Written by Paula Bernstein
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Vote: 5
Introduction
None of this would have happened if the Medical School of Manhattan hadn’t decided to raise tuition by $5000 at the start of my junior year. There I was, thinking I’d saved just enough cash to get me and Beryl through, when all my careful calculations were shot to hell in one fell swoop by the Board of Trustees.
The Beginning
Beryl, incidentally, is my six-year-old. She’s cute as a button and about as precocious as Phyllis Diller. She is also the only kid in the first grade who can spell “idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis” which puts her one step ahead of her mother.
I have always wanted to be a doctor. While all my friends were dressing their dolls in wedding gowns, I was giving mine an appendectomy on the kitchen table.
Family Background
My mother was a hairdresser, working at Phil’s beauty shop in the Bronx, catering to Grand Concourse matrons. I don’t know much about my father, except that he was Irish and had a drinking problem. Mother threw him out when I was four, and she, despite her lack of education, had the good sense to push me toward a better future.
Marriage and Divorce
Sometime during my senior year, I was deflowered by Nick Conner, an insurance salesman. The experience was far from the romantic dreams I had imagined, and as fate would have it, I got pregnant. Nick insisted on marrying me, and thus began our brief, unexciting marriage, lasting only two years.
After our divorce, Beryl and I moved to Manhattan, where I juggled joint custody with Nick and began my career as a nurse in a large teaching hospital. However, the chaotic nature of the job and constant struggles with inexperienced interns pushed me to pursue medical school.
The Turning Point
I was finally accepted into the Medical School of Manhattan with the help of affirmative action policies. I had calculated that my savings, child support, and student loans would get us through, but the sudden tuition hike shattered those plans.
The Unconventional Solution
One night, after a series of drinks and a chance encounter at the Beecham Hotel, I accidentally discovered a lucrative but morally complicated means of earning extra money. That single evening turned into a strategic way of funding my education—under strict rules of anonymity and safety.
The Moment of Crisis
For over a year, I balanced medical school with my secret moonlighting job. But then, during a shift at the ICU, I encountered a new patient—Dr. Arthur Foyle, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of my medical school. To my horror, he was the same man I had been with the previous night.
The Resolution
Facing expulsion, I pleaded my case, explaining my financial struggles and dedication to medicine. Surprisingly, Dr. Foyle, who had narrowly survived a heart attack, understood my plight. In exchange for my immediate cessation of moonlighting, he arranged for a full scholarship.
The Future
Beryl and I completed medical school successfully. I chose to specialize in Obstetrics and Gynecology—a fitting career for someone whose unconventional path to medicine was intertwined with the very act that creates life.
About the Author
Paula Bernstein is a physician, scientist, and the author of the medically-themed Hannah Kline Mysteries. Her short stories have been featured in LAst Resort, Avenging Angelinos, and the upcoming A New York State of Crime. She has served as President of the Los Angeles Chapter of Sisters in Crime and chaired the California Crime Writers Conference. Visit her at HannahKlineMysteries.com.
