I Got the Ugly One

A flash A loud bang Darkness Darkness
Finally the darkness begins to clear. A voice is heard:
Emily Evans, this is the rescuer, something exploded there with them.
Through the pain he feels a hand touch his neck. He tries to open his eyelids. It works with difficulty. Before his eyes hangs a rectangular pendant with zodiac signs engraved on it The eyes of the woman in the white coat
To the operating room! a voice sounds right beside him.
The parents return from work. The mother rushes straight to the kitchen, glancing into the room where her son is doing his homework. David, however, upon entering the room, immediately notices that his son’s mood is not very good.
Tom, what happened? the father pats him on the head.
Nothing, – the son mutters, a fourth-grader.
Come on, tell me!
International Women’s Day is coming soon. The teacher kept us today and said that we need to prepare gifts for the girls.
Well, what’s the problem then? the father smiles.
We have the same number of boys and girls. And she distributed who gives to whom, – the son sighs heavily. I got the ugly one, Emily Evans.
All girls want a gift for International Women’s Day, and the ugly ones too, – the father tries to talk to his son like an adult. And how did she distribute? By alphabet?
No, by zodiac signs?
How’s that? David cannot help but smile again.
By compatibility. Emily is a Virgo, and Virgos suit Taurus the most. And I, just, am a Taurus.
That’s good if you suit each other! When you grow up, maybe you’ll fall in love with her.
The father cannot hold back and laughs. The mother immediately runs into the room:
What’s going on here?
Linda, go to the kitchen, – the father’s face becomes strict. We are having a serious conversation with our son.
When the mother leaves, Tom asks in a sad voice:
Dad, and what should I do now?
Prepare a gift!
What kind?
Tomorrow at work I’ll make a gift for your chosen one.
Dad, what kind of gift can you make? You work at the factory.
Yes! But I work in the electroplating department. And we produce all kinds of metal coatings.
Dad, I didn’t understand.
Tomorrow you’ll see for yourself!
***
The next day the father brings a pendant on a chain in the form of a rectangle that seems golden. On one side two zodiac signs are engraved, Taurus and Virgo, and on the other finely but beautifully written:
To my classmate Emily for International Women’s Day! Thomas.
Oh, how beautifully this pendant looks! And when mother packs it in a cellophane bag, it starts to look absolutely amazing.
***
And so the seventh of March. The teacher is not going to conduct lessons. First the schoolchildren give her a gift. She thanks for a long time. Then she announces that the boys should give gifts to the girls.
What begins here! All the boys rush to their chosen ones. Tom also approaches Emily Evans and says, as his dad taught him:
Emily, I congratulate you on the holiday of International Women’s Day! Perhaps someday fate will connect the Taurus and the Virgo.
Having said the memorized phrase, Tom heads to his place and, of course, does not notice how the heart of this ugly, in his opinion, girl starts beating.
Soon Emily’s parents move to live in another area, and Emily herself from the fifth grade starts studying at another school.
***
Thomas opens his eyes. The white ceiling of the hospital ward. He tries to move his arms and legs. Only the left arm moves.
Where am I? he addresses no one in particular.
Some clattering is heard and a patient on crutches approaches his bed, looks at him attentively and asks:
You awake? You are in the emergency surgery department.
Are my arms and legs all intact? Thomas asks in a quiet voice.
Seems everything is in place, – he reports the joyful news. Only you’re bandaged from head to toe.
That’s good if everything is whole.
Then the nurse approaches and asks sympathetically:
– How do you feel?
– What happened to me! Thomas answers with a question.
– Nothing threatens your life. Your arms and legs will work. Only there will be many scars left, – she hands over the switched on phone. Your mother asked to call when you wake up.
– Sonny, – the mother’s voice comes through tears.
– Mom, everything is fine, – he tries to speak as cheerfully as possible. They said that only small scars will remain. You’ll be discharged soon.
– They didn’t allow me to stay with you at night. Sonny, I’m coming now.
– Mom, don’t get too upset!
He puts the phone next to him, tries to smile at the nurse:
– Thank you!
– Well, they won’t discharge you soon, – the nurse smiles in response. You’ll lie here for three weeks. That’s for sure!
– What happened to you? the neighbor in the ward asks when the nurse leaves.
– I’m a rescuer. At the factory oxygen cylinders started exploding, – Thomas begins to remember. We were called. We arrived before the firefighters. The room is huge, there are three victims inside the room. We ran in there, cylinders are scattered, fire in some places. We started carrying out the victims I was the last to leave When I was already near the door, another cylinder exploded I don’t remember further.
– Yes, you got it bad.
– Thomas Thompson, – the nurse’s voice is heard. A colleague from work is here for you.
– Hey, Tom! How are you?
– Arms and legs are whole! the victim answers optimistically. But I can only greet with my left hand for now!
– Come on!
– What happened next?
– We were already leaving when it exploded. We rushed back right away, pulled you out you were covered in blood the doctors were already nearby
– Thank you!
– Tom, what are you talking about?! suddenly a smile appears on the friend’s face. – They seem to want to present us with medals.
– By that time they’ll discharge me.
– Okay, I’m going. You’ll have rounds now. The nurse said not for long.
The friend doesn’t have time to leave when the doctor, a man about forty, enters:
– Well, how are things, hero? he approaches his bed.
– Normal.
– Since you’re already talking, you’ll live. Come on, I’ll examine you!
– Did you stitch me up? Thomas asks.
– No, Emily Evans. She’ll come the day after tomorrow.
***
Two days pass. Thomas is already trying to get up. True, the pain in his legs is still strong, his right arm is torn. And there are no less than ten wounds all over his body. Two on his face, when it exploded, he hit the gate, good that he managed to put his right hand forward in time. He looks in the mirror. His face is still swollen.
Today the rounds should be done by the doctor who sewed him up for five hours straight in the operating room the day before yesterday. Thomas is even a little nervous.
And so she enters. Young, slim, though in glasses, but they don’t spoil her in the least, and the white coat suits her perfectly. Thomas at his twenty-seven is already married. But six months ago they parted ways they didn’t get along in characters, as written in the statement, but in reality the ex-wife didn’t like the rescuer’s salary.
– Hello! the doctor says and heads to his bed.
– Hello! Did you stitch me up?
– I did, – she smiles. Is something wrong?
– Let me examine you!
And she leans over him Before his eyes is the pendant with zodiac signs, dangling from her neck:
– Emily Evans!!! he exclaims.
She looks carefully at his swollen face.
– Sorry! she says, not having recognized him.
– I’m a Taurus, – and he points to the pendant.
– Tom Thompson? her lips tremble. You still remember me?
– Well, what are you, Emily? seeing tears in the woman’s eyes, he lowers his palm onto her hand.
– Sorry! she takes out a handkerchief and wipes her eyes. I never thought we would meet like this with you.
Emily doesn’t enter his ward anymore that day. But Thomas already understands that her schedule is like his: day, night and two days off.
He doesn’t want to look helpless in front of her at all. The whole next day he tries to walk around the ward leaning on the beds, a couple of times, holding onto the wall, he goes out into the corridor.
Evening. The doctor working the day shift leaves. The new shift arrives this is felt from the conversation in the corridor. Now rounds
And suddenly screams, hurried steps in the corridor. This happens when another victim is brought in.
It’s already ten o’clock. The nurse comes in, turns off the light in the ward. But he can’t sleep. Already past midnight, someone’s steps are heard in the corridor, then they quiet down, and in this silence Thomas rather feels than hears that someone is crying in the corridor. He gets up and carefully goes out into the corridor.
Behind the duty desk sits and, with her head dropped onto her hands, his former classmate is crying. He approaches and puts his healthy hand on her shoulder:
– What’s wrong, Emily!
She stands up and buries herself in his shoulder:
– I operated on a woman, she got hit by a car, – choking with tears she starts to tell. I did everything possible and impossible She is now in intensive care, but she won’t survive. She has two children her husband is now with her in the ward
– Calm down, Emily!
– Three years already working as a surgeon and I still can’t get used to the fact that people die.
– Calm down, calm down! Such are our professions with you. In five years I’ve also seen so many deaths, but we have saved quite a few lives too, – Thomas sighs heavily. – That’s why my wife left me. She says: I come home not myself and earn little money. But I always bring home forty pounds it’s enough to live.
– I have the same thing, – she looks into his face. Guys look at me like I’m crazy. I still haven’t been married, I live with my parents like a kid.
– Come on, for us with you only twenty-seven the whole life is ahead.
– No, Tom, we are already twenty-seven.
– Emily Evans, her pulse is disappearing, – the nurse shouts, running out.
– Sorry! and Emily rushes to intensive care.
Thomas can’t fall asleep this night. In the morning the nurse comes, as usual gives him an injection.
– The woman who was operated on tonight, is she alive? he asks unexpectedly even for himself.
– Alive, but the condition is extremely serious.
***
Three weeks pass. The wounds on Thomas’s body have healed. They see each other with Emily when there are her shifts, moreover, he is drawn to her more and more strongly. But the emergency surgery department is not the place where you can talk about something very personal.
And so during one of the morning rounds the male doctor reports:
– Today I am discharging you, – smiles and adds. In the sense, from the hospital. You will go straight to your clinic, and there they will decide how much more you need to sit on sick leave.
– You can get ready!
– Yes, yes! Don’t rush particularly. Now they’ll prepare the discharge for you.
When the doctor leaves, Thomas shaves. Looking in the mirror, he notes with satisfaction that the two remaining scars don’t spoil the face at all, rather add masculinity. It’s not worth paying attention to the other scars at all.
He gets dressed, goes out into the corridor. A patient is coming towards him, holding onto the wall.
She still pulled through! a joyful thought flashes.
The nurse comes out, hands over the discharge:
– Goodbye, Thomas! Don’t come to us again!
***
He has his own one-room apartment, but he goes to his parents. After all, mom has been waiting for him so much and worrying. She even took a vacation.
– Sonny! she rushes to him in an embrace.
– That’s it, mom! As you see, I’m alive and well.
– Come on, I’ve prepared something for you to eat. You’ve become so thin.
– Oh, how I’ve missed home food!
– Until you recover and get married you’ll live in your parents’ house. Your room is still empty, – and she shouts as if to a child. Go, wash your hands!
***
By evening Thomas goes to the hairdresser’s. He enters his apartment. Picks up some clothes. Mom immediately starts putting them in order.
In the evening the father comes from work. They sit, as before, all together and talk until late at night.
He goes to bed in his room, where childhood and youth passed, but doesn’t fall asleep right away:
Tomorrow I need to go to the clinic. Then to work. And in the evening
With the thought of the next evening he falls asleep well after midnight.
***
The next day Thomas goes to the clinic in the morning. Until lunch he goes through the offices. After lunch he goes to his work, just his shift is there.
– Where are you going? the father asks.
– Dad, remember long ago, when I was still studying in the fourth grade. You made me a pendant for a gift to a classmate?
– The ugly Emily Evans? I remember.
– Remember, you also said: When you grow up, maybe you’ll fall in love with her.
– And I remember that.
– Dad, Emily is now a surgeon. It was she who performed the operation on me. And she still wears that pendant around her neck.
– Well, that’s something!
– Dad, your words came true. I’m going to her!
***
Twenty seven years is not so much for the beginning of life with a loved one.A flash A loud bang Darkness Darkness
Finally the darkness begins to clear. A voice is heard:
Emily Evans, this is the rescuer, something exploded there with them.
Through the pain he feels a hand touch his neck. He tries to open his eyelids. It works with difficulty. Before his eyes hangs a rectangular pendant with zodiac signs engraved on it The eyes of the woman in the white coat
To the operating room! a voice sounds right beside him.
The parents return from work. The mother rushes straight to the kitchen, glancing into the room where her son is doing his homework. David, however, upon entering the room, immediately notices that his son’s mood is not very good.
Tom, what happened? the father pats him on the head.
Nothing, – the son mutters, a fourth-grader.
Come on, tell me!
International Women’s Day is coming soon. The teacher kept us today and said that we need to prepare gifts for the girls.
Well, what’s the problem then? the father smiles.
We have the same number of boys and girls. And she distributed who gives to whom, – the son sighs heavily. I got the ugly one, Emily Evans.
All girls want a gift for International Women’s Day, and the ugly ones too, – the father tries to talk to his son like an adult. And how did she distribute? By alphabet?
No, by zodiac signs?
How’s that? David cannot help but smile again.
By compatibility. Emily is a Virgo, and Virgos suit Taurus the most. And I, just, am a Taurus.
That’s good if you suit each other! When you grow up, maybe you’ll fall in love with her.
The father cannot hold back and laughs. The mother immediately runs into the room:
What’s going on here?
Linda, go to the kitchen, – the father’s face becomes strict. We are having a serious conversation with our son.
When the mother leaves, Tom asks in a sad voice:
Dad, and what should I do now?
Prepare a gift!
What kind?
Tomorrow at work I’ll make a gift for your chosen one.
Dad, what kind of gift can you make? You work at the factory.
Yes! But I work in the electroplating department. And we produce all kinds of metal coatings.
Dad, I didn’t understand.
Tomorrow you’ll see for yourself!
***
The next day the father brings a pendant on a chain in the form of a rectangle that seems golden. On one side two zodiac signs are engraved, Taurus and Virgo, and on the other finely but beautifully written:
To my classmate Emily for International Women’s Day! Thomas.
Oh, how beautifully this pendant looks! And when mother packs it in a cellophane bag, it starts to look absolutely amazing.
***
And so the seventh of March. The teacher is not going to conduct lessons. First the schoolchildren give her a gift. She thanks for a long time. Then she announces that the boys should give gifts to the girls.
What begins here! All the boys rush to their chosen ones. Tom also approaches Emily Evans and says, as his dad taught him:
Emily, I congratulate you on the holiday of International Women’s Day! Perhaps someday fate will connect the Taurus and the Virgo.
Having said the memorized phrase, Tom heads to his place and, of course, does not notice how the heart of this ugly, in his opinion, girl starts beating.
Soon Emily’s parents move to live in another area, and Emily herself from the fifth grade starts studying at another school.
***
Thomas opens his eyes. The white ceiling of the hospital ward. He tries to move his arms and legs. Only the left arm moves.
Where am I? he addresses no one in particular.
Some clattering is heard and a patient on crutches approaches his bed, looks at him attentively and asks:
You awake? You are in the emergency surgery department.
Are my arms and legs all intact? Thomas asks in a quiet voice.
Seems everything is in place, – he reports the joyful news. Only you’re bandaged from head to toe.
That’s good if everything is whole.
Then the nurse approaches and asks sympathetically:
– How do you feel?
– What happened to me! Thomas answers with a question.
– Nothing threatens your life. Your arms and legs will work. Only there will be many scars left, – she hands over the switched on phone. Your mother asked to call when you wake up.
– Sonny, – the mother’s voice comes through tears.
– Mom, everything is fine, – he tries to speak as cheerfully as possible. They said that only small scars will remain. You’ll be discharged soon.
– They didn’t allow me to stay with you at night. Sonny, I’m coming now.
– Mom, don’t get too upset!
He puts the phone next to him, tries to smile at the nurse:
– Thank you!
– Well, they won’t discharge you soon, – the nurse smiles in response. You’ll lie here for three weeks. That’s for sure!
– What happened to you? the neighbor in the ward asks when the nurse leaves.
– I’m a rescuer. At the factory oxygen cylinders started exploding, – Thomas begins to remember. We were called. We arrived before the firefighters. The room is huge, there are three victims inside the room. We ran in there, cylinders are scattered, fire in some places. We started carrying out the victims I was the last to leave When I was already near the door, another cylinder exploded I don’t remember further.
– Yes, you got it bad.
– Thomas Thompson, – the nurse’s voice is heard. A colleague from work is here for you.
– Hey, Tom! How are you?
– Arms and legs are whole! the victim answers optimistically. But I can only greet with my left hand for now!
– Come on!
– What happened next?
– We were already leaving when it exploded. We rushed back right away, pulled you out you were covered in blood the doctors were already nearby
– Thank you!
– Tom, what are you talking about?! suddenly a smile appears on the friend’s face. – They seem to want to present us with medals.
– By that time they’ll discharge me.
– Okay, I’m going. You’ll have rounds now. The nurse said not for long.
The friend doesn’t have time to leave when the doctor, a man about forty, enters:
– Well, how are things, hero? he approaches his bed.
– Normal.
– Since you’re already talking, you’ll live. Come on, I’ll examine you!
– Did you stitch me up? Thomas asks.
– No, Emily Evans. She’ll come the day after tomorrow.
***
Two days pass. Thomas is already trying to get up. True, the pain in his legs is still strong, his right arm is torn. And there are no less than ten wounds all over his body. Two on his face, when it exploded, he hit the gate, good that he managed to put his right hand forward in time. He looks in the mirror. His face is still swollen.
Today the rounds should be done by the doctor who sewed him up for five hours straight in the operating room the day before yesterday. Thomas is even a little nervous.
And so she enters. Young, slim, though in glasses, but they don’t spoil her in the least, and the white coat suits her perfectly. Thomas at his twenty-seven is already married. But six months ago they parted ways they didn’t get along in characters, as written in the statement, but in reality the ex-wife didn’t like the rescuer’s salary.
– Hello! the doctor says and heads to his bed.
– Hello! Did you stitch me up?
– I did, – she smiles. Is something wrong?
– Let me examine you!
And she leans over him Before his eyes is the pendant with zodiac signs, dangling from her neck:
– Emily Evans!!! he exclaims.
She looks carefully at his swollen face.
– Sorry! she says, not having recognized him.
– I’m a Taurus, – and he points to the pendant.
– Tom Thompson? her lips tremble. You still remember me?
– Well, what are you, Emily? seeing tears in the woman’s eyes, he lowers his palm onto her hand.
– Sorry! she takes out a handkerchief and wipes her eyes. I never thought we would meet like this with you.
Emily doesn’t enter his ward anymore that day. But Thomas already understands that her schedule is like his: day, night and two days off.
He doesn’t want to look helpless in front of her at all. The whole next day he tries to walk around the ward leaning on the beds, a couple of times, holding onto the wall, he goes out into the corridor.
Evening. The doctor working the day shift leaves. The new shift arrives this is felt from the conversation in the corridor. Now rounds
And suddenly screams, hurried steps in the corridor. This happens when another victim is brought in.
It’s already ten o’clock. The nurse comes in, turns off the light in the ward. But he can’t sleep. Already past midnight, someone’s steps are heard in the corridor, then they quiet down, and in this silence Thomas rather feels than hears that someone is crying in the corridor. He gets up and carefully goes out into the corridor.
Behind the duty desk sits and, with her head dropped onto her hands, his former classmate is crying. He approaches and puts his healthy hand on her shoulder:
– What’s wrong, Emily!
She stands up and buries herself in his shoulder:
– I operated on a woman, she got hit by a car, – choking with tears she starts to tell. I did everything possible and impossible She is now in intensive care, but she won’t survive. She has two children her husband is now with her in the ward
– Calm down, Emily!
– Three years already working as a surgeon and I still can’t get used to the fact that people die.
– Calm down, calm down! Such are our professions with you. In five years I’ve also seen so many deaths, but we have saved quite a few lives too, – Thomas sighs heavily. – That’s why my wife left me. She says: I come home not myself and earn little money. But I always bring home forty pounds it’s enough to live.
– I have the same thing, – she looks into his face. Guys look at me like I’m crazy. I still haven’t been married, I live with my parents like a kid.
– Come on, for us with you only twenty-seven the whole life is ahead.
– No, Tom, we are already twenty-seven.
– Emily Evans, her pulse is disappearing, – the nurse shouts, running out.
– Sorry! and Emily rushes to intensive care.
Thomas can’t fall asleep this night. In the morning the nurse comes, as usual gives him an injection.
– The woman who was operated on tonight, is she alive? he asks unexpectedly even for himself.
– Alive, but the condition is extremely serious.
***
Three weeks pass. The wounds on Thomas’s body have healed. They see each other with Emily when there are her shifts, moreover, he is drawn to her more and more strongly. But the emergency surgery department is not the place where you can talk about something very personal.
And so during one of the morning rounds the male doctor reports:
– Today I am discharging you, – smiles and adds. In the sense, from the hospital. You will go straight to your clinic, and there they will decide how much more you need to sit on sick leave.
– You can get ready!
– Yes, yes! Don’t rush particularly. Now they’ll prepare the discharge for you.
When the doctor leaves, Thomas shaves. Looking in the mirror, he notes with satisfaction that the two remaining scars don’t spoil the face at all, rather add masculinity. It’s not worth paying attention to the other scars at all.
He gets dressed, goes out into the corridor. A patient is coming towards him, holding onto the wall.
She still pulled through! a joyful thought flashes.
The nurse comes out, hands over the discharge:
– Goodbye, Thomas! Don’t come to us again!
***
He has his own one-room apartment, but he goes to his parents. After all, mom has been waiting for him so much and worrying. She even took a vacation.
– Sonny! she rushes to him in an embrace.
– That’s it, mom! As you see, I’m alive and well.
– Come on, I’ve prepared something for you to eat. You’ve become so thin.
– Oh, how I’ve missed home food!
– Until you recover and get married you’ll live in your parents’ house. Your room is still empty, – and she shouts as if to a child. Go, wash your hands!
***
By evening Thomas goes to the hairdresser’s. He enters his apartment. Picks up some clothes. Mom immediately starts putting them in order.
In the evening the father comes from work. They sit, as before, all together and talk until late at night.
He goes to bed in his room, where childhood and youth passed, but doesn’t fall asleep right away:
Tomorrow I need to go to the clinic. Then to work. And in the evening
With the thought of the next evening he falls asleep well after midnight.
***
The next day Thomas goes to the clinic in the morning. Until lunch he goes through the offices. After lunch he goes to his work, just his shift is there.
– Where are you going? the father asks.
– Dad, remember long ago, when I was still studying in the fourth grade. You made me a pendant for a gift to a classmate?
– The ugly Emily Evans? I remember.
– Remember, you also said: When you grow up, maybe you’ll fall in love with her.
– And I remember that.
– Dad, Emily is now a surgeon. It was she who performed the operation on me. And she still wears that pendant around her neck.
– Well, that’s something!
– Dad, your words came true. I’m going to her!
***
Twenty seven years is not so much for the beginning of life with a loved one.