The Three Dollar Phoenix by Walt Sautter (rooftoppers .txt) 📖

the current patient. To access previous patients a specific input code is required” said Robbins.
“If you need data for a patient who is no longer hospitalized here, see your supervisor and he will get it for you. I doubt you’ll ever need that kind of information though. Generally, they go back to their private physician and he gets the records directly from them. We only issue medical records directly to the patients themselves. That way information can’t inadvertently fall into the hands of the wrong people, not through our fault anyway” he said assuredly.
“If you want data for someone else, press control N” suggested Jack. Rita tried it and again the monitor asked for a patient number.
“The computer also keeps a record of each chart you’ve called up and when it was requested” he added.
As the afternoon progressed, Rita became increasingly aware of the sophistication of the system and its apparent invulnerability. Each day, every staff physician was required to access the records of each of his patients. Failure to do so was recorded in his supervisor’s file so he could be alerted to the oversight. That way every patient’s condition received daily review by his attending doctor. New test results and diagnosis were highlighted on each record by flashing indicators, so as to keep each physician aware of up to the minute changes in patient status.
Jack instructed Rita to run through the records of her patients as she might do on a typical day.
“If you have any problems or questions, I’ll be right out here. Just call me” he said as he pointed towards the main computer room.
She began to input the codes, and as she did the corresponding records covered the monitor screen, one after the other. She wrote a series of notes pertaining to the unfamiliar signs, symbols and flashing markers that appeared periodically in some of the read outs.
After about an hour, she looked up and caught Jack’s eye through the office glass. She motioned him to her with an apologetic wave.
“I’m glad you called me here. This gives me an excuse for a smoke” he said while he closed the door and reached for his pipe on the desk where he had left
“What’s the problem?” he asked between puffs as he relit it.
“Well, I understand how to operate the terminal now but some of the coding is unclear” she replied and showed him the list of esoteric symbols she had copied.
“No problem” he said. He opened the drawer of a nearby file cabinet and withdrew a sheet listing various codes.
“This will help.” he said and handed her the sheet.
“Keep it with you until you’ve memorized them all. I should have given this to you right in the beginning.”
Rita took the sheet and began to recall the previously undecipherable records. Jack peered over her shoulder as she did so, continually offering unsolicited but valuable advice.
When she left the computer center that afternoon, she felt a bit of optimism beginning to develop. Although the security techniques Robbins had demonstrated were formidable, at least now she had some understanding of the system and how it worked. In understanding lies strength in the face of adversity and from the glimmer of knowledge she had obtained that day she felt confidence starting to grow.
The next step was to somehow get a look at Al Druse’s records. With the sheet Jack had given her, it would be easy to interpret, if she could only get to see it. As she walked back towards her apartment she pondered how she could get access to that file. From what she had seen, it wouldn’t be easy but deep inside she had the feeling that it would be done.
That evening Rita drove to town. She had to know what was happening to Ed. She hadn’t been able to contact Mike since she had left for Caramore. This was her first opportunity in two days. She had to find a pay phone. She had seen one in the cafeteria where she had met Larry. It was still open when she got there. She entered the booth in the rear and nervously searched her handbag for the number. She dialed. It rang six times. She counted them. Finally, he answered.
“Mike, this is Rita.”
“Rita, how are you?” he replied instinctively and then immediately in the same breath added, “You’re at a pay phone, right?”
“Yes” replied Rita
“Good - in the town, right?” he said.
“Yes.”
“Don’t tell me your number, just the name of the place where the booth is”
“The Wedgewood Cafeteria” she replied.
“Stay there, and I’ll be back to you in about five minutes” he said rapidly and hung up the phone.
Rita waited. Mike left his apartment and half walked, half ran to the candy store down the street. He called information for the number of the Wedgewood Cafeteria in Ellensville, then dialed the number. Rita answered instantly.
“I’m sorry I had to rush you off the phone, but I was worried about somebody taping me. I always see on TV where if you don’t stay on the line too long, the call can’t be traced. I don’t know if that’s really true, but I thought we should get off quick anyway, just in case. We don’t want anybody to know that your were at Caramore or even near it, if we can help it. If they found out that you called from Ellensville they’d probably put two and two together -and figure it out in a minute.”
“I understand. How is Ed?” she replied in one breath.
“Still in the zoo, but I think it won’t be long now” Mike answered.
“Are you sure?”
“Not sure, but from what I can gather, it’ll be another two maybe three days. Something’s going to happen.
Exactly what, I’m don’t know, but soon and they’re waiting for it. After that, they’ll let him go.” He paused and there was silence from Rita on the other end of the line.
“Don’t worry about Ed. He’ll be OK. He’s a survivor, you know that. He’s worried about you” Mike said consolingly.
“I’m alright. It looks like the set up here is almost impenetrable, but I’m getting to know the system a little better and I think there s a chance. I think I just need time. Right now, I’m just getting my foot in the door, so to speak” she replied confidently.
“Ed wants to be sure that you don’t get hurt and so do I. If it comes to a point where it looks like trouble, bailout quick.
Even if there’s just a bad smell in the air hit the road” Mike said.
“Did you get any more on House?” she asked.
“No. Just what I told you and Ed.”
“Tell Ed I miss him” she paused for a moment.
“I will” Mike said convincingly.
“I’m going to try to come home as soon as I can, I’m not sure when that will be. I’m supposed to take a couple of days off next week. I hope he’ll be out by then” she added.
“Next time you call me, use the same phone booth, and ask for Tony. I’ll say he’s not here, and then come down to this pay phone and call you right back. I’ve got the number now so I know exactly where to call. I want you to call me as often as you can Rita. I want to be able to be sure you’re alright” Mike said.
“I don’t know when I’ll be able to call again, that depends on how things go but I’ll always try to make it between seven and eight at night if I can. Are you generally in then?”
“I’ll make it a point to be” he replied. There was a brief silence.
“I better get back now” she said.
“Be careful Rita” he said solemnly.
For the first time since this all began, Rita felt a little frightened. The concern in Mike s voice deadened the original sense of adventure and amplified the reality. How did she get involved and in what did she get involved? It wasn’t too late to turn back she reminded herself. All she had to do was get in the car and drive away from it. This was really Ed’s problem. “He’s the one who got himself into this mess” she thought. He should have minded his own business. It wasn’t her problem.
But then too, the clinic wasn’t Ed’s idea when she first suggested it to him, but he didn’t let her down. He jumped in and made it his business, for her sake, and did a damn good job of it too.
“I guess it’s my turn this time. I couldn’t just walk away from him, even if I wanted to, my conscience wouldn’t let me” she thought.
Suddenly, a sharp noise shattered her thoughts. A man waiting for the phone was rapping on the phone booth door.
Rita drove back to Caramore that evening pondering how she would obtain the information she needed.
The next day, Kelly again accompanied her on her rounds. It was business as usual.
She spent that afternoon being guided through the lab facilities in Building A-2. It seemed that no matter where she went at Caramore, no expense was spared. The best possible equipment and techniques were employed throughout the laboratory, as they were everywhere else.
The following day, Kelly allowed her to work pretty much on her own. She was beginning to fall into the routine. She found it childishly simple as compared to her tasks at the clinic in Newark. There were no beatings, stabbings or other violent emergencies to deal with here. The threatening sights and sounds of the ghetto were a distant memory for her, after only the first few days at Caramore. Fascination with the technical and physical accommodations available to her here was overwhelming. They diminished the primitive conditions which she had left in every way.
The only thing that wasn’t diminished was the sense of accomplishment she had experienced at the clinic. That feeling was well remembered The appreciative looks on the people’s faces there, were burned indelibly into her memory.
The job at Caramore was a job, pleasant and well assisted, but still only a job. At the clinic, there was no job, only a commitment. To Rita that had become apparent.
That afternoon, she arrived at Building A-I about two o’clock. The security man at the entrance announced her presence to Larry through the intercom. She was directed to the lower level where the pharmacy was located. Again, she was confronted by a modern complex of facilities and furnishings. Everything was the best.
Larry met her at the door. “Welcome to Stein’s Drug Store” he said smilingly
He proceeded to show her shelf after shelf of chemicals and compounds available for use at Caramore.
“This place has an inventory that is probably bigger than that of any drug store in the country” he boasted.
“The whole thing is operated by me and just two other pharmacists. The key to it is this” he continued as he pointed towards a computer terminal on his desk.
“This machine automatically checks and cross references medication combinations for every patient, cites individual patient allergies to certain drugs, keeps records on drug levels for each and prints out daily prescription requests. If you can count to one hundred, you can be a pharmacist with one of these babies. Here let me show you how it works”