Lyllian has a staff of four. Oh and one courier. Yesterday two of her four staff texted various reasons for not being able to come to work that glorious Monday in November fresh from the wilting Jack-o-Lantern cold and one of her staff was on her last day of vacation in Hawaii. Lyllian’s then plight was far from her mind but resting solely on the large Pina colada on the table next to her lounge chair on Waikiki Beach.  That very Pina colada would have driven Lyllian’s already weary mind to an even less productive state of being but it would have been welcomed like an an old friend crashing your lonely laundry Friday night with heart-shaped sunglasses and plastic earrings and dragging you out to the local watering hole on 2nd and Battery.

But as it was Lyllian and the aforementioned Nell were left alone to keep the busy laboratory call center running as though every little box was filled with the chirping of happy birds and the clacking away of various email conjectures. Call after call came and went.

“Where is your lab located?” “Second floor of the main hospital building.” But where is that?” “Large five-story red brick building, the lab is on the second floor”. “Is there a room number?” “No, just a large lobby and a check-in desk”. “And where is this check-in desk dear?” “Main Hospital building second floor”. “And is that where the lab is located?”

“Hello we have Mr. Randall Javoriskyisky here for some testing and we do not have any lab orders for him?” “Well we gave Mr. Javoriskyisky his lab slip to bring to the lab”. “Well it seems he does not have it” “Well we gave it to him when he was here.” “I’m sorry, he does not seem to have it now, may another copy be sent us?” “Well we gave him a copy.”

Lyllian’s mind caves in on itself. The morning melts into a frosty sun tinged day then edges into a black night.

Next Chapter: Joe, County Kildare, Ireland, 1925