--------------------
Fred left the banquet hall through a side door and walked toward the bar. As a speaker at the conference he had already seen all of the presentations once didn't feel the need to sit through them once more. And while Fred didn't smoke, he understood the urge that people felt to smoke during times of stress. For him, a cold beer and a comfortable chair was the perfect way to wind down.------------------------------
The bar area only had a few people in it, but none of them were the other speakers. And since Fred had just finished speaking before coming out here, it seemed unlikely that any of them had seen his presentation or even knew who he was. And to Fred, that was perfect. He ordered a beer at the bar and took a seat at an empty table.
A door to the banquet hall opened and young woman stepped out of the room slowly. Fred thought the next speaker must have started and that she didn't want to draw attention to herself. When she turned around and started toward the bar, Fred recognized her immediately. Her name was Rachel Spier and she had spoken earlier in the day about robot assisted tumor excision. She spotted Fred looking in her direction and smiled at him as neared his table.
"Dr. Matthews, right?" she asked.
Fred was mildly surprised to be approached by her and found that his beer was not curing his nervousness very well anymore. He stood and managed to say, "Ah... yes. That's correct. But please, call me Fred." Though he thought he knew the answer already, he offered her his hand and asked, "And you are?"
Rachel shook the offered hand and replied confidently, "Dr. Rachel Spier. But please, just call me Rachel." She pulled the chair away from the table slightly and asked, "May I?"
"Of course, it would be my pleasure. Can I get you anything to drink?" He said, and both of them sat down. Fred surprised to notice his anxiety was fading already. Rachel had a way about her that soothed him from the moment she shook his hand. He found this to be a curious, if not frightening, power she had over him.
Interrupting Fred's thoughts, Rachel answer, "Sure! Just a Coke, please."
"Coming right up," Fred replied as he started to get out of his chair to go to the bar.
"Oh, well don't go and order me one! I just got here and now you're going to leave me sitting here all alone?" Rachel teased. "I can wait until the waiter comes around."
Fred sat back down with a smile, "If you insist."
"Oh, I do. Now it seems that all I know about you is your name and that you are quite knowledgeable about organ transplants. So tell me, do you come here often?" she joked.
Surprised by her joke, Fred responded through his laughter, "No. No, I don't get here often I'm afraid. First time in fact. You?"
"Yes, this is my first time as well. But if I knew that they had Doctors as cute as you here I would have made it a point to come sooner," Rachel said as she continued to tease him. She was proud to have made him laugh so quickly. It wasn't always easy getting to know people, and laughter seemed to reveal something intimate about a person. Her grandmother always thought most everything you needed to know about someone could be found in the things they laughed at and how they did it. Rachel had always thought that was pretty true as well. And Fred, he had a good, pure laughter. The kind that didn't come out at someone's expense but only in moments of shared joy. A laughter that invited you to join in the fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment