Imploded Lives

Chapter Six – Kelly Parson

Chapter Six – Kelly ParsonEight Days Before

Kelly Parson finished her lunch-time workout and showered. She dressed quickly and returned to the hospital, donned her blue scrubs and headed down to radiology. Kelly looked younger than her thirty-eight years and kept herself in good shape. Her gorgeous hazel eyes were usually the first thing people noticed when they met her, and those eyes were set afire by her soft blonde hair. She had delicate features and the kind of a smile that made people like her right away. She was smart and witty, and drawn to people with a good sense of humor—people who didn't take themselves too seriously.

She had a full schedule this afternoon, including consults with two physicians to review MRI's. She had been a physician in the nuclear medicine department at Cedars-Sanai in Los Angeles for five years and had never been happier in her professional life. She was well regarded for her expertise and her manner. She also made enough money to do whatever she wanted to do—which would have been nice but for the fact that she didn't have time to do much of anything.

Work was rewarding, but her private life was, as she characterized it, non-existent and her opportunities for correction bleak. Kelly had tried web-dating, just lunch dating, blind dates set up by her friends, and none of it worked. To the contrary, the thought of going out with another of these unattractive strangers was more than she could take. The supply of self-absorbed, uninspired, inarticulate or just plain boring men out there was inexhaustible. Some of them wanted to talk about past relationships, while others wanted to tell her about their skills in sports, at work or in bed. These dates were so hard to endure, and typically, she could hardly wait to say goodbye to the guy at the end of the date. They never seemed to notice her lack of enthusiasm and clock watching.

There had been a guy she loved in college—really loved. But everyone told them they were too young and somehow, they both let it get away as they chased other dreams. They went away to different universities for post-graduate work after receiving their Bachelor's degrees and lost the future they might have built together; a possible future she let herself contemplate only occasionally. When she got to medical school, where there was hardly time to sleep, let alone build a relationship.

After working as a practicing physician for nine years, the relationship she wanted to find seemed further away than ever. Any free time was hard to come by, and Kelly would rather spend that time listening to a podcast or reading a book than interviewing another random guy who wanted to get laid and get back to football.

During the afternoon, Kelly met with other physicians to consult on interpretations of scans for a liver cirrhosis patient and a hepatitis patient. She spent the remainder of the afternoon training newer practitioners in analysis of CT scans and MRI's. She interviewed an applicant for a radiologist position at the end of the day and made her way home at about 8:00 p.m. She fed her tuxedo cat, Poco, who everyone thought was named after the band. It was actually a short form of Hippocrates—a little nerdy, but she liked it. Kelly made dinner and cleaned up around the condo. Then, she climbed into bed with a book, and Poco took his position, purring beside her. As she settled in for the night, she found herself wishing that there was someone other than a cat next to her to share the day's events and to kiss goodnight. All in good time she told herself. Love would find her if that was supposed to happen, even if she had no time to look for it.