On the Labor Day's picnic which was held at White Rock Lake, Anna participated for the first time, even though she was very hesitant to go first. It was Mary, who convinced her to go. She wondered around, looking at the bike riders, children with their parents, and lovers. It seemed to her that the entire population of Dallas was there that day. As she walked on the sand, remembering Caspian Sea, where her parents had a villa, and where her brother and she had played and walked, and also Potomac River, where Steve and she had browsed so many times, she heard someone was calling her. She stopped and turned around to see who was calling her. It was Dr. Mark who was running after her. "Oh, God, You walk too fast." He said.
Anna frowned and said in her speaking mine: "I am not walking fast. You are too fat." However she ignored him and continued walking. He caught up with her and tried to walk in her pace. She did not know what is the proper way to get rid of a man like him, who worked the same shift and practically was her boss. She decided to just ignore him; nonetheless, his walking next to him was so irritating to her that she was about to explode.
"What do you want from me? I prefer to walk alone." She finally said in a rude manner.
Suddenly he held her hand and brought her to a sudden halt to face her. "I like you. I want to go out with you."
Anna pulled her hand out of his. Her eyes were fiery, her face was red, and she did not know how to control her anger.
"I've told you many times that I'm not interested. If you don't leave me alone, I..." She could not finish her sentence. Anger had made her numb. He tried again to hold her hand, but she, who had lost her posture and temper, suddenly raised her hand and slapped him in face and then pushed him with both hands with all the energy that she could gather, and then started running back to where all other hospital employees were. By the time she got there, her anger was uncontrollable. She did not recall herself like this ever. Everyone looked at her; and they all knew by just looking at her that something was wrong. Mary began talking to her, but Anna who did not hear anything of her friend's words kept saying: "I'm going home." And she did left.
Very soon every body in the hospital knew about that incident. Many of them had seen Anna slapping Dr. Mark. He began this rumor that she was the one who approached him; but no one believed him. She tried to change her shift, but that was not possible until the next time that would be time for shift changing. She had the worse days of her life working with him in a same shift. She had to talk to him, act professional, and work with him. She had no way of avoiding him. After consulting with Mary, she decided to go to the Personnel's supervisor and discuss her discomfort working with Mark. It seemed like an investigation and she had no choice but to tell the supervisor the whole story. These kinds of stories were not new to Adam, the supervisor, for he had heard them from other young women in hospital. However because they were short in Pediatrician, and Dr. Mark was a good doctor with a bad personality, and above all they did not want a bad name for the hospital with news flashing every where, the hospital had not done anything about it.
"You just had to learn not to mix you personal problem with your work." Adam said.
"But this is not a personal problem. It is affecting everybody. Why don't you change my shift.?" Anna dared to say.
"We can't do that. This shift can not be changed till the end of the year and you know it."
Anna knew he was right so she learned to work with that circumstance. Even though she hated to leave that hospital, she decided to look for another job. But being busy all the time and working the afternoon shift that according to everyone was the worse shift, and the finishing touches she needed to do to her final writing to graduate, did not give her much of chance to look for another job. Mark was aware of her meeting with Adam; and since nothing had come from that complaint, he found the courage to make improper comments to her even more than before.
One Friday night, only a week before Christmas, when a day of hard work was almost over for her, she prepared all the paper work for the next shift and then grabbed her coat and purse. As always she used the employee's elevator to go to the parking garage, the basement, where her car was parked. It was almost twelve midnight. As she was staring at the red numbers and letters changing overhead of the elevator's door, she remembered the little two years black boy, who had died of leukemia that day. A knot formed in her throat and she questioned God's fairness and justice. After all these year being a nurse, she had not learned, like others, not to let her career affect her personal life. She recalled the boy's parents and his older sister, four years old. They all had cried uncontrollably.
The letter B lightened overhead and the elevator stopped; the door opened, and she walked out. A cold air struck her. She put her coat on. Her blue, now old BMW was parked on Row C, facing the concrete wall. That was her usual parking spot, if it was not taken. The lights were dim and the air was cold. As she walked towards the row C, shifting her heavy purse from one shoulder to the other, she conjured up that working with Dr. Mark that day was for some odd reason had been different. He had been very polite that day. She wondered if he finally had given up intimidating her.
Suddenly she had this feeling that someone was following her. She could not hear any footstep, but she was certain that someone else, besides her, was there, in that empty parking garage. She walked faster. Her heart palpitated. Something was about to happen. Her intuition was never wrong. Next to her car, she looked into her big bag for her car key. As her hand touched the key in the bottom of her purse, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Trembling, she turned to look who it was. Mark with a devilish smile on his face was standing there. She tried to pretend that she was not afraid of him; nevertheless, her shaking knees and body showed otherwise. "What do you want?" Her unsteady voice showed her insecurity.
He did not say anything; instead, he hugged her forcefully and began kissing her like a mad man. She fought back with all the strengths she could gather in that frenzied moment. Her bag fell on the ground. She was desperately trying to run away, but he was too strong for her. He pushed her to the car, holding both her hands, kissing her more. In a despondent and hopeless attempt, she found a little energy to scream for help. "Help, ...help,..."
Her voice echoed in the empty parking garage: "Help,...help,..."
An employee, a man who worked in the utility department of the hospital, just walked out of the elevator, heard her. He started running towards Anna's car, where he could barely see her and Mark. In a few minutes, that seemed like eternity to Anna, he got there and the two man began a punching fist fight, while Anna screaming and running.
She did not remember what happened next. She was back in the hospital. They did not let her to go home that night and kept her for observation. She had bruises in her face When Mark knew that a man was coming to her rescue; and perhaps everything was over for him. Some one had called the police. She had a witness this time. She was physically assaulted but saved from being raped.
In the morning they told her that Dr. Mark was fired and if she wanted to press charges against him. There was still a police man there. Her face was truly banged up by Mark's fist. Someone had called Mary to come since they knew Anna and Mary were friends. Consulting with Mary, and also Mr. Adam, the supervisor, and even the policeman, she decided not to press charges. The hospital did not want to be in the front pages of the newspapers. Besides it would take too much of her instead of adding anything to her life. They recommended her to change her apartment and to get an unlisted phone number for security. They and she did not want Mark to find out where she lived.
She wanted to put an end to this long, ongoing distress and anguish. There was no need to dignify the degenerate man. He would probably enjoy the courtroom with all the embarrassment. To ignore a man like him was the best action she could take. Mr. Adam promised her that he would not give a good rating to Mark if another employer wanted to hire him. That was satisfactory to her weather Adam would keep his world or not. In the final analysis, Anna decided that he was not worthy at all for anyone to even consider taking him to court. Silence and ignorance were her best Cure.
To Be Continued
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