Danielle Ofri

No developer fluid.

So I raced down the hall to 16 West to their supply closet.

And of course, none there.

All the other interns have pocketed them.

The CCU.

The cardiac care unit was always well-stocked.

But I knew the nurses guarded their supplies like hawks, so I crept in from the back door of the CCU, where they keep the dirty laundry and the used bedpans, and I tiptoe over to the supply shelf.

I start going through the shelves, and there's gauze pads and IVs and blood tubes and culture bottles and glycerin swabs and betadine swabs.

Right behind the chest tubes is a single yellow bottle developer fluid.

And I snatch it just as the nurse yells, hey, those are CCU supplies.

I cram it in my pocket and I run out with my head down because from the back, all interns look alike.

Or so I hoped.

So I get back to 16 North and I'm out of breath and I'm flustered and sweaty.

And the Grandstone is still calmly balancing Mrs. Rodriguez on her left side.

And so I undo the floral house coat, the cardigan sweater, and the patient gown.

I get down to her skin.

And while I'm doing the exam, like a good nightclub intern, I'm running my scut list into my head.

All right, I've got to do those blood cultures on 15 North.

I've got to do the chest x-ray to follow up on 17 West.

And that guy in 19 South keeps pulling out his IV.