Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 41: One Step At A Time

Chapter 41: One Step At A Time

To say that I was moving to the other side of the country was not wrong. City D was located to the southeast, while City Z was almost as far northwest as you could get.

I did some research on the area and its people when I first received the acceptance letter, but since beggars couldn’t be choosers, I stuck mainly to the beautiful scenery that surrounded the city.

I knew it wouldn’t be easy to live there, especially on my own. But the director of the hospital had offered to let me stay with him and his family while I got used to things. It was a nice offer, and at the end of the day, if I wasn’t happy there, I knew I could always go back home.

But I wanted to be a doctor.

So, no matter how hard or how many obstacles popped up to try and trip me, I would continue forward on my path.

One step at a time. That was all I needed to do. Just take things one step at a time.

The flight was almost six and a half hours long, more than enough time to eat, sleep, and prepare to meet the director of Mercy Hospital. However, I couldn’t eat or sleep, which left me more than a little cranky when the plane landed at the City Z airport.

"You should have napped," muttered Mom as she fixed my hair and made sure I was presentable. "Not only do you have giant black circles under your eyes, but you are being a complete grouch. They will think they hired a panda to be a doctor and not the girl who graduated first from her medical school."

"They are going to need to get used to me somehow," I grumbled, not going so far as to mess my hair up again but refusing to let Mom put concealer under my eyes.

They were willing to take a chance on me, and I would make sure that they got everything I had to offer. But I drew the line at putting on makeup. There was no way I was willing to wake up early on the days that I worked to put on makeup, so they would have to get used to that as soon as possible.

Sleep was definitely more important.

I stumbled a few steps, causing Mom to turn around and look at me. "Are you sure this is what you want to do? We can just as easily turn around and go back home. Try again in a few more years."

"Nope, just trying to get my feet working," I muttered, looking down at the offending things. I placed one foot in front of the other and then again until they were both working the way they needed to be.

"Really? I don’t mind," answered Mom, raising her eyebrow to look at me.

"Really," I stated, the smirk on my face letting me know what she was doing. "Now, let’s find the director and then a hotel. I could use some sleep before I need to start my first shift."

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"You must be Wang Tian Mu," said a kindly older gentleman as he took my backpack from my shoulder. He looked at Mom and nodded his head to her politely.

"I am," I smiled. "And you must be Director Kong Guang Li from Mercy Hospital. It is an absolute pleasure to meet you." I held out my hand and waited.

It didn’t take long for him to grip my hand firmly before letting go, the smile on his face never altering for a second.

"I have to say, normally, it is much harder to get the prized pupil from A University Medical School to come to one of these smaller cities. The other hospitals tend to snatch them up before we can even make an offer," said the director as we waited for the rest of our luggage to arrive.

"Yes, well, there were more than a few excuses," I laughed, pretending like every rejection was not a stab to my heart. "My top favorites were that no hospital had a surgical table short enough for me and that they were concerned that I might look like a patient playing dress up."

"Bah," snorted the director. "They were just worried that you would show up the old folks."

I looked at him, startled. He was the first one to have come out and say it, but I don’t think that he was wrong in his evaluation. Medicine was something that was steeped in tradition. Even ’breakthroughs’ were brought about by following the same path that everyone had taken before.

But because it was so traditional, to have someone so young, no matter what my results were, was like a bone stuck in your throat that you couldn’t take out.

I didn’t fit the image of a doctor, so I couldn’t be one.

"I take it you aren’t worried?" I asked him seriously as Mom grabbed the first of two bags.

"No. Out here, we don’t have the opportunity to be as worried about traditions as the other hospitals." I was going to ask him what he meant by that, but before I could, Mom had rejoined us with everything.

"Please, let me take that," said the director, holding out his hands for my suitcases. "My car is close by."

Mom nodded her head and let the director take the two suitcases while she took my hand. "I will have to admit, I have some concerns," she started as we walked out into the warm desert air.

"As a good mother, I am going to have to assume that you have more than a few concerns," chuckled the director as he took us to an older model black car. It was sitting by the curb, almost right out front of the airport.

He popped the trunk and placed my luggage inside. "But it would be my pleasure to help alleviate some of those concerns. However, if you are anything like my wife, they will never be completely alleviated."

Mom nodded her head in agreement.

"Why her?" she demanded, and the director looked at her startled. "Why my daughter?"

"Because she was the best in her class. And my patients deserve the best."