The Stone Beyond

suddenly felt.
But she had more to worry about than that. When Jennifer asked herself the cold, hard truth, just as she had done in Colorado, she already knew she would have to stand against turning out suffering patients because of their insurance plan. It was wrong in every way; the fact that the patients paid for help they’d be refused, that doctors would be prevented from fulfilling their oath, and that it would turn the hospital into a factory of elitism and near-genocide. The more Jennifer thought about it, the more she knew she had to find a way to prevent what seemed like the inevitable.
But time was fast running out, and things were about to change and fast.
“What the hell is this,” a man’s voice demanded from down the hall, “who the fuck is responsible for this?”
Jennifer stepped up to the man, in street clothes, not a patient, and flapping a piece of paper in one hand. “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, you can make good on my goddamned insurance!”
“Okay,” Jennifer said, hands out and flat to calm the man, “I understand you’re upset, but —”
“You understand?” The man was driven by rage; eyes wide, three-day stubble on his face. “How could you possibly understand? Is your wife dying of cancer in this shit-box?”
“Sir, please!”
“Are you being turned down for care because you paid for the insurance the State of Cali-fucking-fornia offered! Obamacare my ass!”
“Sir,” Jennifer said, “you’re upsetting the other patients! We can talk about this!”
“I’m done talking, and the other patients better damn well be upset! They’ll be next, each and every one of ‘em!”
But another voice was quick to enter the conversation. Doctor Parker Stone himself approached from down the hall. “What’s going on here?”
Here was the Parker Jennifer thought she’d come to know; brave, willing to throw himself into any fight. He was nothing like the coward she envisioned in her dream. Why did I imagine him that way? But there was no more time to think about it.
“You,” the man said, “Doctor Feelgood, whadda you want?”
Parker said, “I want to calm you down and get to the bottom of this, Mr. … Stewart, isn’t it?”
“That’s right, Jack Stewart! Then tell these sons of bitches to take care of my wife, not turn us out onto the street!”
Parker nodded. “I can get you in at Good Samaritan, not far from here.”
“They’re overcrowded,” Jack said, “and that’s as it is! That’s why we wound up here in the first place!”
“Okay, I understand your concerns, Mr. Stewart,” Parker said, Jennifer looking on with increasing nervousness. “I’ll go to the administration, get your wife settled in. The new policy, it’ll take a little time to implement. No current patients are to be turned out.”
“We just came back from a week at home, she’s still got two more rounds to go!”
Parker nodded. “There’s been a mistake and we’ll straighten it out.” He glanced at Jennifer, who knew right away she had to take a position; it was her job, and it was her duty.
“I’m an administrator myself,” Jennifer said, “and I’ll stand with Dr. Stone, we’ll do everything we can.”
“And what’s that worth?”
“It’s a lot better than getting thrown out of here by security,” Parker said as Davy and several orderlies approached behind Parker, tough snarls on their faces. Jack Stewart looked around, seeming to know he was outnumbered and had little choice. He said to Parker, “You’ll take care of my wife?”
Parker nodded. “I’m a doctor, Mr. Stewart … Jack, and … I want to be a friend, an advocate, a champion. Let me do what I can, let me do what I took an oath to do.” Parker broke a tender little smile. “Let me help your wife.”
Jennifer stood there, transfixed, and Jack Stewart seemed to feel the same way. Jack nodded, muttering, “All right, all right …” Davy and the other orderlies were looking from Parker and Jennifer to the angry Jack and then back again. But the tension in the hallway gradually thinned, and the orderlies backed down. Parker gestured to them and they walked away, back down the hallway.
Jennifer said to Jack, “We’ll go talk to admin now, make sure everything is straightened out.” Jennifer wasn’t sure she could make good on her promise to straighten things out, but she would certainly try. And she was glad to have Dr. Parker Stone by her side when she did.

CHAPTER FIVE
“It was a clerical error,” Shin Xu said, glancing at the letter and then dropping it coldly on her desk. “I will mail out a correction.”
“Clerical error!” Parker leaned forward from his seat next to Jennifer on the other side of the chief administrator’s desk, where Jennifer had sat alone numerous times, already too many. “Correction? You can’t treat people like that!”
“He’s right,” Jennifer said, unable to suppress her sense of self-righteousness and empowerment, thanks to Dr. Parker Stone.
But Shin Xu seemed to read more into their appearance together, though Jennifer couldn’t be sure. Shin Xu hit Jennifer with a look that told her she considered their visit an offensive, one which would be met with an equal and opposite reaction.
Parker said, “There’s gotta be a way to correct this new policy. This is just a herald of things to come.”
“We’ve been down this road,” Shin Xu said, “and there’s nothing I can do about the new protocol.”
“I disagree,” Parker said. “At the very least you can implement it effectively.”
“The man’s wife won’t be turned out,” Shin Xu said, “and I’ll thank you again for bringing the matter to my attention. If there’s nothing else?”
“They’re going to strike,” Jennifer said, “the guards, the janitors, they’ve been wanting to unionize.”
Taking a moment to think about it, Shin Xu said, “How do you know so much about their plans,