Legs Part I

The week after we broke up, I had the strangest feeling I had been somehow discontinued – like a car that was still road worthy, but for which spare parts were no longer available. I kept chugging along but I had no pep, no zip, none of my usual drive. I also found I was looking at myself from the outside, as if I were observing my life instead of living it. ‘Here we see Rob go to work, notice how he can still smile at the staff and patients, here we see Rob alone at home, notice his face now, he seems sad doesn’t he?’

I was in a funk, and I couldn’t seem to shake it.
 Walrus and Titus figured me out pretty quickly though, they knew something had happened, so I told them about the breakup, and they insisted on taking me out and getting me totally disabled on Sam Adams Ale. The next morning I woke up with the same disconnected feelings, but now with the added benefit of a splitting headache, wasteland mouth, and the same nauseous feeling I had observing my first autopsy.
 

Head still pounding despite ibuprofen and even inhaling some oxygen, I was charting at the East Four nurses station, intent on a medical history, when I suddenly saw a pair of beautiful legs in white stockings, framed by a white skirt at mid thigh. The woman with the great legs was sitting right on the desk. If I rolled my hand a bit, the backs of my fingers would be on her lovely thigh. I have always found it amazing how a glimpse of a perfect thigh, the curve of a woman’s hip, or a beautiful smile can just hit me like a punch in the gut, bringing me to a breathless halt. That was the effect of the sudden and unexpected vision of this woman’s nylon clad thighs.

I looked up to see Beth, the Nurse Educator. I had always thought she was cute, a petite well shaped woman in her early thirties who was bright and fun to be with, but definitely out of bounds because she was married.
 

"Rob, could you teach this rotation of student nurses that class on Chest Assessment you taught the last group? They really loved it.” She asked with a flirty smile.

I wanted to look back down at her perfect legs because they are world class, and right next to my tingling fingertips. It felt like my hands and fingers were magnetized and drawn irresistibly to just touch that beautiful and curvy expanse of stockinged thigh, but I forced myself to keep my eyes on her pretty face as I answered.

“Sure Beth, I actually have a good time teaching that class.” Certainly, nothing is more fun than watching a group of twenty year old women palpate and percuss each other’s chests.

Beth put her hand on my shoulder and asked if we could discuss details over lunch, and I agreed. For some reason, the place where she had placed her hand seemed warm all morning, or maybe that was just my imagination.
 

When we met at lunch, I had the feeling I was being invited for more than just a bite of food. My ego had just taken a beating, and to be honest I enjoyed a pretty woman flirting with me. She was smiling and touchy. She laughed at all my corny jokes, and when she looked in my eyes, I felt she was inviting me closer. I forgot for the moment she was married and just enjoyed the experience of a beautiful and desirable woman making me feel attractive again.

My pager went off, and as I stood up to take my leave, Dr Charlie M__, the Chief of Surgery, sat at the table. Charlie was a tall good looking man in his forties, and well respected throughout the hospital. He and I had always hit it off well, but today he gave me a strangely unfriendly look as I left. I gave him a friendly smile anyway, because I thought he probably had a rough morning in OR.
 

As I left the cafeteria, my buddy Titus joined me.

“Rob” he said conspiratorially, “I saw Beth coming on to you over lunch. Be very careful.”

“Hey Titus don’t worry. I know she’s married and nothings gonna happen.”

Titus grabbed my arm and stopped me right there in the hallway. He then looked both ways to make sure no one could overhear what he was about to say.

“Rob, sometimes you are so freaking clueless. Beth has been boinking Charlie M__ for years. If you want to survive in this hospital don’t even freaking smile at her!”

Suddenly the dirty look from Chief of Surgery made perfect sense, I was trespassing on his turf with a woman who was married to someone else. No wonder I didn’t have a clue. I had never paid attention to hospital scuttlebutt, like who was sleeping with whom, but it appeared now I would have to. It seemed Beth and Charlie were playing a tough game, and I didn’t know the rules.