"Mocha"
It was a nice late morning when Dr. Daisuke drove his car through Orlando. He looked around the shopping district for a place to park. When he found a lot by chance, he parked over there and began walking. He took his case with him in case there was an emergency. He turned his smartphone to vibrate so he could enjoy his lunch in peace. He wouldn't be eating alone. He'd be catching up with an old friend.
He went to an outdoor café where he worked on his puzzle waiting for his friend to arrive. When he finished his second crypto puzzle, Spencer Caliber showed up and greeted the fellow. The two men shook hands with smiles, saying their how do you dos to one another. They both sat across one another and talked about their lives. It was mostly about their day-to-day moments with their patients mostly. It was when Spencer talked about Rose was when the atmosphere shifted.
"I gotta tell you, Dai, she was something." Spencer sipped his coffee after stirring it with caramel cream. "Rose was a laugh riot and a good friend. My life won't be the same without her."
Daisuke understood his feelings. Rose was a saint, so kind to everyone. Yes, she can be strict if she had to, but it was all because she believed morality and freedom should be balanced. She did make a point to it. Florida alone was split between liberals and conservatives all the time. Rose was neither of the two. She was what I call centralist. She was a liberal with limitations and a conservative without religious restrictions.
"I'll miss her too, Spence. She was very kind to me. She never judged me once about anything I was. She poked fun of the way I cook spareribs once, but she loved smoked hickory and teriyaki spareribs since I cooked for her."
"She's like that...I mean she was." Spencer sighed. "It's been over a week now. The tests came back."
"Her COD?" Daisuke asked. He put his menu down. "So that's why Rose came up. You examined her. What was the cause?"
"An allergic reaction to almond essence in the bloodstream. Rose has...had a tree nut allergy. She knew she shouldn't eat them. The thing is, there weren't any nuts in her system."
Daisuke stared at his colleague. "Spence, you know there are three ways an allergen can be in your system. They are consummation, contact and inhale. She must have one of to have a reaction that severe. We don't have any clothing detergents with almond serum nor any almond perfume! So, she had to have consume almonds!"
"She cleaned her stomach hours before her surgery. She was empty!"
Daisuke knew Spencer's point was valid. He sat back and sipped his green tea. "Well, I won't eat anything with nuts today. It'll remind me of this riddle you gave me. I think I'll have a veggie omelet with brains on the side."
Spencer sighed and looked for a waiter. "I get it. You want an answer. But here is a problem, not everyone is Sherlock Holmes!"
"Are you saying I can't solve this mystery?"
"I'm saying you're not supposed to. Dai, Rose was my patient, my responsibility...my best friend. I would like to solve this with some help of a detective."
Daisuke sulked inside and felt offended. But he understood where Spencer is coming from. Yeah, peeps, struggle is part of life, as of a lot of things. It what makes us stronger. And the doctor in front of Daisuke struggled. However, as stubborn as the doctor was, Daisuke didn't want him to struggle alone.
I promise you, my friend. I won't let you suffer. My friends and I will help you no matter what. We are friends, and friends work together. Whether it's around you, or not. It was his personal intention that he would help Spence with this conundrum. Their time together was quiet for the most part. Other than enjoying the food, they kept their dark thoughts to themselves.
After they said their farewells, the two doctors parted ways. Spence had to go back to his hospital to check up with his patients. He also informed Daisuke that he organized the annual Ursula Cambridge Memorial fundraiser. Daisuke thought to himself that he was always so busy with charities. When Rose was alive, she partook in the work of raising money for foster kids. Spencer knew there were going to be some huge shoes to fill, but he had to what he had to do.
As for Daisuke, it was slow at best. His nurses worked on the clinic from top to bottom. There wasn't a patient that came in for an appointment that day. For the doctor that seemed odd. There usually was a patient or two every day. But there wasn't a soul on the beds or in the waiting room.
"Really?" Daisuke asked Bertha after her hard work moping the floor. "You girls are going to turn this place into a desensitized bucket if you keep on cleaning."
"Well, we have nothing else to do! Sammy and Goldie are cleaning the toilets."
"Brave souls." Commented the doctor. "Where is Kat?"
"She's washing the sheets."
"And Julie." "She and Aria are dusting the waiting room." Bertha wiped her forehead from her dripping sweat. Her hair was up in a bun do. Some of the loose strands landed on her neck and shoulders. Her eyes drooped with exhaustion. "Well, thank goodness the new nurse is coming."
"Great! That is the best news I heard all day!" Daisuke sat on his desk, his head settling on his knuckles. Bertha placed her mop outside and sat across her. "That's right! You had breakfast with Dr. Caliber! How is he? Is he fairing well?"
"As well as a mourning friend could be. I'll give you breakdown if you want to know."
Bertha did want to know the doctor told her employer. When he revealed the cause of death, Bertha gasped. "Wait, so she never consumed anything! Nor were there any signs of almonds anywhere else in or on her person?"
"Correct." Answered Daisuke simply.
"That is some puzzle he's solving."
"Yes. It's a puzzle I'm helping solve."
Bertha combed her recent flowing thick hair listening to her friend. "Did he say that you're helping him?"
"I volunteered."
The nurse shook her head. "Hell, hon! I don't think it's a good idea to solve the crime. You need a professional. Try Frank, Hope's husband! He's a great detective in the Orlando PD! He might help!"
Daisuke thought it over and nodded. "I might need his assistance. I can call him and tell him what we know. This Flasher won't know about all this."
A few moments later, the doctor called the detective and explained to him what Dr. Caliber told him. Frank agreed to swing on by and discuss with Dr. Daisuke in person. When the detective arrived at the clinic sometime later, they began to discuss the situation.
"I see." Frank chugged his tea before putting his cup back on the desk. "Wow! Rose had a tree nut allergy. I never guessed that in a million years."
"Well, only a small circle of friends knew about her condition. She took this test medicine to see if she could have nuts without any significant sign. It must have worked. She loved Emma's Honey Nut bars."
"Rose loved a lot of Emma's food." Frank sat back and stretched. "Hope praised her work. When she found out about a potential chain, she gave me such a night job!"
Daisuke chuckled. "Night jobs?"
"Well, less of a job and more of a wink-wink, nudge-nudge."
"I'm familiar with that term. My nurses talked about that all the time. Even my head nurse got into it."
Frank nodded and took a bite out of an orange slice. "Well, I'm actually surprised about this case. It should have been into the Lieutenant's desk a day after her demise, if not some hours. Why so late?"
Daisuke sighed. "A lot of people, myself included, thought the cause was old age. She was ninety-five after all."
Frank lowered his eyes. "True. Only our friend Spencer was suspicious about the cause." He pondered and stroked his chin. "And I'm slowly suspecting him."
Daisuke stood alert. "No! Spencer would never kill! He loved Rose a lot. They were friends. What would motivate the doctor to kill?"
"Well, there could be a cause of greed. This year's blood drive run is coming up and the pile of moolah to go there might be small."
"His donation is always good. People donate chunks of money by the ears!"
"Okay." Frank waved his hand. "What if this was a crime of passion? Maybe Rose had some pool boy action on the side."
Daisuke stared at him at that assumption. "We're going there, are we?"
"I'll withdraw that." Frank grunted and took another slice of orange. "Look, I'm only giving out the possibility that Spencer Caliber is our man. He had the opportunity, and if the motive matches that, we can nab him."
"He may have an alibi."
"Yeah? Don't tell me he had a last-minute trip to Honolulu."
Daisuke rolled his brown eyes. "He was there. He was too busy preparing for surgery. Getting the right procedure proper, sanitize the tools, scrubbing his hands. Besides, a lot of nurses does most of the dirty work. Any one of them could add the almond essence to her system without his knowledge."
Frank folded his arms after that. "Really? That's rather interesting. So...how would the almond essence enter Rose's being without anyone's knowledge?"
"That's where you come in, my friend." Daisuke replied with a serious look. "You need to find out how part of this mystery. The who and the why will come after that."
"You son of a bitch!" Frank laughed and bit into his orange again. "Man, therefore I like guys like you. You bring me the case and I get to solve it. And what would you do while I'm doing the case?"
"I'll give the new nurse a tour to my clinic." Daisuke winked at the detective before he stood. "Well, I hope you have the best of luck inspecting." "Meh, I'll be too busy showing my new partner the ropes."
"That Mike guy from Jersey?"
"The same, but he's a good egg. He may look like a goofball at first, but my God, is his mind sharp as a new polished sword."
"You mean a tack?"
"Hell no! His mind is sharper than a tack! Trust me on this one."
Forty minutes later, Daisuke came back to his clinic. He opened the door and there was excitement in the room. One look at the gathered nurses and he assumed two things. Either there was an emergency, or the new nurse had come in. When Bertha called him to introduce to someone, he breathed again. He strolled over to the nurses to check out his new employee.
"Dai, this is Gretchen!" Bertha said to her doctor, rubbing the mature woman's shoulders. "She's going to help us out during the summer. Maybe even more if this place convinces her."
Gretchen laughed along with the other nurses. "Well, I'll tell you, girls, yesterday was such a blast!" She turned to the doctor. "I told the girls about my walk yesterday. There was this girl that tripped over this stone and rolled down that awful hill! I mean that hill was some steep sucker! How she survived that roll is a miracle!
"Anyway, the other guests were grateful I was there, and they thanked me for my services." She patted her first aid kit beside her. "It goes to show, ladies, that no one should out until you have these babies available!"
"Damn right, Gretch!" Bertha said to the new nurse, excited to have a well-prepared person in their clinic. "It is such an honor to have you here!"
"Well, it's a pleasure for me in this community. It's so peaceful here...well other than that Flasher thing I heard of yesterday. Is he still lurking around here do you know?"
The other nurses stay silent and looked away. Daisuke coughed and pulled her aside. "It's a little sensitive subject right now. Even I feel the chills in my spine."
"Right, right, I'm so sorry I brought it up in the first place. Let's, um, change the subject, okay?"
"I know what we can talk about!" Kat exclaimed. She pointed at Julie. "Let's talk about Julie's upcoming date with Donald!"
The other nurses grinned at Julie who blushed. Goldie's gold eyes brightened. "Yes! This is so exciting for you! What are you going to do for your first date with him?"
Julie swayed her knees and smiled. "Well, I want to cook him a nice supper for him and have an evening picnic right on the beach."
"You mean that lake beach?" Maggie asked. Julie confirmed it. "All right! So, what are you going to make him?"
"I have a neat recipe for air fried chicken. I'll do them while I make the side dishes, like coleslaw! Then there is potato salad and some steamed string beans, washed cauliflower, any sort of vegetables."
"Great going!" Gretchen approved Julie. "Give him loads of veggies, as long of one of them isn't asparagus."
"Huh??" The other girls eyed her. Gretchen nodded. "Yes, sir, if you are on a date, don't feed him or yourself asparagus. Do you know how stinky your urine will be a day or two later?"
"Well, some men love the stink of that." Goldie commented with red on her face. The other nurses looked her way as she combed her hair with her fingers. "Yeah, you don't want to know how I know this. Mind you, ladies, some men are rather perverted."
"We know." Kat answered, covering her breasts with her arms. Goldie shook her head. "No, baby, you don't. I've seen men, creepy men with really insane thoughts in their heads. You know a type of man I mean, and if you see a particular look in their eyes, you'll know they'll be doing what you don't think is normal."
Aria, bless her heart, spoke in her native tongue about her opinion. Maggie translated on her behalf. "Okay, 'normal' is practically non-existent. What might be normal to you might not be to someone else. For instance, you may think Doggy Style is normal. To the next person it's not."
"All right, all right! I get it...but we're not talking about positions of sex...we are talking about the situations and the people in them."
Goldie made the others gathered around her. "You see I've heard tales from people who experienced a particular type of...sex. Things that are too much for someone like...like Eleanor."
"Goldie, she's a forty-something virgin with the hots for the priest!" Bertha commented. "Girl, she wants to give that priest a donation in the church!"
The nurses laughed and the doctor shook his head with disbelief. Gretchen got a kick out of that one. "Honey, if anyone should donate, it should be the priest!"
All six nurses fell on the floor, tearing up as the doctor walked around them. "I don't know any of you!"
The nurses stopped and looked at the doctor. He stood there with his arms folded. "If you want someone to donate, it's Donald!" He hollered and so did the nurses. "Oh boy, he needs a LOT of donation!"
"He's gonna donate so much!" Julie cried out, her stomach hurting from laughter. "And I'm going give him so much charity! Yeah, I'll be called the Angel of Mercy when we're blissfully done!"
She felt something down there when she said that. The other nurses slowed down their laughs, wiping their eyes. Goldie panted heavily and blew some air. "All right...what were we talking about again?"
"No idea." The doc replied walking to his office. Along the way, he saw Tony walking to the clinic with the famous ice cream bin in his hands. He was delighted when he saw the delivery man. He ran to the door and opened it up to the man. "Tony! What a wonderful surprise!"
"Hello, Doc!" Tony entered the clinic with a flashing grin. "I have a special delivery for Gretchen Summers."
Daisuke grinned and saw his nurses in a row. "Ah, here are my mischievous six! Gretchen, you have a present from Cookies & Cream diner."
"Oh?" Gretchen's eyes blinked as Tony cleared his throat. "Yes, Nurse Summers, it is a privilege to honor you with this complimentary ice cream bin." He handed her the bin. "You will find your favorite ice cream."
"Well, that explains the surrey on my doorstep." Gretchen replied, looking at the bin. "My! They are making their brand spiffy, aren't they? So, what's the deal with these tin ice cream bins?"
"Ah-ha! That I can answer in a breeze!" Tony inhaled. "The owners of the Cookies & Cream diner and parlor believe in reducing the pollution one bin at the time. They never use any form of Styrofoam for the ice cream or what not. These bins are made of recycled tin with sturdiness strong as an ox! And they also come with reusable impregnated plastic cups and bowls."
"I beg your pardon?" Gretchen made a confused look. "Impregnated plastic?"
"I think he means 'impregnatable'." Goldie told the new nurse. She whispered to her. "He's from the Netherlands, so English isn't his native language."
"Gotcha." Gretchen have her an OK gesture and nodded. "This is all fine, Mr. ... Mr...."
"Dijk! I am Tony Dijk!"
"Right. I'll call you Tony from now on then. I'm very grateful for receiving such a wonderful gift from you."
"Yes, Tony is a good sport, aren't you, Tony?" Daisuke gave that delivery man a huge slap on the back. That poor boy fell over to Bertha's cleavage. And wow, did he suffocate between them ta-tas! That head nurse didn't appreciate that little trip. She pulled his face from her breasts and stared right at him.
"Boy, if you don't make your zit faced, greasy aa—" Bertha checked the boy out before she said anything else. "Hmm! Well, would you look at that! Not one blemish on that face."
The other nurses looked at the man's face. "Well this is cool!" Julie said with intrigue. How come you don't have any acne, Tony?"
"Well, it's honestly simple. I rinse my body with cold water." One look at the nurses was all it took for him explain. "When we take hot showers, our pores would expand. If these pores don't close, there would be bacteria coming into the skin. So before I end my shower, I make sure that I rinse in cold water. I hope it makes sense."
"Yeah." The nurses looked at each other as Tony said his goodbye to Doc Daisuke. When he left, the nurses got excited at the ice cream bin. Oh yes, the resistance couldn't last when it comes to the mystery flavor. Gretchen was more than happy to open the lid. When she did, everyone cooed.
The cream was lighter than chocolate color wise. It had chocolate swirls with some white foam. The aroma smelled like they were in a middle of a coffee house. More than that, it was more like a roast room in the coffee house! Bertha took a whiff of that and her head turned away dramatically. "Phew! One whiff in my nose and my body is going to be bouncing off the walls tonight!"
"Your body is gonna bounce?" Goldie covered her nose. "I'm ultra-sensitive when it comes to my sense of smell! I'm going to last all week staying awake!"
"You guys are exaggerating!" Gretchen put her bin down to find a spoon. "Caffeine might help you out in the energy department, but how long do you think it would last? Really?" She took a whiff of that. "MM! Besides, I'm immune to the caffeine's effects. I had enough energy in my lifetime! I'm ready to relax while I'm nursing."
"I see." Maggie said to him. "So, your energy gland burned out?"
"Ha. I got the energy, sugar. It's the excess energy I don't need!" She found a tongue presser. "Eh, it'll work. It's like a wooden spoon." She dipped the presser in the cream and put it in her mouth. "MM! Yes! The texture, the taste, the blend, this is perfect!"
"So, what is it Gretchen?" Kat asked her. Gretchen exhaled with content. "This is called Mocha ice cream. It still smells so sweet with the chocolate syrup and I think they have skim milk in there." She dipped her spoon in the cream again and tasted it. "Yep, yep it's the steamed milk foam. I can taste some espresso in this as well. They did a splendid job making this."
"That's our main girl Emma's doing!" Maggie grabbed some spoons from their kitchenette. "And Gretchen, the tongue depressors are meant for the patients, not for spoons. Here's a spoon for you."
"Thanks, kid." Gretchen took the spoon and are more of the Mocha. The sweet syrup and milky foam swirled around her tongue. The other nurses followed suit and they enjoyed the cream. All six nurses stared into the ceiling, letting their stomachs settle. Gretchen felt the urge to talk. "Can we talk more about sex? For some odd reason, I'm getting turned on."
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