QUEENS, NEW YORK...
Jamie Slattery stepped into the living room of his new apartment in Queens, New York and closed the door behind him before he put down the last box of his belongings on the carpeted floor. He then took a deep breath and scanned the apartment. It was painted a vibrant mixture of red and green. On some spots on the paneled walls the paint started peeling off little by little. "Well it's not exactly Manhattan but it will do for now," he said to himself before he gave a nod. He walked over to the kitchen area that was small but still efficient enough for a bachelor like him. He opened the door of the wall cabinet and it almost fell off and almost hit him on the head. "Guess that needs some fixing before somebody gets hurt," he said to himself again. He took out a mug to make himself some coffee. As soon as the kettle boiled he poured some water into his mug and walked outside to the balcony. The platform vibrated slightly as he walked over to the chair in the corner by the kitchen window. He looked around concerned. "Oh boy. I hope this thing holds," he said before he carefully sat down with a slight sense of paranoia overcoming him. A while later he leaned back on the chair he was sitting on and gave a faint smile. "Well home sweet home."
It was his first own place after he moved out from his parents' home in the Hamptons and a little closer to the hospital in downtown New York where he worked. He sat there for a moment watching the cars in the street drive by and the people walking back and forth down the sidewalks to their destinations. There was a a young couple in love holding hands. Two teenagers eating ice-cream and giggling. A young African American girl with dreadlocks and a baseball cap skateboarding down the sidewalk with headphones over her ears. A group of men just walking and talking.
The following morning he took a shower and got dressed before he took his backpack on the bedroom floor and headed outside on his way to work. He walked up to his BMW standing outside in the parking in front of the block of apartments where he lived and got in before he drove off.
Juliette Lloyd was a journalist in her early twenties. She worked as a blogger for a lifestyle magazine in downtown New York. She was writing an article about relationships and when men only preferred a certain type of woman over the other and paused for a moment pondering. Katy Murphy her colleague, a slightly plump and well-endowed brunette looked at her over the brim of her glasses. "What now?" she asked Juliette with a slight "not again" attitude.
"Aren't blondes supposed to have more fun and attract all the successful men?"
Katy snickered. "Yeah, the blonde bimbo types. The Barbie dolls with fake boobs and oversized silicone pouts. You're too natural."
"What? Are you telling me I'm not pretty enough to marry a lawyer or a doctor or a business tycoon?"
"No. You're pretty. You're just not their type. They are loaded with money and successful careers and they want girls to go with the image."
"Great. I'm going to write that. Guess I'll be stuck with the hot dog salesmen and burger patty flippers for the rest of my life. How did you do it?"
"Do what?" Katy asked confused.
"End up engaged and getting married to a lawyer soon?"
"I don't know. I guess he just wasn't a jerk and saw something in me he liked. I guess I was just lucky to run into a man like him. Are you telling me I'm not pretty enough?"
"No," Juliette replied with a grimace. "Of course not. You're just not the fake silicone Barbie doll type. You're like me. The girl next door. The plain Jane."
"Oh so now I'm plain?"
"No silly. You know what I mean. You're a natural beauty. Some girls need plastic surgery for that."
"I get it."
Juliette's cell phone suddenly rang and she answered after a few rings. "Hello..." Her face dropped after a while and she looked at Katy worried. "Okay. I'll be there." She dropped the call and Katy could see Juliette was upset."
"What's wrong?"
"My mom called. My dad's in hospital. He had a heart attack."
"Oh no Julie I'm so sorry."
"Can you cover for me? I need to go and see him?"
"Sure.
Jamie was standing in the E.R. lobby with a group of other interns being briefed by their chief of staff Dr. Henry Grimes about their residency board interviews they had a few weeks ago. "Now some of you will be glad to hear that the board selected you to continue in the programs of your choice to do your residency. This will also determine your second year internships. Some of you will be disappointed to hear that the board decided to move you into programs they deemed more suitable, based on your board interviews. He looked up at Kyle who was standing right next to Jamie. "Dr. Whittaker, congratulations. You have been selected for trauma surgery."
Kyle balled his fists with excitement. "Yes!"
"Dr. Slattery..." Kyle and Jamie looked at each other with anticipation.
"Oh no," Jamie said with a slightly disappointed tone in his voice.
"Relax Slats. You're probably staying in surgery too," Kyle reassured him.
"The board has decided you were better suited for ob-gyn."
Jamie's face immediately dropped with disappointment. "You've got to be kidding me," he said unimpressed.
Kyle gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Way to go Slats. Some of us would kill to be in your position right now."
"Not funny. Geez. Ob-gyn? What the hell?"
"Why so gloomy about it Slats? Take it like this...you get to do things with your patients that would normally land the rest of us suspended or in jail for sexual misconduct."
Kyle's sense of humor at the wrong place and time did not sit well with Jamie. He let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head. "Would you knock it off Kyle?" he replied annoyed.
"Seriously Slats, are you gay or something?"
"No, why? What the hell makes you think that? I need to talk with Dr. Grimes ASAP."
The interns all left the briefing to got to their various departments while Jamie just stood there trying to take it all in. One of the female interns, Dr. Stacey Ford walked up to him and patted him on his arm. "Well I'm impressed Jamie. With your looks you'll be a hit with the ladies," she said with a smile.
"Yeah rub it in Stacey." Jamie walked up to Dr. Grimes who walked towards the nurses' station. "Dr. Grimes. Can I have a word please?"
"What is it Dr. Slattery?"
"Sir, ob-gyn? There must be some mistake. I didn't sign up for the program."
"It was the boards decision. Not mine. You should take it up with them."
"Sir, with all due respect. I did not become a doctor to..."
"To what Dr. Slattery?"
"Never mind," Jamie replied upset and left. I signed up for trauma surgery or orthopedics. How the hell did I end up in ob-gyn. Can they even do that?"
"Unfortunately they can."
"Geez."
Jamie walked up to the reception desk in ob-gyn where a gorgeous red-head sat behind the counter. He leaned on the counter with his hands to see what she was doing and she looked up at him starry eyed. "Hey handsome." How they never ran into each other with almost a year into his second year internship was a mystery. "Hey, I'm Dr. Jamie Slattery. Who's my attending?"
"Oh you're the newbie from surgery."
"Yeah. That's me."
"It's Dr. Stanley Sawyer. Big man. Old, bald and grumpy. A little bit of an ogre. So don't piss him off."
"Thanks. I'm already a nervous wreck as it is. It wasn't exactly my first choice to be here either."
"Well good luck. You're gonna need it."
"It's that bad?" Jamie asked worried.
"Yup. And he's rarely in a good mood."
Jamie turned to look at the row of women seated behind him nervously and then turned to look at the red head on the other side of the counter again. "What's your name?"
"Vanessa."
"Okay. Vanessa. Are these all my patients?"
"Yup."
"Would it help if I pretend to be sick and chicken out just for today?"
"Highly unlikely," Vanessa replied with a shrug.
"Oh God, how am I ever going to get through this?"
Just then the door of Dr. Stanley Sawyer's consulting room opened and one of the patients left. Soon afterwards he came out dressed in a shirt, a tie, a pair of black pants and a lab coat. He looked more terrifying than Jamie imagined. "Next patient. Are you Dr. Jamie Slattery?" He wasn't too friendly at all.
Jamie gulped. "Yes that's me."
"I'll see you after this patient."
Jamie took a deep breath and looked at Vanessa alarmed. "Is that him?"
"That's him. The ogre."
"Oh God help me."
