The knife bit deep into his hand, causing him to swear out loud.
"Oh fuck it." He yelled in the silence of the office kitchenette. He grabbed the tea towel and wrapped his hand in it, stifling the flow of bright red blood that began oozing immediately from the wound. He peeked at the cut, noticing that it ran across the palm of his left hand, and looked quite deep. "Damn, that hurts." Marshall complained bitterly. He walked out into the office and crossed to the supervisor's desk.
"I've sliced my hand open while making a sandwich. It's a bad one, pretty deep and I think it needs stitches. Call me a taxi so I can get to the medical centre, will you?" The supervisor looked at Marshall, then noticed the blood soaked towel. She paled slightly and reached for the phone. Marshall crossed the office and headed down the corridor to the elevator. He cursed as he stretched his hand to press the button. He waited patiently as the cart rode up the shaft to his floor, ringing its tinny bell in announcement. He stepped into the cart and pressed the ground floor button, the lift doors slid closed and he leaned against the wall and sighed.
The lift slid its way to the ground floor and the doors slid open. He stepped out into the lobby and crossed to the East street entrance. A cab sat waiting at the curb, and he opened the rear door and climbed in.
"Fern Ridge Medical Centre," he commanded the driver, "and step on it."
"Yes sir." came the cab drivers gruff reply and the taxi lurched out into the morning flow of travel. Marshall leaned back against the leather seat and grimaced to himself. He noticed the bloodstain on his shirt and cursed under his breath. The taxi bumped and lurched the 3 miles to the medical centre and pulled into the parking area. The cabby leaned back over the seat and spoke.
"Here we are, Sir, that'll be five dollars."
Marshall fished a ten-dollar bill out from his shirt pocket and handed it over. "Keep the change, you may have some blood to clean up back here."
"Great." replied the driver sarcastically as Marshall climbed from the cab and headed for the automatic doors. They parted with a hiss as he approached and he walked to the reception desk.
"I need to see a doctor, pronto!" he told the pretty blond receptionist. "I've sliced my hand open on a carving knife and it'll need a few stitches."
"One moment please," she replied and keyed a button on the console in front of her.
"Doctor Armitidge to reception, please." She looked up at Marshall and forced a smile. "Can I have your name and patient number please, and also your Medicare card if you have one?" Marshall handed her his cards and gave his name. At that moment, a young woman in a doctor's coat stepped up beside him.
"Can I help? I'm Doctor Stanway." She smiled at Marshall and motioned for him to follow her. She turned to the receptionist and spoke briefly.
"Let Doctor Armitidge know I've got this one, Sherry." She led Marshall through the doors and into a cubicle. She motioned for him to sit on the bed and she pulled on latex gloves. "So," she smiled at Marshall, 'lets have a look at that hand of yours." She slowly removed the soaked tea towel and dropped it into the sink. "What happened? How did you do this?"
Marshall coloured with embarrassment and stammered.
"I was slicing some ham for a sandwich, and I slipped with the carving knife. I'm a klutz in the kitchen." He laughingly added. Doctor Stanway smiled up him as she peered at the cut across his palm.
"Well," she replied, "we'll soon have you back slicing ham again, it's deep and it'll need about four or five stitches. I'll give it a clean and I'll sow you back up." The telephone on the wall rang and she grabbed it and tucked the receiver under her chin. "I can't at the moment, I'm doing a suture job. This will take about 15 minutes. Can it wait that long?" She nodded briefly then returned the telephone to its cradle. "We're slightly under-staffed today, they want me everywhere at once." she laughed.
Marshall grinned back at her.
"I know that feeling well." Doctor Carol Stanway stood up and drew the instrument trolley over to her side and began t prepare it to clean the wound on Marshall's hand. As she did so, she made small talk. She asked Marshall about his job and he was just about to answer when the telephone rang again.
"Excuse me, please." She called over her shoulder as she took the call. "Look, I told you I was with a patient. I can't help unless you find me a nurse to do the preparation and cleaning. Good, get her in here then, I'm in cubicle 2." She hung up the phone and stripped off her gloves. "I'm very sorry, Marshall, I have to help Doctor Armitidge with a procedure. I'll send in a nurse to clean that wound and I'll be back as soon as possible to suture it. Please accept my apologies."
"No problem," replied Marshall as she headed out of the room. He leaned back against the pillow and waited. A few minutes later the curtain slid aside and a vision of loveliness in a nurses uniform stepped into the cubicle and drew the curtain back.
"Hi there," she breezily spoke. "I'm Nurse Kelley. Lets see what we have got here." Marshall was dumbstruck as she crossed the room towards him, he felt his blood pressure rise a few points and his temperature soar. She was tall, very tall. Almost six foot tall. Her crisp white uniform hugged her curvaceous body and Marshall could make out the outline and pattern of her lacy underwear through the material. She leaned closer to him to inspect the wound on his hand, and he took in her perfume. Vanilla flooded his senses and he smiled at her.