Chapter 19: On the Record

The state board met on Friday in the hospital's own auditorium, because the county had no room big enough.

Three nurses and a lawyer sat at a folding table on the stage under a banner about hand washing.

The seats below were full by nine.

I sat in the second row with Bernice on one side and Luke on the other.

Luke had worn his white coat, which I had not expected.

"They'll want to see who I am," he said, when I looked at it.

Shelby sat alone at the front, in a plain black dress, with no one beside her.

Her union man had come to the door and she had sent him away.

I saw it from the aisle.

The lawyer called the matter to order and read the complaint in a flat voice.

Then the charge nurse took the stand in her gray cardigan and said what she had told the administrator.

She said it in order, without once looking at Shelby.

"I stood in that hallway for forty minutes," she finished. "I'd like the board to hear my name next to hers. It's the only fair way to do it."

One of the three nurses on the stage put down her pen.

"That's not a matter before us," she said, not unkindly.

"It should be," said the charge nurse, and sat down.

The lawyer held up the printout.

"This record shows the order screen opened at 4:24 and closed unsent," he said. "Dr. Fennimore, you provided it?"

Luke stood in the aisle.

"A colleague printed it. I carried it to the administrator."

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