Estelle -- Chapter Two, Part Two

Ah, six o'clock in the morning, and waking up in my newly remodeled bedroom to what looks like, an already beautiful, sunny day outside. But then a sudden reminder hit me like a ton of bricks, I have to work, not to mention today I had my first vaccination clinic to work at so there was no way I could be even a second late. Now don't get me wrong, I love working, and I've worked hard the last seven months to get to where I am as a Paramedic, but today I'm just not feeling it.. Something about today just feels a bit off. There wasn't much time for me to be lazy and contemplate why I just didn't feel like getting myself up and out of bed. So I pushed myself up out of my bed and forced myself to go take a quick shower. Today was going to be a long day, I could already feel it in the pit of my stomach.

My shower was refreshing, and even though today I would have preferred to call into work and go enjoy a beautiful day at the park, it just wasn't going to happen. Once I was dressed in my work uniform, I quickly made a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table to eat it. But when I sat down, my eyes glanced around my living room/kitchen/dining room, it was all so boring looking, and a bit empty. My thoughts returned to how beautiful my bedroom looked now after the interior designers had had their way with it, yes, I would just have to call them up again and ask them to do a much larger job for me. But that will have to wait until after work, the time was now close to eight o'clock and the carpool would be here soon, so I hurriedly shoveled a few big spoonfuls into my mouth, crunching and making loud eating noises as I ate. Normally my eating habits would have been a little more lady like but I really didn't have the time, besides I live alone so there was no one to impress.

Thankfully the carpool was on time and I pretty much rushed out the door as soon as I heard the first honk, and yes, I did manage to get my bowl washed, dried, and put away all before the carpool arrived in front of my house. The ride took all of about two minutes to get to the hospital, since I only live right down the road. I could have walked, it would be a healthier alternative, but the thing is, I'm a bit lazy when it comes to actual physical exercise. When the car stopped, I quickly looked at the time on the digital clock in the car, and seeing I only had about five minutes to get inside and clock in, I literally jumped out of the car and ran for the hospital's doors.

Good thing there weren't a bunch of people outside of the hospital milling around like there have been, because if I would have gotten stuck in one of those crowds, there's no way I would have made it inside to clock in and would have been late. A smile appeared on my face as I saw Shamus emerge from his office, he waved and smiled before continuing towards the stairs. As much as I wanted to follow him and ask how his morning was so far, I knew that I couldn't, the vaccination clinic was going to be taking place at ten thirty and I had to get out there early. After walking all the way down to the clock in room, I quickly found my time card and punched it -- yeah, I thought by now the hospital would have been more current about how their employees clocked in, apparently not though. Now it was time to get going to the vaccination clinic, I then jotted my name down under the clinic duty list and wrote the time, date, and type of clinic I was performing. As soon as that was done, I headed out the door and was on my way to the cemetery to perform vaccinations.

It was crazy how many people were already there waiting for me to begin the vaccinations, now I know why they say to get there at least thirty minutes early and why some even suggest to arrive an hour early. But for my first day of vaccinating the citizens of Twinbrook, it went very smoothly and was very uneventful, who knew four hours of vaccinations could fly by so quickly? Sure I had a few who could barely tolerate the pain of getting this extra large shot in the arm, but I don't blame them, look at the size of those syringes. However the majority of the people whom I had the pleasure of vaccinating were actually pretty tolerant of the pain. Today was starting to get better, and I actually started thinking I made the correct choice in forcing myself to get up this morning. But soon it was time to go back to the hospital and write down that my vaccination clinic was finished and to get some lunch. Once everyone cleared out, I gathered all the empty syringes and placed them in the special disposal container I had brought with me and I hailed a taxi to take back to the hospital.

 After returning to the hospital at two thirty in the afternoon from performing the vaccination clinic, I had my lunch break and caught up on some medical research. It seemed like the day was flying by and I still hadn't seen Shamus all day today, it just seemed like he was avoiding me. My mind was set on finding out why Shamus had been so elusive today. Now I just needed an opportunity to talk to him and somehow ask him where he's been all day besides treating patients since we normally take our lunch break together at two forty-five in each day. But as I sat and waited for either an emergency call to come through or for Shamus to pop in and chat with me, the time passed by way too fast and before I knew it the clock on the wall read, four o'clock, which meant it was time to clock out and go home. Saddened by the fact that my friend hadn't even been able to send me a quick text telling me how swamped he was at work (if he even was that busy). So I went and punched my time card, and made sure the 'Time Out' was punched correctly, sometimes the ink doesn't transfer properly, which would be a good reason on why the hospital should upgrade their clocking in/out methods. As I exited the building, I couldn't help notice a familiar figure getting into their car, it was Shamus!

"Shamus, HEY!" I called while dashing towards his car, waving my arms about trying to get him to look my way, but apparently my attempts to get him to notice me were in vain and he didn't hear me. A sigh escaped my lips, and I felt defeated. All there was left to do now was to return home and spend the entire evening reading the new medical journal and wondering what was going on with Shamus and his weird actions today. Slowly I walked over to the carpool that was waiting to take me home and opened the door, sliding myself inside the car. Once I was in and the door was shut, I secured the seat belt around myself and before I knew it the car began moving in the direction of my home.

 It was nearing five thirty in the evening and it was beginning to get a little darker outside already. But I wasn't even feeling a tad tired yet. Normally when I get off at four in the afternoon, I'm already worn out and barely have the energy to do anything unless it involves cleaning the house, but it was already spotless. Boredom was beginning to set in as I planted myself on the couch and crossed my legs, there wasn't anything to watch on the television at the moment since my favorite show got cancelled a few months ago. There was absolutely nothing to do and it was beginning to irritate me. But just as I was about to get up, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, and a second later I heard the familiar ringtone... Shamus was calling! A huge smile formed on my face as I stood up quickly, pulling my phone from my pocket and answering the call.

 "Hey Shamus!" I said cheerfully as I walked across my living room, my voice must have been way more enthusiastic than it normally is when I answer one of his phone calls because he let out a small laugh before greeting me.

"Hey Estelle," He began, his voice taking on a friendly yet serious tone. "Listen, about today, I'm really sorry about not meeting you for lunch, but I was extremely busy at work and there was a ton of paperwork to do and an even greater amount of patients to examine and treat..." Shamus explained, trailing off at the end of his sentence.

"Oh, Shamus, don't worry about it.. It's fine, but you know you could have asked me to help you out, at least on the paperwork. There weren't any emergency calls today, and the whole hour and a half I had left of work after I got done doing the vaccination clinic today was spent pretty much staring at a wall." I replied quickly, my voice took on a slightly aggravated tone, but once I realized how harsh I must have sounded to him, I quickly softened my tone. "But it's really okay, I was just worried I had upset you in some way, you're my closest friend here in Twinbrook.. Actually, you're my only friend.." There was nothing else I could say at that moment, and I suddenly became very sad at the fact that I had lived here in Twinbrook for several months now and still only just had one friend to show for it. Sure, I was happy, but I did get lonely at times when Shamus couldn't hang out. It also didn't help that I had recently started to feel a bit more than friendship feelings for Shamus.

"I'm still sorry though, you must have thought I was so rude." Shamus replied quickly, and then paused for a moment before saying something else. "You should stop by my place tonight."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it'll be fun. I'll cook dinner for the two of us, and then we can hang out and catch up, I'd love to hear about how the vaccination clinic went today." He said excitedly, his words were so enticing and it sounded like so much fun to go see where her boss lived. Not to mention it would most definitely get her out of the house and cure her boredom for the night.

"Okay! I'll be over in about an hour or so, see you then!" My reply was quick and dripping with enthusiasim as I hung up the phone without even waiting for Shamus to tell me bye. Quickly I went and hopped into the shower. Tonight was going to be amazing, and the only thing my mind could think about was what if he was planning on making a move tonight? Oh yes, this would be a good night indeed.

 At exactly six thirty, I was walking out the door heading to Shamus's house. Part of me was nervous for this hang out session to even be happening while the other part of me was ready to get there and have some much needed quality time with my friend. As I made my way down to the steps and to the edge of the driveway, I stopped and waved my hand in the air, signaling for a taxi whenever I saw a yellow car in the distance. To my pleasure the yellow car was indeed a taxi, and it slowed to a stop in front of my house. Quickly I opened the door and told the driver where to take me as I got inside and shut the car door behind me. Buckling my seat belt, I prepared myself for the thirty minute car ride.

 At first when the taxi pulled to a stop on the marshy, foggy side of Twinbrook, I thought that the driver had made a navigational error. But as I looked closer at the number on the mailbox, it revealed that the driver wasn't wrong. This was the place, this was where Shamus Drudge, one of the finest doctors in Twinbrook resided... The inside must have looked really amazing, because the outside didn't appeal to me at all. I thanked the driver and paid him his money, then got out of the taxi and walked up the steps to the front porch. My palms got sweaty and my nerves began to get to me as I reached the front door and extended my right hand out to press the door bell. Ding, dong. The deed was done, and now there was no turning back, carefully I backed up a couple of steps and waited for Shamus to come to the door.

But when the door came open and I was greeted and invited inside, it wasn't Shamus who let me in the house.

 In fact it wasn't even a man who let me inside, it was a young woman, who looked to be maybe two or three years older than me. The look on my face must have been priceless because she quickly apologized and began talking a mile a minute.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, I should have introduced myself first. My name is Eva, and Shamus told me you would be stopping by.. He also said something about you picking up this extra box of Gain laundry detergent. You're Estelle right?" Eva asked quickly without even pausing to take a breath.

"Yes, I'm Estelle. What's this about laundry deter--" My voice stopped right there, as I quickly thought about what was coming out of my mouth and wondering why on earth Shamus said I was coming over to pick up a box of laundry detergent. But there was no time to ponder that, I had to play this off. "Oh, yeah, the laundry detergent, I ran out and I didn't feel like going to the store to get any, those long lines at the grocery store really bother me... But I don't use Gain, sorry, Shamus didn't tell me that. I'm more of a Tide person when it comes to detergents." As corrected my response to Eva, and played it off like I really was here to just pick up a box of laundry detergent, my eyes caught sight of something that reflected light. My eyes shifted downward and there it was staring me in the face, there was a golden wedding band on her finger. Surely this Eva woman was just a sister, cousin, maybe even a sister-in-law? Now my curiousity was sparked.

 As Eva was talking my ear off, I pretty much just tuned her out. My mind was too preoccupied to truly pay attention to all of the rambling that she was doing. Although whenever I made up my mind about asking a question, I didn't even try to think it through. I glanced around the living room and spotted a couple pictures that I thought would be interesting enough to spark a conversation about how Eva might be related to Shamus and why she would have that wedding band on her finger. It was now or never.

"So, Eva, that's a lovely photo of you and Shamus. Where was that taken?" I asked, when she finally stopped talking to catch her breath. Then I motioned toward the beautifully framed picture in question, which was of them dressed in Christmas themed clothing, there were also several other people in the photo as well and they were all smiling happily.

"Oh, that one there? That was taken at his mom's house at Christmas time, we had just gotten married about three months prior to that though." Eva replied happily, she was absolutely ecstatic that I had asked about their lovely picture. But me on the other hand, I felt my stomach do a flip flop, and my face immediately dropped. My heart even felt like it sank lower in my chest and, even though I had not really flirted or dropped any hints to Shamus that I had any type of romantic feelings for him, it still hurt me to hear this. Now the only question is why he never mentioned having a wife, or why I never noticed him wearing a wedding band. There were just too many questions, and frankly, I didn't want to know the answers anymore.

Regardless of how silly, or hurt, or whatever emotion I was feeling at the moment, there was only one thing that I knew for certain. I had to get out of this house and fast, preferrably before Shamus returned from where ever he had gone, since he apparently had this all planned out. As fast as I could, I shifted my facial expression from one of shock and hurt, to one of happiness and pulled out my phone to check the time, hoping that using the 'oh, look at the time, I need to get going' excuse would work and I could get out of here.

"Oh wow, it's nine fifteen, I need to get going... I have a million things that need to be done around the house and I have a busy day tomorrow. It was nice meeting you Eva..." My voice trailed off as I turned and headed for the front door.

"It was nice meeting you too Estelle, have a good night!" Eva called from the spot she had been standing in for the duration of our conversation.

"You too!" I called back, as I twisted the knob on the door and pulled it open, letting myself out of the house, all while trying to fight back tears that threatened to pour over the rims of my eyes. It baffled me that Shamus had never once cared to invite me to his house sooner to meet his wife, or even bring her with him when we hung out around town.

 All of this was just so confusing, and while I was fighting the urge to let the tears freely roll down my cheeks, I was at least happy to learn that Shamus was married. At least now I couldn't make a huge fool out of myself by telling him about how big of a crush I had on him, that was about the only good part to this whole thing. Now what was I suppose to do though? I had no interest in calling Shamus and demanding him explain to me why he never told me that he had a wife until I just put two and two together when I came over for a hang out session that was apparently just a lie to get me over here. Really though, all I wanted was to just clear my head.

Once I was off the front porch and down the steps, I made up my mind about where I was going next. I called the taxi service and had them come pick me up. When the bright yellow taxi appeared in front of the house, I immediately got inside and told the driver where to go.

Once the taxi dropped me off, I spent a while meandering about, which involved me visiting the consignment shop and the bookstore. Then as I was walking down the sidewalk about to start on my walk home, I stopped in front of the Salon/Tattoo Parlor. There was something about the word 'tattoo' that excited me. Although a lot of doctors and other highly thought of people in professional careers would look down on a person who decided to 'ruin' their bodies with such things, I thought a bit differently. Even though I'm studying to become a great Surgeon and I'm currently working full time as a Paramedic, I saw nothing wrong with at least getting a tattoo that would be covered for work, but could be shown off outside of work if I pleased. So that was it, I eagerly entered the building. On the first level was the salon, and near the back of the salon there was a stair case leading into the basement of the building, with a sign that indicated the tattoo parlor was in the basement. Without a second thought my feet were carrying me down the steep flight of stairs and into a whole new world it seemed.



The tattoo parlor had this very different vibe about it that set it apart from all the other places of Twinbrook, there was a sense of excitement that washed over me as I discussed what tattoo I wanted and where I wanted the tattoo to be placed at on my body. The very relaxed, and intriguing atomosphere of the tattoo parlor was definitely helping me to forget all about my issues that I was having, which was fine by me. If I could just completely forget about Shamus altogether for the rest of my life, I would be happy, even if it does sound a bit harsh on my part.

The tattoo artist and I talked for a good half an hour about the tattoo I wanted and making sure that she had the correct ink colors availiable for my tattoo, then it probably took maybe five minutes to figure out exactly where I wanted it to be placed. The time was close to ten fifty-five by now, and the shop would be closing at midnight, the estimated time for the tattoo to be completed was around one o'clock in the morning, which was fine with me since it was apparently fine with the tattoo artist as well, she actually enjoyed working over a bit. After all the details were settled and I signed the paperwork that needed to be signed in order to get the tattoo, I went and changed into this really cute bathing suit that I had bought earlier at the consignment shop. Then when I came back from the restroom, I settled myself into the chair and waited for the magic to begin.

 When the tattoo artist finished the tattoo, I stood up and checked it out in the mirror. It was perfect, the two different pinks looked stunning together and the black outline was flawless. While most people would regret getting a spontaneous tattoo that had pretty much no meaning, I knew that I wouldn't. This tattoo may have been random, and may not have been the best decision in the world, and it may cause people to judge me if they know I have a tattoo. However, it gave me hope that perhaps I could easily change my life around and find the one I'm destined to be with just as easily as I have altered my body. It might not make any sense to anyone else, but to me, it makes perfect sense.