It's been back to work and back to normal for us this week. As such, there isn't going on, so I thought I'd share a writing journal story with you. This one is titled Premonition, and it's a prequel to Quarantine. Quarantine is close to my heart because it's the first fiction story I wrote. Not my best, of course, but it's a story I'll always love.
Without further ado, I give you Premonition. Enjoy!
Premonition, a Quarantine Prequel
“Got a minute?”
Caitlyn looked up from her computer to see Mandy, the assistant business manager, standing in her doorway. She saved her work. “Sure, what’s up?”
Mandy bounced nervously, her dark curly hair bouncing around her pale face. “I’m working on the weekly timesheets. Will you be in tomorrow?”
“I thought you did that on Friday afternoons,” Caitlyn pushed her brown hair behind her ear. “Why are you doing that a day early?”
“Twelve people are out of the office with pneumonia, and Megan left early.” Mandy stopped bouncing. “Is she sick, too?”
“No, Megan’s at an appointment with her divorce lawyer,” Caitlyn said.
“So she’s ok? She’ll be here tomorrow?”
“She told me she’d see me in the morning when she left.”
“What about you?” Megan asked. “I saw you walking to your doctor’s office across the parking lot during lunch.”
“I had to get my flu shot. I missed it last week because I had a sinus infection.”
“You missed flu shots last week? Who else did?”
“Megan, but she went to her doctor and got one Tuesday. Why?”
Mandy started shifting again, this time from one foot to the other. “Flu shots are mandatory for hospital employees. Elly and I need to note when you got your shots in the personnel files.”
“You seem nervous, and Elly has been closed up in her office on the phone this afternoon.”
Mandy’s eyes widened. “How do you know that?”
Caitlyn pointed to her own phone. “Elly’s extension light has been on for nearly two hours. Is something up?”
“No,” Mandy leaned against the doorway. “So I’m ok to confirm that you and Megan got your annual flu shots and are be on schedule for a full day tomorrow?”
“Megan and I will be in eight to five, normal time,” Caitlyn said. “We have plenty to catch up on with Mrs. Ross in the hospital.”
“Are you doing ok covering for her?”
“A few others on staff have come in to help us. We’ll keep the paperwork moving,” Caitlyn stared at Mandy. Mandy was usually a high-strung person, but today she seemed particularly restless. “Mandy, are you sure you’re alright?” she asked again.
Mandy stopped shifting again. “Pneumonia is serious. Aren’t you nervous?”
“I had a pneumonia shot last year. My doctor ordered one because I had it when I was in preschool. I’ve done all I can.”
Mandy nodded and gestured to Caitlyn’s bicycle leaning in the corner of the office. “Are you riding your bike to work again tomorrow?”
Caitlyn smiled. She and her husband just build in a house they built on family land a mile from the hospital, and being able to ride her bike to work on nice days was one of the small pleasures in her life. It had been a long, hot summer, and fall finally found it’s way to South Carolina in mid-October. “I sure am. It looks like perfect weather again tomorrow.”
“I’ll let you go so you can wrap up. Enter your time for today and tomorrow, and I’ll make sure Elly approves that before we leave.”
Caitlyn glanced at her computer clock and was surprised to see it was 4:55. “Will do. I still don’t understand doing timesheets early.”
Mandy shrugged. “It will be one less thing to worry about. With so many people out, we need to get ahead while we can.”
“Ok,” Caitlyn mumbled as Mandy walked away. She filled out her timesheet and shut down for the day, pushing her premonitions over Mandy’s odd behavior aside as she got on her bike and rode under the golden sunlight streaming through red, yellow and orange trees on a perfect fall afternoon.
She was riding into her driveway when she realized she left her cell phone in her desk drawer. Oh well. She and her husband still had their land line, and she had a spare charge cord in her purse. She would be ok until tomorrow.
She was glad she left the phone in her desk 15 hours later.
What’s happening at the hospital administrative complex in this small, quiet town? Find out in Quarantine, a $0.99 mystery novella at:
Amazon U.S. https://www.amazon.com/Quarantine-Sherri-Fulmer-Moorer-ebook/dp/B006UJWD4G
Amazon U.K. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quarantine-book/dp/B006UJWD4G/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_3