Page 2 of Broken Dream
“Calm down,” Tabitha says. “I haven’t been talking. That I promise you. Frankly, I think anyone who has the drive and perseverance to get into medical school—which is not easy, as you know—and the desire to heal should be here.”
I nod. “I have that. I’ve learned so much from my aunt over the years. I want to help people the way she does.”
“Then you totally should.” She crosses her arms. “But I’m just saying, don’t count out surgery, because once we cut into this cadaver, you may find you like it.”
I force a smile at Tabitha. Maybe we could be friends. She’s cute, with her blond hair and light-brown eyes. She’s half a head shorter than I am, but I come from tall stock.
“So what should we name him?” Tabitha asks, looking down at our cadaver covered with a thick white sheet.
I drop my jaw. “You want to name the dead guy? I’m still on ‘what if we recognize him?’”
She smirks. “Are you kidding me? These bodies have been soaking in formaldehyde for years. Have you had anyone you know die and leave their body to science in that time?”
Ugh. I don’t want to think about that. “We don’t know whether we’re going to get a male or female,” I say.
“So we choose an androgynous name, then. Like Jordan or Morgan.”
Is she kidding me? “Don’t you think we should see what he or she looks like first?”
God. Soon we’ll have to look at it.
She lets out a laugh. “You are too funny! You don’t want to do any of this, but you want to wait until we see the cadaver before we give it a name?”
I grimace. “Hey, if I had it my way, there would be no name. There would be no anatomy lab.”
“Then why didn’t you just pursue a doctorate in psychology? Why bother with med school at all?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” I shrug my shoulders. “Psychiatry is a medical profession. I happen to think the link between physical health and mental and emotional health is very important.”
“Okay, okay… Simmer down.” She punches me gently on my upper arm. “If you want to get through med school, though, you’re going to have to pass anatomy lab. We’re going to be doing this for four years, and probably more during internship and residency. Well, at least during internship for you. If you stick with psychiatry, that’s where your residency will be.”
“Thank God,” I say under my breath.
Then Tabitha grabs my arm. “Fuck,” she says. “Check out our instructor.”
I look to the front of the room, where a tall man is walking in.
Make that a really tall man, with gorgeous dark-brown hair, black stubble on his sculpted jawline, and the most piercing emerald-green eyes I’ve ever seen.
Oh my God.
He may just be the best-looking man I’ve ever laid eyes on, and I grew up in a family of famously handsome men.
“Who is that?” I hear another student whisper.
Every woman in the room is staring at him, and quite a few of the men as well. And I don’t think they’re all gay. He’s just that good-looking.
“Good morning,” he says. “I’m Dr. Jason Lansing, and I’ll be your instructor for this semester’s anatomy lab. Please call me Jason.” He gives a dramatic scowl. “Dr. Lansing makes me feel about a hundred years old.”
Laughter echoes throughout the lab. I simply gulp and try not to stare at my professor’s magnificence.
He looks around the room. “You’ll get to meet your cadavers soon. First, some preliminaries.” He paces up and down between our tables. “You’re very lucky to have only two students per cadaver. In normal years, there are four per cadaver, and even sometimes six. The school received a hefty donation this year, so we’re able to do two per cadaver.”
Hefty donation.
From my mother and father, of course. But no one needs to know that, though I’m sure they all suspect.
He looks up and down the lab, pausing on each individual face. “You may be feeling a mixture of anticipation, excitement, maybe even a bit of nervousness. That’s all normal. Today, and over the next few months, you’ll begin a journey of understanding the human body in ways that can only be taught here.”
