Evening star., 1934-08-31
CHAPTER XIX.

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50 sick of the hospital that she
had felt she never wanted to
Il see O uniform again or smell
the disinfectant which per-
meated the halls. Now she was back
again, and even the cement cubicle
which she shared with Bert in Para
disc Alley had its charms. Bert's
boisterous welcome warmed her heart,
and she thought she had never en-
joyed anything half so much as the
gossip fest in the bare room which
was given over to the younger nurses
as a recreation hall
"I can hardly wait to get out Of
this putrid hole,'' said Bert. You
know they are finally moving us to
the home tomorrow, leaving poor Nc
Cain and Roundy to keep an eye on
the new probes"
Yeah, at last is right, but 1t has
its drawbacks. We will have q COM
Portable room instead of prison cell,
but the place is so cluttered up with
seniors and head nurses that we
won't have much freedom"
Actually eager to 60 on duty, MAZDA
was down at breakfast early In her
crisp uniform, only to find herself
assigned to evening duty on women's
medical. This was an anti-climax, as
It meant she would be on from 2:30 to
IL. She put In the time during the
morning in moving her belongings
and Bert'S to their new quarters, and
shortly before 2:30 reported ON
women's medical.
She found herself plunged into the
old atmosphere with q vengeance, and
before she went down to midnight
lunch at IL, she was q little less fer
vent about the joys Of a nurses life.
Miss Kroll, the head nurse, liked to
show o good record in the training
school office by getting along with
very few nurses. She had preserved
this record by the simple means of
working the girls overtime, until Miss
Burns had accidentally found this
out, and then Miss Knoll was repri-
manded and the force increased. It
had happened while Bert was on the
ward, and it was Bert who had re-
vealed the state OF affairs. She had
been coming OF duty at 0 instead Of Z
one night, when she had met Miss
Burns.
Miss Gulick, why are you in uni
form at this hour?" she had asked
severely.
Bert was tired and cross, and she
cared for neither man nor devil when
her blood was up, so she was delighted
to be able to answer, "I'm just coming
of duty, Miss Burns"
"At this hour?"
'Oh, we never get of on time. Hall
The time we don't get our hours dur
ing the day. I work on women's
medical you see."
"That viii do, Miss Gulick."
The next day Miss Kroll had had
her session in the T. s. O., extra help
was sent, and thereafter the work was
not so killing. AS yet the new pro-
bationerS were only allowed on the
wards two hours in the morning and
two in the afternoon
Afternoon nourishments, an i'm
portant part Of the duties on the medi-
cal wards, had to be passed, and it
seemed they were hardly out of the
way before 1t was time for the supper
trays. Mazda had been too busy to
think about the medicines, but it
seemed she was always meeting the
senior nurse with her medicine tray.
Thank heaven, the medication would
not be so heavy at night, when she
would be on alone from Z until IL.
There was no one very sick, it.. was
quite a light day for women's medi-
cal, and Mazda was glad she would
have the chance to get to know her
patients and get the hang of the rou-
tine before things got too busy.
At z the day nurses went. off and
the visitors began to come. Beyond
keeping a sharp watch to see that
they did not, smuggle food to the
patients, there was not much to do,
as the visitors could get drinks OF water
and perform little services to make
visitors were beginning to straggle out,
and Mazda started to take her 8
o'clock temperatures. To save time,
she gave out Thermometers to two or
three patients at time, then re-
turned to take pulse and respiration
and pick up the thermometers. When
she came to Mrs. Bliss, a woman of
IS With the wild eye and complaining
voice Of trouble maker, MAZDA was
surprised to see that the thermometer
still registered only 97.6.
"You haven't had it in your mouth
at ALL" she accused her, and the
patient in the next bed, pleased to get
Mrs. Bliss In trouble, chimed in
eagerly:
That's the truth, Miss"
Mrs. Bliss said nothing, but after q
baleful glare at her neighbor, turned