Marlette Bess

It was a cold dark in mid-November Sunday night as Gorman Singh was driving his taxi looking for fares.  When there were two figures under a streetlight the taller figure Gorman thought to be a man waved for him down. He normally wouldn’t stop in the warehouse district but it was a frigid night. Gorman pulled to the curb the man opened the door and shoved in a person who crumpled into the backseat and tossed in a twenty-dollar bill. He closed the door ran off into a darken alley. Gorman was somewhat perplexed, but when he looked in the backseat to see a collapsed woman. She didn’t response when he yelled at her. He reached to the back; but didn’t touch her as she fell over exposing her badly bruised upper thigh. He radioed in for the location of the nearest hospital. He drove fast down the deserted streets with the cold pressing against the car as it was also pressing against his heart.

Gorman had only been in America for two years and didn’t want trouble from the police. In India police weren’t always friendly. As he pulled into the emergency bay he opened his door calling for help. The attendants dragged the limp body out of the backseat. Gorman quickly pocketed the twenty-dollar bill that had fallen on the floor as he took his time to wipe down the backseat with disinfectant that he kept in the trunk.

A patrol car had been watching the whole situation and Gorman knew the police would soon be over for an interrogation. To his surprise the police officer only asked a few questions, but he knew nothing. He was soon driving to his amazement; it was only nine early into his night shift and would have to work hard tonight. It was so cold that only the desperate or the party animals would be out on a night like this. Gorman wasn’t interested in whom he had taken to the hospital learning early on just to keep his nose out of things that didn’t involve him. He just wanted to make money for all the people who were counting on him.

In the hospital Jane Doe was wheeled to a cubical. The nurse checked her vitals and waited for the doctor to come back from dinner break. This hospital would soon be sending her off to a trauma center, it was their responsibility to make sure she was stable then transfers her to another hospital that took uninsured patients. The nurse simply took her blood pressure and checked her heart without removing her coat. Figuring she was just another party girl who had had too much to drink or too many drugs. She covered her with a blanket and left her alone in the room. They didn’t have many ER patients in this upscale medical center. Physicians Hospital handled mostly private pay patients. The emergency room was kept open only with federal funds. Basically they didn’t do much, but keep them alive for someone else to deal with.