LITMIR.BIZ

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like monkeys all the way here,” Buck complained. “They went on and on about how I was a hero, and they would pay better attention next time I tried to teach them something.”

      “They’re just kids,” Lauren said. “Give them a chance.”

      “I did the other day, and, boy, was I sorry.” Buck reached up and tugged at the collar. “Isn’t this a little tight?”

      Lauren leaned over and checked it. “It’s perfect. What did you do the other day?”

      “I got my model airplane stuff out of my locker and let the boys help me with it—or try to. Kyle spilled the glue, and Alex broke a wingtip, so it took us longer than I thought it would. My shift ended, but I couldn’t leave them there with everything spread out all over the table, so I stayed and worked with them a couple more hours.”

      “Did you call Kendra?” Lauren asked, placing the blood pressure cuff around his thick upper arm.

      “No, and I sure heard about it when I got home. She just about took my head off.”

      “Would you have left if you’d gotten called out for a fire?” Lauren asked, pumping the blood pressure cuff.

      “Well, sure, but…Hey, careful with that thing. Don’t squeeze my arm off. I apologized and told her I’d never do that again.”

      Lauren let the pressure drop and watched the numbers, then wrote them down. “That’s what you said after you let yourself be talked into feeding Leonardo for Cowboy.”

      Buck reached up as if to scratch at the small wound on his chest but stopped himself before he could touch it. “Hey, this was different…and worse. At least Leonardo couldn’t follow me out of his cage. I haven’t been able to get those kids off my tail ever since. Kyle, especially. I trip over him everywhere I go.”

      “He seems nice enough to me,” Lauren said.

      “So is a puppy, but I don’t want one making runs with me. I think it’s dangerous to take kids like that into a fire situation.”

      “But how else will they learn?” Lauren asked. “You know, Buck, all of us had to get a break somewhere. You’ve got to be more patient. Maybe that’s why the chief put you in charge of these boys, so you could learn some mentoring skills.”

      Buck scowled at her. “I don’t even know what that word means.”

      “It means you have some finely honed instincts you could use to train others, and you can’t let all that go to waste just because you don’t want to spend time with those—”

      “Uh, Lauren,” Lukas interrupted. “Quiet for a moment, please.” He saw the sudden relief in Buck’s expression and stifled a grin. Lauren was a great nurse, very caring, but when she slipped into chatterbox mode she could shut down traffic.

      Lukas placed his stethoscope on Buck’s back and chest, listened to breath sounds and was satisfied. “Where’s the pain Kyle’s so concerned about?”

      Buck gestured to the upper left area of his chest. “Just a little cut. I can’t understand why it hurt so much, but, boy, Kyle grabbed me there when they helped me get up, and I nearly tore his head off.”

      Lukas found a very small wound just above Buck’s left nipple. With a peroxide-soaked 4x4, he wiped off some of the blood.

      Buck jerked. “Ow! Watch it, Dr. Bower. I did get knocked around a little, you know.”

      “Is that where your pain is located? Don’t tell me you weren’t wearing your jacket again.”

      “Yes, I was. I grabbed it before I went back inside.”

      Lukas frowned and checked the wound a little more closely. It wasn’t even a centimeter in length, but there was no telling how deep it might be. “Tell me about the explosion.”

      “I was grabbing for Roxie when it hit. The manager keeps a barbecue grill back there in the storeroom to cook hot dogs and hamburgers to sell up front, and it runs on propane. It’s big enough to take out a wall if it explodes, and that’s what happened. Roxie told me she was cooking some stuff on it and had to go up front to answer the phone. When she hung up and turned around, she said she saw a lot of smoke coming in from the back. She says one of the new delivery guys placed some boxes too close to the fire, and Roxie couldn’t move them.”

      “Did you feel anything hit you? How much smoke did you inhale?”

      “I don’t really think I got much smoke, but I couldn’t tell you if anything hit me. I hit a lot of things, like Roxie, the wall, and then some shelves fell on top of us. I tried to brace myself on my elbows to keep from squashing Roxie. Do you think I could’ve pulled a muscle or something?”

      “A pulled muscle doesn’t break the skin.” Lukas helped him lie down while he gave instructions to Lauren for routine trauma X-ray series with two-view chest. “What’s the O2 sat?”

      “Good. Ninety-six,” Lauren said.

      Judy stepped to the doorway. “Dr. Bower, we have a drunk three-year-old in room seven. It’s the Chapmans, who called you earlier.”

      Lukas glanced at his watch. “They made great time. Get Claudia to meet me there and I’ll be right out.” He ordered serum alcohol and poison levels for the child. “I hate to do it, but get Respiratory to draw a blood gas on him.” Invasive procedures were a part of his job he had never enjoyed, especially when it involved causing pain for little children who were too young to even understand what was happening to them. Big needles that stuck deep and hurt were always traumatic, and this one needed an artery.

      “Go on and see about the kid, Doc,” Buck said. “I’ll be fine as long as you can keep my young buddies from pestering me to death.”

      Lukas grinned. “It comes with being a hero.”

      “I don’t want to be a hero. I just want to do a good job. This mentoring is new for me.”

      “It always helps to learn from the best.”

      “I’m not the best. The chief just didn’t want to do it himself this time.” Buck lowered his voice and glanced toward the doorway. “I don’t want to be a jerk, but they’re not going to get a good review from me.”

      “Come on, Buck, you were young once. In fact, you’re still young.”

      Mercy walked into the room, greeted Buck as if she were used to seeing his burnt-to-a-crisp appearance every day and held the clipboards for two more patients for Lukas to see. “Want me to do these for you while I’m here? I called Josie, and she’s done a triage and sent some of my patients home.”

      Lukas shot her a grateful smile. “Thank you, Mercy.”

      “It’ll cost you a dinner.”

      “Great. I’ll cook.”

      “Hey! I’m doing you a favor here. Don’t threaten me.”

      Lukas left Lauren to run his orders on Buck and walked out into the hallway with Mercy. He reached up instinctively to touch her shoulder, then hesitated and let his hand fall back to his side. He was already getting teased by the staff about his relationship with her.

      “How’s Arthur doing?” he asked.

      “I’m releasing him to his friends.” Mercy stopped outside the door, shook her head, frowned. “I didn’t want to do it, but he didn’t want to be so far from his wife. His CT’s fine.” She lowered her voice. “He’s something else. I don’t think I’ve met anybody quite like him.” She looked into Lukas’s eyes, then away. “Except maybe for you.” She turned and walked into another exam room.

      Lukas was glad she didn’t see him blush.

      The drunken child, three-year-old Jared Chapman, had a good serum alcohol level, which would counteract the effects of the antifreeze. The ethylene glycol and methanol levels were low enough that

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