it wise to overnight in Reno, as they’d have to leave Yerington at around 3 a.m. Staying at the Silver Legacy Hotel Casino, the evening before travel is always fun.

When they reached Meadowwood Mall, a storm was coming up over the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west, the wind blowing and spitting rain. Lynda asked, “Where should I park? What stores do you want to shop at?”

“I want to park close, as it looks like it’s going to be storming when we come out. I want to go to Macy’s and Penney’s. This is Reno’s biggest shopping mall and it’s still lacking some stores,” Em says, in a complaining voice.

“What are you, sugar, and you can’t get wet, hon?” Lynda scoffed in fun. “What other stores do you want? Anything’s better than what we have at home.”

“I’d also like to go into Waldenbooks,” Jillian said.

Lynda steered the car around to the back of Macy’s, found a parking space not too far from the door. The three girls got out and strolled into the mall’s eastern entrance. After about three hours of shopping and carrying several shopping bags the girls later emerged. They loaded their new purchases into the trunk and started off to the hotel. They turned right onto South Virginia Street, heading north. Lynda said, “Hey, it’s lunchtime. Where do we want to eat?”

“Welcome to the Olive Garden. Are you here for lunch? Three?” a young hostess said opening the door for the three girls. This greeter was sappy-sweet with her greeting. The girls chuckled to themselves.

When the girls were seated and their drink orders taken, Emma said, “Do you ever wish we were old married ladies with tons of children hanging on our apron strings?”

“Yeah, I think about it, but we wouldn’t be doing this,” Lynda said.

“I sometimes think I’ll never meet anyone that isn’t threatened by my being a doctor. Sometimes I feel really alone. I have my medicine and that’s what I’ve always wanted all my life. But…” Jillian paused, as if trying to formulate her thoughts.

“The few men I’ve been friends with were so intimidated that all they did was talk about themselves…never interested in me or my thoughts,” Jillian said. “Quite a few women docs are either divorced or single, never married. I wonder if I’m destined to be in that category. My mother’s always asking me the loaded question, ‘Jillian Louise, when am I going to be a grandmother?’ I know there’s someone out there, but how to find the special one?”

Between bites of her buttered breadstick, Emma said, “I hear Seattle’s really breath-taking, especially from the Space Needle at night. Let’s plan on going there. We really don’t have anything else planned.” She continued. “I hope you brought your umbrellas. The forecast’s pretty soggy looking.” The other two girls nod.

When lunch was finished, with all girls declining dessert, the bill was paid and they exited. “Thank you. Hope to see you again,” the same sappy-sweet girl opened the door and escorted them out.

“I wonder how often she says that in a day?” Emma asked. “I’ll bet she doesn’t want to talk to anyone when she goes home at night.”

“Some days we’re so busy, the girls in the front office talk about not wanting to talk to anyone at night after work. I’ve heard them say they’re so tired that when their home phone rings, they answer it, ‘Desert Ortho’.”

The valet asked Lynda her last name and tagged each bag that was placed on the luggage cart. He handed Lynda two slips, one the valet claim check and the bell check. The wind was blowing through the valet area like a monsoon, howling through the portico. The temperature felt like it was below zero, but in actuality was probably just a few degrees below freezing.

Inside the three girls rode the escalator to the main level. To the right was the hotel check-in. After checking in, while unpacking they decided to go down to the restaurant for dinner. They also placed a five a.m. wake-up call for tomorrow morning.