“Plus he is just so handsome,” added the First Lady.
“Mr. President, she is here, and it is technically still our first date. Please don’t embarrass me too much. I may never get a second,” Frank said turning slightly red. He was obviously uncomfortable with the exchange and was trying to find a graceful exit.
The President finally released the grip on his shoulder, “Ms. Cooper I was told that you are a nurse from Dallas. Is that correct?”
Somehow at this point she was sure he knew far more about her than she would have ever dreamt possible. This both amazed and somewhat shocked her, “Yes Sir. I work in an emergency room.”
“You were at work when the attack occurred, at least from what my staff has told me. Before you leave tonight I want to hear from you first hand about what the situation in the E.R. was like that day. Also, I would like to know how it has evolved since then and what we might do to be better prepared if something like this, God forbid, ever happens again,” the President requested.
“Yes Sir. I hope I can do it justice. I am sure that there is someone better qualified than me for this,” she stammered.
“You were there. You are the most qualified individual for what I want to know,” The President replied. “Besides,” he went on, “from what I understand, you threw an administrator out on his ass when he tried to shut the hospital down because of some fire code. That is exactly the type of person I need to hear from. I don’t need another official report, I want first-hand knowledge.”
At this point she was half certain that he was just being a good host and could care less what she had to say. Hopefully he would forget about it by the end of the night. Some part of her wanted to talk his ear off on any number of subjects, another part of her wanted to hide in a corner and hope no one noticed she was in the room for the rest of the night.
They proceeded to find their table, and at their seats before she recovered. She was very glad they weren’t seated at the same table as the President. That might be too much for her, and might just be enough to drive her screaming into that corner. Frank was also happy with the seating chart, as he had no desire to have that level of interest in their first date.
“You seem so calm,” she whispered to Frank.
“Believe me, I did much worse than you the first time I met him. Amazingly magnetic personality though, don’t you think? I can see why he has never lost an election. Just being near him I seem to want to support him on anything he says. That doesn’t come through on television like it does in person. There it’s all looks and talking points. In person he makes far more sense than the news bites we normally see,” he said.
“Yes, I think he was destined to be in politics. I am certainly glad he isn’t a salesman, I would buy whatever he was selling,” she giggled a little, instantly embarrassed by the fact that she felt, and sounded a little bit like a schoolgirl.
Slowly looking around the room, she realized there was an equally impressive, but larger collection of Americana than there had been in the entryway. She felt compelled to tease Frank just a little more, “So, Soldier, I have to know, if this is a first date, what do you do for an encore? Normally, according to social convention, a second date is supposed to be better than the first.”
“Well crap,” he said.
She thought he was finally relaxing and turning back into the man of the phone calls, emails and text messages.
“I guess its just one and done for us,” he teased her back. “So we may as well enjoy ourselves shake hands, and go our separate ways.”
“Oh no you did not just say that. I already told my mother about you. That is something I never do. I will want a second date at some point. I may need at least three now that I think of it,” she finished her statement with one eyebrow slightly raised, hoping her flirtation didn’t go too far. The mix of alcohol and ambiance was making her feel dizzy.
If it hadn’t been for that drink earlier none of this would have been said out loud. She was also relatively sure she would not have made it through the receiving line without falling down. The alcoholic nerve booster was helping.
Throughout the salad course it became obvious that every single one of the soldiers, and their significant others, had the same “are we really here” feeling. Once the main course, which was the most succulent salmon any of them had ever tasted, arrived they all started to relax and become themselves. Perhaps it was the phenomenally well-chosen wine helping with that.
Frank and Sandy enjoyed their conversation and more than a few laughs. To her pleasant surprise what she enjoyed just as much as Frank’s company was the couple seated to their right. It consisted of Master Sergeant Fisher and his wife Heather.
In the rush to get here the other guests she would meet were not something she had thought about for a single second. What she had found was a couple she was totally relaxed around, probably because they shared many of the same worldviews. It put her at complete ease to be around like-minded people.
From them, she heard many stories about her date. Some meant to be endearing, others obviously meant to embarrass him. As rapidly as the night began the dessert plates were being removed and they were ushered into a smaller, equally breathtaking room with couches and lounge chairs spread around, so they could enjoy some after dinner drinks and talk.
Sandy was taking the first drink of white wine and Frank a scotch when the President came directly over to them with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Frank’s Group Commander in tow, “Hello again you two. I wonder if Ms. Cooper here might be able to take some time and give me some of her thoughts on life in the ER immediately after, and in the days following the attacks?”
Her hopes of him forgetting about that line of questioning were just smashed. She almost panicked, but instead took a deep breath, tried to get her mind to stop rushing around in different directions, and thought for a second, “I’m not exactly certain what you are asking Mr. President. So much happened that night, and in the days since. At some level it’s all just a blur.”
The President explained his desire in more detail, “Well, I don’t want specific details, or for you to relive anything horrible that happened that you witnessed firsthand. I am sure that was a terrible enough night that you have probably revisited in your dreams. Besides, the nightly news and my daily briefings have already given me all the bad and horrific stories I need for a lifetime. Sadly, I am sure they have many more lined up and ready for me.
“What I want to do is see if we can be more prepared if something like this ever happens again. Think of it another way, you are a well-trained and experienced nurse. What was surprising to you? We can use that type information to help people prepare if we discover another attack is imminent,” the President explained.
“Honestly Mr. President, it was the number of survivors. With a nuclear explosion I would have thought that very few people would have survived, much less made it to the Emergency Room. There was a continuous wave of people. They just kept coming through the door. I am sure all the other area hospitals had the same problem. We were overwhelmed with the sheer number of patients,” she said.
“I have seen all of the official reports, and injury statistics. Can you tell me what kind of treatments those folks needed that you could have been better trained for? Perhaps there was something that was so totally unexpected it would be good for people to learn something about while in nursing school for instance,” he asked probing further.
“There were so many people suffering from radiation sickness, and at first we didn’t know what it was. We had no idea what to do for them. They died horrible deaths, and we later found out there was nothing we could have done for them anyway. No one on the staff knew what to do. No doctor or nurse had any kind of training on what a real treatment might need to be.