Fast Food

Introduction 3

You must have been asleep for several hours when the beeping of the machines connected to you wakes you up. The first rays of the morning penetrate through the slightly opened curtains into the room. You grunt your tiredness out of your body, yawn and want to sit up, but feel something at your side. A head is resting on your arm. Your breath jumps as you look to the side and see the long brown hair falling over the face, which rests peacefully and relaxed on two crossed forearms. Nurse Doris is still in her light blue uniform but....

"What the..." you mutter. This is not normal. Okay, you're in the ICU, but they don't care that... intensely here. What are you supposed to do now? With a slight touch of panic, you examine the body next to you. Doris is lying with her upper body on the bed, her head resting on her arms, one hand outstretched and holding your arm. She is breathing calmly and peacefully, although the position she is sleeping in can't be particularly comfortable. You can't believe it. Carefully you lift your other arm, careful not to mess up the tubes running into it. You swallow hard, but can't do anything else. So you lightly stroke Doris' ear, which is sticking out of her disheveled hair. Slowly the girl comes to her senses and you congratulate yourself on giving her a soft morning before she labels you a pervert and never looks at you again for holding her up for so long. It's not her fault, the health care system has simply been broken in recent years. Nurse Brown also mumbles quietly as she comes to, muttering something unintelligible, then raises her head. "Now it's coming..." you mutter and are not only a little sad that this great girl will now realize her mistake. Who falls asleep during the shift and that with such a strange patient like you? Her bright blue eyes open a crack and Doris wearily brushes her hair out of her face. Slowly she looks around the room until her sleepy eyes turn to you. "Uh, good morning," you stammer sheepishly. "It's not what it looks like. I..." But instead of yelling or pulling away from you, Doris beams all over as the tiredness fades from her face and only joy remains.

"Good morning Finn" she beams, making your heart stop for a few seconds. "How long have you been awake?" she then asks, sounding a little worried.

"Just a few seconds, honestly" you try to defend yourself, not understanding why concern for you shows on her face and not for her own person.

"Fortunately." Doris straightens up. "I was waiting for you." She quickly turns around with her disheveled uniform slipping a bit and you can see her tight back and the base of her butt crack, along with a red thong. Then the young nurse has already turned back to you, holding in her hands a large gray styrofoam box. With a face as if Christmas and New Year's Eve had fallen on the same day, she reaches inside. "Here! Please!" Doris couldn't be happier. Your eyes move downward.

"What the..." is all you can say again. In her delicate but strong hands Doris holds a large porcelain plate and on it lies a damn big, damn juicy and definitely perfectly prepared steak along with fries, salad and reddish sauce.

"I hope the temperature is still okay for you Finn" Doris flutes, "I just got back here two hours ago." Now she seems a bit down again while your brain is just dissolving into its components. "I had to drive a little further until I found a good restaurant. But I hope you still like it." Your mouth drops open. You really can't explain this with the intensive care in the hospital. Doris misunderstands your silence, though. "I can warm it up at our nurses' station... or I can go again if you like. I know where I'm going now, so it'll make up for the time it'll take me to pick up more money."

"Money?" you ask. Doris beams again, paying no attention to her slipped uniform. Her stomach is just as toned as her back, trained by hard work in the health care system.

"That steak only cost two hundred dollars." The heart monitor almost sounds an alarm about your irregular heartbeat.

"Two hundred dollars!" you almost screech, "Doris...why?" But before the somewhat confused nurse can answer, the door to the room opens again and the doctor from last night comes through. Now it is clear that something is wrong here. Nurses okay, but a doctor working two shifts in a row?"

"Good morning Mister Lynchwood" the man greets cheerfully. Doris sits up straighter and pulls her uniform a little tighter with one hand while the other holds the plate on your belly. "I see you're feeling better already."

"Doctor...no idea what your name is...I can explain. Doris just wanted to...uh..." You can't think of an excuse, you don't even understand what's happening here.

"That's all right, Mister Lynchwood. Young Doris here insisted on staying with you even though I wanted to send her home."

"But the steak..." you protest almost with anger in your voice.

"I think our dear nurse here wanted to speed up your recovery. She's very exemplary." The doctor nods at Doris who is happy as if she were being given a million dollars. You, on the other hand, suddenly feel deathly ill again, but this time for a different reason.

"This can't be happening..." you mutter, but the weight on your stomach doesn't go away, and neither does the nurse Doris who sits next to you and looks at you intently.

"Do you like what I made for you Finn?" she asks and there's something... this isn't professional concern, this is damn real concern for you. You look at Doris.

"Uh... yeah... of course. Doris..." Inwardly, you just shrug. Like you're going to disappoint her now, and the situation can't get any more fucked up than that anyway. "That's wonderful. May I?" You point to the plate and Doris jumps to her feet so fast you almost throw the plate against the wall in shock.

"I'll get the knife and fork," she shrieks like a child who has been given a free ticket to an amusement park. It doesn't take thirty seconds, Doris literally runs out of the room past the doctor, who can't even move properly into the room before Doris comes back and literally flies to your side again.

The strangest examination of your life follows. While the doctor is examining you, Doris Brown's only purpose in life is to cut the steak into small pieces and present it to you. You almost break her heart because you insist on bringing the fork to your mouth yourself, but at least she is allowed to get you something to drink. Then the doctor is done with the examination and you and Doris listen to his anamnesis.

"Everything looks pretty good so far. Your values are all within the green range, Mister Lynchwood. As I said, very remarkable. But the blood doesn't lie as I like to say."

"That's just because of the care here at the hospital" you grin wryly and feel Doris' hand on yours. "Doris makes me feel more alive than ever." The statement is true but at the same moment you realize how stupid it was to trumpet your recovery like that. In the worst case, they'll move you to another ward and you won't see Doris again. The doctor winks at his subordinate and then looks at you again.

"Then you can let me know when you want to be discharged."

"Uh," is all you can do. It's getting crazier and crazier. But you've got the brown-haired angel by your side, that's all that bothers you. Then the doctor checks off another box on his clipboard and looks at Nurse Brown.

"Keep taking care of this patient until he wants to be discharged."

"Yes, doctor," Doris beams up to both ears and looks at you. Her teeth almost blind you and you could lose yourself in the blue of her eyes.

You have already stopped wondering why Doris only treats you like this. At least once in your life you want to enjoy happiness, but you are sure that it will not last long. Doris stays with you the whole afternoon and has apparently even taken time off because other nurses come to your room. Doris knows them all and when you see the old harpies you are overjoyed to see nurse Brown. Inwardly, however, you wonder if you have not died after all.

The proof that you are still on this wretched earth comes a few hours later. Doris and you are just talking about seemingly trivial topics that do you incredible good, because the girl at your side keeps laughing at your bad jokes and seems to have real interest in you. You both startle as the door to your room opens again. Your eyes widen as you recognize the person standing in the doorway.

"That can't be..." you exclaim, dumbfounded.