Chapter 2

Loss:
Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE los destruction; c. ON los looseness, breaking up.
–noun
1. detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get: to bear the loss of a robbery.
2. something that is lost: The painting was the greatest loss from the robbery.
3. the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had: the loss of old friends.
5. death, or the fact of being dead: to mourn the loss of a grandparent.
6. the accidental or inadvertent losing of something dropped, misplaced, stolen, etc.: to discover the loss of a document.
7. a losing by defeat; failure to win: the loss of a bet.
8. failure to make good use of something, as time; waste.

Carmen Morales was pedaling. Hard.

A thin layer of sweat covered her perfectly smooth forehead, tendrils of long, curvy, dark hair seemed to fly all around her, crowning her head. Agilely, she passed through the cars packed – as usual – in one of those unfailing traffic jams that were so usual and common in Los Angeles.

She didn’t mind. It never really mattered to her, especially when she was on the seat of her bike, zipping and darting through boulevards and alleys with no weight at all. A rucksack on her back, a tank top and comfy, old sweater pants and she was free. That was all she needed to feel free.

But she wasn’t.

And she knew it.

Carmen parked her bike right beside the main entrance of the Hospital and jumped off, stretching like a cat. Her body, tiny and sculpted. Her face, perfect like the face of a Goddess.

Her buzzer beeped before her right foot touched the marble floor of the hall.

“Shit”, she hissed, glancing at it and running toward her locker room.

One minute later, she was out and pacing rapidly the Thoracic Surgery Unit. Wrapped in a blue surgical gown and holding a pair of white latex gloves and a surgical cap.

”Nobody else here baby no one else here to blame
No one to point the finger…
It’s just you and me and the rain
Nobody made you do it, no one put words in your mouth
Nobody here taking orders when love took a train heading south
It’s the blind leading the blond
It’s the stuff the stuff of country songs…”