Writing prompts: Political Satire / An emergency room / A fake moustache
A high-ranking politician uses his rank and status to recover from surgery anonymously in a small hospital while the staff try to guess who he is.
The emergency room was quiet at three in the morning. Most of the drunks from the bar next door had been taken care of or were passed out. The rest of the patients were sleeping and the nurses were finalizing their chart notes for the next shift.
Emily sat quietly at her desk in the corner of the room and observed the coming and going of the armed guards. They had a high-profile patient recovering in the west wing and the hospital had been on strict lock down against news reporters and unnecessary visitors.
It was a little intimidating having armed and uniformed men and women in the hospital. Seeing guns being carried openly was out of the ordinary in her line of work but for the most part, the guards were pleasant. It was usually a quiet place. Generally, most of their business came from barroom brawls. The hospital was in a poorer section of town and didn’t see many wealthy patients. Truth be told, Emily couldn’t think of anyone ever admitted there who wasn’t a local.
Emily decided to do a little digging to find out what the patient’s story was. She was the admittance clerk and didn’t have anything else to do. Nothing that she wanted to do anyway. Apparently “John Doe” was a well-known bigshot who had just had some plastic surgery done and was recovering in their little-known hospital so he could recuperate peacefully.
“Must be nice,” she mumbled to herself as she closed the computer file.
Overhearing her comment, Ben, the night orderly, asked “What’s got you all worked up.”
“Oh, I was just looking at a patient’s file. He’s here to recover in privacy.”
“You must be talking about the guy in the west wing. They have him all the way at the end of the hallway and no one is allowed in the room adjacent to or across from him. Isn’t that the craziest thing! You’d think someone like that would be able to recover in a spa somewhere. The guards have a room set up that’s nicer than the diner down the street. You should see the food they have in there! And the guns! Sheesh!”
“Shhhh,” Emily whispered, “you know we’re not supposed to be talking about patients.” Looking over her shoulder to see if anyone was around, she continued, “but you know what I heard?”
Ben leaned in closer, “what?”
“I heard they even have undercover guards outside. Imagine that!”
“Who would need such a thing!” Ben sauntered off, shaking his head as he went.
Emily turned the TV on as soon as she got home. Working the graveyard shift was tough on her. She liked to watch a little news while she ate her breakfast, then go to bed.
The Early News on Channel 2 was her favorite. The main news anchor was a cutie and she liked his face to be the last thing she saw before she went to bed.
“And today, on Channel 2, we’ll discuss the absence of Senator Todd from the gun control hearings. He has been one of the most outspoken proponents of gun control. Staffers say a medical emergency has kept him away but that he is staying abreast of the situation and will be at the final hearing to cast his vote for the bill. Protesters have picketed his house since the beginning of the hearings and several arrests have been made due to threats against him.”
Emily finished her breakfast, shut off the TV, and climbed into bed.
It was another slow night at the hospital. The guards were becoming friendlier with the staff and seemed to be at the front desk a lot more, flirting with the nurses to pass time.
Emily watched from her corner desk, shaking her head at the outlandish display of fire power. Every guard had at least one revolver strapped to their belt.
“All this fuss over one man.”
Word was he was going to be released soon and security would be heightened even more. Emily was tempted to do a little more digging but decided she needed her job more than she needed to know who “John Doe” was. She wondered how much money it cost him to keep his name secret on his records. She hadn’t even known that was possible.
She looked up as a group came in. Heavily armed men swept through the lobby. The guards at the desk snapped to attention, pretending to be all business.
“You’re early, sir.”
“We’ve decided to move John to another location. His doctor says he can be released so we’re going to move him to a safe house for the rest of his recovery. He’s being prepped now.”
A few minutes later his entourage came down the hall, John Doe in the middle. She caught a glimpse of him as he passed through the lobby. He wore a large cowboy hat and a big mustache. He looked like a movie star. She wondered again who he was and pondered what movies he’d been in. Last she’d heard, plastic surgery was the norm so she didn’t quite understand all the secrecy, but who was she to judge.
Emily flipped the TV on just in time to catch the tail end of a scene showing a flurry of activity.
“And at 6 a.m. sources believe they saw Senator Todd being moved from Community Hospital on 79thStreet to an undisclosed location.”
Emily looked up just in time to see an image of a man quickly being ushered into a large limo.
“Hum, he looks familiar.”
A picture of Senator Todd was put up on the screen as the cute newscaster listed the Senator’s proposed actions to control gun ownership. Emily pondered the picture. Her eyes opened wide as she realized how good a disguise a fake mustache and a large cowboy hat made.