“Do you work for Petersen-Snow?”
“No! Well not directly. How do you know about them?”
Ryan was angry. His face was flushed and he was gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles. “Let’s just say we’ve had run ins.”
“You have? Here? Wow! I thought this was the first time they were looking at property in this area.”
“It is. Let’s just say that they aren’t my favorite people. Actually no one here likes them much,” Ryan said still sounding upset.
Jeanie looked over at him. This wasn’t the most violent outburst she had ever endured. Once she had been doused in red paint by a person who thought that Jeanie would ever sign off on a project that involved destroying a wetland where a whole host of protected species nested. People jumped to conclusions all the time about her and her work. She knew how to deal with this.
“Look Ryan,” she said trying to keep her voice calm through the pain in her wrist. It had throbbed with each jolt of the truck and had now settled into a constant thrum of pain that caused Jeanie to speak through gritted teeth. “You probably don’t understand the full extent of environmental impact assessments are for. It’s quite common to…”
“Yeah, I know how this works.” He said interrupting her. “You come in and take a look around and then sign everything my people have worked for for generations over to some stuffed shirt in New York!”
“That is not what I do!” she yelled, indignant. “Why do people always think that? Shit!” she turned to face him. “Some people in my profession might be a little hasty in their approving projects. That’s not me. I have to make sure that everything is above board. It’s a complex survey of the area taking the animal and human life into consideration. So don’t just assume that I’m in P & S’s pocket. Okay? Because I’m not! I take my job very seriously and I never just sign off. I’m extremely thorough.”
Ryan’s golden eyes met hers and held her gaze. She hoped he could see her sincerity. Jeanie wasn’t in this game for the money, which could be huge if you took bribes which she didn’t. She was in this to do good, to make sure that people couldn’t run wild destroying environments that were unique and could never be reclaimed. It was her passion, her calling in life. It was amazing how often people got it wrong.
After a while Ryan swallowed and looked out at the road ahead but stayed silent. Jeanie was panting a little as she calmed down after her outburst. She glared out the window feeling her pulse return to normal. The dirt track ran under a canopy of leaves, all turning golden and red as fall swept the land outside the car. Overhead clouds were massing, thick and grey. Ryan seemed to sniff the air. Then he sighed and put the truck back into gear and pulled out onto the road.
They drove in silence then suddenly Ryan burst out saying, “You know Petersen-Snow, they plan to kick us all out of Sun Valley. Just think about that while you’re doing your job so thoroughly.”
Jeanie was shocked. “Of course I will,” she snapped. “Interviewing local residents is part of the procedure.” If she was totally honest she would usually post an online survey and gauge people’s feelings that way, but perhaps this was a hands on kind of place. Anyway her driver was proving quite passionate about this and the last thing she needed was to end up dead in a ditch because P & S contracted her firm to do their assessments.
She shifted closer to the door and looked out at the countryside. They turned onto the main road and now Ryan depressed the accelerator. The truck sped off. There was very little traffic and he had no trouble weaving between the other cars, breaking the speed limit. Seemed he was as eager to get rid of her as she was to be out of his car.
There was a hospital in San Luis but it was an hour or more away. So Ryan drove Jeanie into town to the local sawbones. His clinic was in an old house, converted and made to look more modern with some bad architecture. Jeanie wasn’t at all sure about this place, but she was desperate.
Ryan pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car. He turned to Jeanie who was releasing the seatbelt catch so she could get out.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I jumped to conclusions about you. We’ve just met and I don’t know whose side you’re on, but it was wrong of me to yell at you. Do you think we could start over?”
Jeanie was surprised. She blinked her hazel eyes at him, considering. “Apology accepted.”
Ryan smiled. “Let me help you out.”
He got out and ran around the vehicle to the passenger door. He pulled it open and helped Jeanie to her feet. She thanked him as he escorted her to the doctor’s waiting room. It was a little seating area with plastic chairs. Some children sat with their mothers, all of them sniffing, sneezing and coughing. That time of the year Jeanie guessed as she and Ryan made their way to the reception desk.
A large lady wearing a dark blue blouse and black sleeveless pullover eyed them over her eyeglasses’ thick black rims. She had faded blonde hair and red-rimmed blue eyes that she turned on them with less interest than Jeanie felt she should have had. A half-finished box of chocolate chip cookies lay open on her desk, crumbs littering the polished work surface.
“Can I help you?” she drawled.
“I hope so,” Jeanie replied trying to put a brave face on. Her wrist was so sore now she was on her last bit of self-control to not dissolve into a fountain of tears.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No, this is an emergency!” Jeanie retorted feeling her patience slipping away.
“So what’s the emergency?”
“It’s her wrist, ma’am,” Ryan said flashing the friendly smile. “It seems to be dislocated.” He indicated Jeanie’s throbbing appendage.
The receptionist regarded it and nodded. “Yup, looks like. Well take a seat and fill out this form. Sign at the bottom of the second page only. Got that? Only at the bottom of page two! Then bring it back to me. You got health insurance?”
Jeanie nodded.
“Good,” the receptionist said and handed the form to Ryan. “You her husband or boyfriend or something?”
“No, I just found her in the woods,” Ryan told her.
“Well, okay then. Go take a seat and help her fill this out. I warn you though, as a walk in you’re going to have to wait a while.”
“Thank you,” Ryan said and took the clipboard.
They sat and Ryan helped Jeanie fill out the form, making sure she only signed on the instructed line. Then he handed it back to the lady and resumed his seat next to Jeanie.
“Thanks for all the help. You don’t have to stick around. I’m sure you have better things to do.” She said hoping he would stay.
“I can stay,” Ryan said texting on his phone. “Never know if you’re going to need someone to sign for you again.” He looked up and grinned.
Jeanie was taken for x-rays quite quickly once the fat receptionist had captured her information on the computer. It was after that that the waiting started. They waited for an hour. By that time Jeanie was almost beside herself with pain. She was drained, sore and holding back tears. Why did she have to go and fall? Things were fine until that happened. And now she was waiting to see a doctor who seemed to be on his way back from Mars or something considering how long this was taking. Her mind was a mishmash of thoughts and feelings all jumbled together. She felt sick, hungry and tired, oh, so tired.
Eventually she was called into a small consulting room with a plastic covered examination table.
“Hop up and let’s take a look at your wrist,” the doctor’s voice said, drifting in from behind a screen where she could hear water running. Then paper towel dispensing.
There were steps next to the table, so Jeanie walked up and sat gingerly on the edge. She was chewing her lips raw, blood already starting to trickle into her mouth. Any other pain would do right now. She just couldn’t take the agony from her right wrist anymore.
The doctor appeared. He was a short man, grey haired and a little stooped. He smiled sweetly as he took a look at her x-rays and then at her wrist.
“Dislocated for sure,” he said. “But we can fix that. Now don’t you worry. On three. One.” He pulled her hand.
Jeanie screamed and kicked the doctor.