The Stone Beyond

her face for just a touch of flare.
Stop, Jennifer told herself, you don’t need any flare at work. Still, with thoughts of Parker lurking in her brain, she let the ringlets dangle and headed out the door.

CHAPTER TWO
Doctor Parker Stone had arrived earlier than usual, wanting to spend a bit more time on his rounds today. Margaret Robinson was making good progress and could be discharged within the week, but Barney Ackerman’s kidney infection wasn’t getting much better, and a stronger batch of antibiotics were necessary, but that wasn’t going to do his seventy-year-old bowels any good.
Poor bastard is shitting bricks as it is, Parker couldn’t help but think.
He came across Davy Jones sweeping up the hallway, the two fist-bumping and glancing around the hall. Parker couldn’t know for sure, but he personally didn’t want to be busted by the grouchy head nurse Maisie Le Croix for chatting.
With the hall seeming clear, Parker asked Davy, “How’s it hangin’, Davy?”
“Low and slow, Doc.” They shared a little chuckle, but it didn’t last. “You sure about this new deal, turning out the ACA patients?”
Parker had to shrug. “It’s not my deal, Davy, and we’re not turning anybody out, exactly.”
“Not turning them out,” Davy said, “but turning them away.”
Parker couldn’t disagree or contradict, but he did want to clarify. He knew what these questions meant, he knew what they were a herald of. Like a malignant tumor, cutting it off as quickly as possible was the best remedy, if it was still possible.
And Davy was still waiting for an answer. “For right now,” Parker said, “they’re restricting new patients with ACA coverage, and I suppose it’ll only be the policy until we can change it.”
“And how’re you gonna do that, Doc?”
Parker had thought it through; all night long, in fact. But he’d come up with little in the way of a practical solution. What he was concerned about, what concerned so many on the staff, was that Davy and others on his level and beneath it on the hospital hierarchy would find a possible resolution of their own.
“By sticking together,” Parker said, “that’s how! We have to make sure we don’t faction off, get tied up in our own personal goals.” Davy’s brows rose up a bit on his forehead. “We work at a hospital, hospitals serve those in need. That’s our goal.” After another long, quite moment, Parker felt he had to repeat, “That’s our goal.”
“Oh, right, of course,” Davy said. “It’s just that … y’know ….”
It was a lingering moment of discontent and Parker didn't like the smell of it. “No, Davy, what?”
“Well, I mean, if Flowerhill can’t afford to serve the patients, who are the next to get a … a cut in the budget, right?”
Parker knew just what Davy was getting at. “Let’s not make any presuppositions, Davy. Be cool, man.” Davy flashed the two-fingered peace sign, index and middle fingers in the shape of a V. Parker wondered whether or not he should say, “You know, that stands for victory, not peace.” Davy just looked into Parker’s eyes, sending a chill up his spine.
“Wha gwaan?” Parker didn't need to look over to know it was Nurse Maisie Le Croix walking up to them, her big belly preceding her.
“Nothing’s going on,” Parker said. “We’re just catching up.”
Maisie waved Davy off. “Likkle more, nah, off whicha!” Davy nodded and skulked away, but he left Parker with a little glance that felt more like a warning.
“Big up, me Doc man. But d’at Davy, he a bandmind, I say!”
Parker didn’t have to give it too much thought before shaking his head. “We’re all just trying to put food on the table, Maisie. It’s not easy for any of us.”
“D’en let d’em know d’at when d’ey complain!” Parker didn't need to confirm the fact; they would complain, and it would come sooner rather than later. “An’ I say d’is too, d’at new girl, she bring bad juju to Flowerhill!”
To this, Parker felt he had to say, “Maisie, really, bad juju? You’re above that kind of superstitious stuff, aren’t you? Bad luck, curses and all that?”
“I know what I know, me doc! D’is girl, she bring d’a darkness, even on her own pappy’s head.”
“Maisie — ”
But she just wagged a dark chocolate finger up into Parker’s face. “You see, Doct-ah Pah-kah, you see!” She waddled away, leaving Parker with much to think about. He couldn’t share her Old World views about the coincidence between Jennifer’s arrival and this turn in the hospital’s fortune. But the fact that the head nurse was willing to do so meant that others might too. That’s what worried Parker, and even more what would happen as a result of that turn of popular opinion against Jennifer Carlisle; it would include her father, himself, the entire hospital.


CHAPTER THREE
Chief Administrator Shin Xu glared at Jennifer from behind her desk. A long, tense silence passed with Jennifer sitting on the business side of that desk. But the tension in the room was so thick that Jennifer could hardly breathe.
“So, tell me … Miss Carlisle —”
“You can call me Jennifer.”
“I’d prefer not,” Shin Xu spat back. “So tell me, Miss Carlisle, what’s your … position on the new ACA policy?”
Jennifer knew she was being tested, that there were basically no right answers. This meeting wasn’t about asking questions, it was about making a point. So she decided to play along; having little choice but to play along or get fired, which was no doubt what Shin Xu wanted in the first place.
So Jennifer answered, “My disposition isn’t really germane, is it?”
Shin Xu cracked a little smile. “No, it is not. But I imagine that's just what you said to your staff in Colorado, and look how that turned out.”
Jennifer had to