BETTE-  “But doctor…”

DR. BASSEY-  “But?  Am I about to hear an excuse?”

BETTE-  “No ma’am, but I have a full load…”

DR. BASSEY-  “And so do I, as do your colleagues…now…you report to me on this one every step of the way.  Psychiatry is consulting on this one too, so I expect Bert will send his resident to confer.  Play nice Dr. Porter…don’t brow beat this one like the last one.  I don’t want to be arguing with the colleagues at my own level because you’ve got issues with the ones at yours…”

BETTE-  “But Dr. Bassey he was missing all the signs in that case…”

DR.  BASSEY-  “I KNOW …but there’s a way of doing things…and you don’t seem to understand that.  Review the file, visit the patient, and report to me…understood?”

BETTE-  “Yes doctor.”  (She takes the file and heads towards the door.  Just as she reaches it…)

DR. BASSEY-  “And Dr. Porter…”

BETTE-  (She turns…)  “Yes doctor…”

DR. BASSEY-  (Without facing her…)  “You show up late again and I’ll have you monitoring the mice in the psych lab for a month…understood?”

BETTE-  (She cringes…)  “Yes doctor.”

(She exits, defeated again by the renowned and alluring Dr. Bassey…a tall, beautiful elegant woman with the presence of both a conductor and a drill seargant…Bette felt like she just couldn’t please this woman…the woman who held her career in her hands.  Bette wandered the halls, wondering where nurse Janay had gone since their romp in the storage room.  She could use a distraction right about now, though she really couldn’t afford it.  Bassey didn’t give her this file because she hated her, she gave it to her because she trusted her and saw something promising in the young woman.  All her residents were special, but this one was right up there…so, in true Bassey form, she tortured her with challenging assignments and a formidable counterforce to every move Bette made or every word she uttered…she was almost relentless, even a tiny bit more than she was with the others, but she had a compassionate side too…it appeared rarely…but it did, though most of her compassion was reserved for her patients…they always received her best care and attention, and it was of the best in the world.
But the pressure was difficult for all the residents…and for Bette especially these days.  She was working a kazillion hours a week, had no social life, and one master…Dr. Bassey.  Her lonely life was filled with the work that was important to her, but not much else…romps in the storage room, a nurse here, a nurse there, maybe a young doctor who wasn’t part of her team every now and then…it was almost a different one every so often…this is what she had, this and a few drinks at home alone when she had the next day off.  She sometimes thought to herself, during those lonely nights…lonely even when a warm body occupied the space next to her, that if it wasn’t for her few dedicated friends, she would be totally lost, given her recent history.)