***** Vol.2 Chap.3 The Tsai-Chen Clinic *****

Today, May-Ling started the clean-up work herself. Most of the time, she and Haw-Ting would do it together before they quit for the day.

The clinic was not big. At the front, there was a small sitting area with a few wooden chairs and benches donated by the owner of the place when they first signed the lease for the place. Next to the sitting area was a small room labeled ‘The nurses’ station’ on the door. There was a small window in the wall where a nurse could look out and see who was coming in.

The nurse on duty would take down the name and some simple information related to the patient. Though most clinics and hospitals used computers nowadays, the clinic was too poor to afford a computer. Instead, everything was recorded by hand and filed in paper boxes by May-Ling herself at the end of the day. Somehow, she always knew where to get the right information for the correct patient. There was not much furniture in the Nurses’ station, only a table to write on and a few chairs. The only luxury item was a thermos with hot water to make tea for the staff. All around the walls were boxes of records of past and present patients.

She swept the floor quickly. After picking up the pens on the table and a couple of pencils on the floor, and neatly replaced them on the cup holder with the rest of the pens. She also picked up a few scrap papers and carried those to the trash bin.

Across the Nurses’ station on the other side of the hallway was the Pharmacy. The shelves seemed very bare. There were only a few boxes of gauze and bandages on the lower shelf, along with a box of sanitary napkins. On the top shelf, there was half a bottle of iodine and a couple of bottles of aspirin.

I better go get some supplies soon. She told herself.

Next to the Pharmacy was Haw-Ting’s office. As she was coming out of the Pharmacy, she noticed that there was only one more patient waiting for him. She passed his office on her right and her own office on the left. There was the broom closet at the end of the hallway.

As she turned down the second hallway, there was a big multi-purpose room with ten beds inside. This was the room where Jar-Li exploded this morning. Involuntarily, she shuddered. No one was there now. The room looked so peaceful now. But in her mind, the turmoil, the shouting, and the struggles were still very vivid and fresh in her mind.

This room had been used for different treatments, but now mostly for acupuncture treatments. Many of her patients would come in once a week for a fifteen-minute treatment with acupuncture needles. During the day, most of the beds would be full. Today was no exception. There was chatting and talking and discussion the whole day regarding the patient Jar-Li. As she stared across the room, she was savoring a precious moment of peace.

She heard Haw-Ting calling for the last patient to go in. She snapped herself to attention, grabbed the broom, and picked up the pace to clean the room. Somehow, she had a hard time concentrating on her job. Her mind kept wandering back to the events of the day about Jar-Li and the other patients. She thought she had him figured out and under control, but the events of this morning completely shattered her theory and her understanding. She reminded herself that she had to re-examine more carefully her understanding of the yin-yang theory and she must adjust her treatment so that the events this morning would never occur again.

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“You will never finish the room if you are just standing there!” Haw-Ting said to her jokingly.

“Oh, sorry. I was thinking about the day.”

“You are always thinking about the day.”

“I know, I know. I can’t help it.”

“You take your job too seriously. As your doctor, I order you to take two days off to rest and relax.” He laughed.

“Yes, doctor.” She saluted him and they both laughed.

“Say, don’t you have a seminar to give tonight at the Medical School?”

“Is it tonight?” She sounded frantic.

“Yes, dear. If I remember correctly, it should be at seven tonight.”

“Really? What time is it?” She is frantic now.

“Time for you to get out of here and catch the bus.”

“Oh, Haw-Ting. Thank you for reminding me. What am I going to do without you?”

“You will be utterly lost!” They both laughed.

“Now, get out of here. I will finish up.” He walked up and kissed her on the cheek and took the broom from her.

“OK. Let me grab my notes from my office.” She ran into her office, looked around her messy desk for a while, found her notes underneath a pile of unread magazines on top of that, another pile of patient records that she was going to bring home for further study. She picked up her notes and the pile of patient records and stuffed them into her bag. There was another pile of mail that she had not touched for an entire week. She grabbed those and stuffed those into her bag as well.

Haw-Ting came over and hugged her. She returned his smile with a funny face and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He stepped aside and she scooted out of the clinic. Then he returned to the treatment room, picked up the broom, and started on the rest of the clean-up work.

He never enjoyed cleaning, but he did it tonight to help her. Perhaps they would get the weekend off to themselves. Most of the time, they come back to the clinic on the off days to clean up, to restock the pharmacy, or to do filing. They rarely have any time off at all. He picked up the broom and swept the room. After the treatment room and the smaller room down the corridor, he saw that things are alright there, and he convinced himself that the clinic was clean. He knew that the supplies in the pharmacy were low, so he decided to leave early and stop by the pharmacy distributor’s place to pick up some supplies.

Back at his office, he picked up a few papers from his desk. There was a stack of forms to be filled out for the Health Department and the City, and the Central Government. He dreaded filling those forms, but someone had to do it.

Before heading out, he stopped by the cookie jar in the nurses’ station. It was not really a cookie jar, but they all called it a cookie jar. Since Haw-Ting and May-Ling did not charge the patients any fee, they put a jar in the nurses’ station and anyone can put money into the jar for donations. The jar was initially labeled ‘Donation’ and referred to as the ‘Donation Pot.’ One day, a small boy came in and saw the jar. He thought it was a cookie jar and made a big fuss because he wanted a cookie from the jar. From that day on, everyone refers to it as the ‘cookie jar.’

He collected all the money in the cookie jar, but did not bother to count it. Glancing at the number of bills, he knew that this week, as in many previous weeks, the donation was meager. Yet he and May-Ling appreciated the donation received and they were pleased to continue to offer free health care. Carefully putting the money in an envelope, he grabbed the paperwork and headed out of the clinic.