The next morning, the doctor’s office was busier than usual. A long line of patients hoped to grab an open slot with the doctor or one of his nurse practitioners. Malik was working with the front desk staff, frantically trying to get all the patients tested and sorted into the appropriate waiting areas.
“Malik.” He heard his name being called from the delivery window.
He sighed and tilted his head back. “Not now.”
“But I need to talk to you,” Callie said.
“We’re swamped. I don’t have time right now.”
“You want to hear this,” she said. “I’ve discovered a clue.”
Malik focused on the screen, checking people in, and resetting the virus detection machine. Still without looking at Callie, he said, “Come back when we are less busy.”
“Excuse me?” The voice coming from the delivery counter wasn’t Callie’s.
Malik turned around and saw a boy with short black hair wearing a baseball cap and a plaid-patterned cloth mask. He was holding a white cardboard box with a matching cardboard lid.
“Hi, is Dr. Patel in?” he asked.
“Give me one minute,” Malik said. “I’ll be right with you.”
“I don’t have a minute,” the delivery boy said. “Can you check to see if Dr. Patel is in? This will be quick.”
“He’s not available right now,” Malik said while checking someone in on the computer. “He’s busy with patients. Can I help you?”
“Sure.” He slid the box to Malik. “Tell the doc that I’ve finished cleaning out the old storage unit. Let him know that I’ve finished shredding the obsolete files, but these looked different. I wasn’t sure what he wanted me to do with them, so I figured I should bring them to him. These don’t have any patient information or anything.”
“Got it,” Malik said as he took the box.
“Oh, hi, Jordan.” Malik heard Dr. Patel’s friendly voice from behind him. “How are you, young lady?”
Young lady? Malik thought, slightly embarrassed. I’ll blame it on the mask.
“Are you all finished?” Dr. Patel asked.
“Hey, Doc,” she said. “I was just telling him,” she pointed at Malik, “I’ve shredded all of your and Dr. Wen Shen’s obsolete files. There were some things in the storage unit that I didn’t know what to do with though, so I boxed them up. You can decide what to do with them.”
“What obsolete files?” Malik asked, now paying more attention.
“I asked Jordan here to clear out our storage unit. We had boxes of old paper records from thirty years ago, just sitting around. You have to wait until a patient hasn’t seen you for ten years before you can shred the file. Jordan’s been handling that for us.”
“And this is the last box,” Jordan said.
“Thank you, Jordan,” Dr. Patel said. “What’s next for you?”
“I’m not sure exactly, but other work will pop up. It always does.”
“Well, if you ever need a recommendation or anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out,” Dr. Patel said as he pulled out his phone. “I just sent you the money. You should have it in your account now.”
“Thanks, Doc,” Jordan said as she checked her phone and left.
Malik turned to look at Dr. Patel. He was going to ask him what he should do with the box, but the doctor was off again, seeing patients. Malik set the box down under the front desk.
“Nope,” Christine said. “You’re not leaving that thing here.” She smiled. “That’s why you have your own office.”
Malik scoffed and jokingly rolled his eyes. “Fine. Are you good up here?”
“Yeah,” Christine said, “we should be able to handle it now.”
Back in his office, Malik opened the box. There was an old magazine, some printed articles, a notebook, and an old map with circles drawn on them.
Malik set the box aside and started away at his daily list of things to do.
The hours were passing quickly when Dr. Patel poked his head into Malik’s office. “Do you guys want lunch today? It’s on me.”
“Sure,” Malik replied, as he stood up to walk around the office and collect everyone’s orders. When he reached the front of the office, he was surprised to see Magaly standing there.
“Oh, hi,” Malik said as he handed the notebook to Christine for her to write down her order. “What are you doing here today?”
“My shift ended early,” she said. “I just stopped by before heading out to lunch.”
“We’re collecting orders,” Christine said. “Dr. Patel’s paying if you want to stick around.”
“I don’t know,” Magaly said. “I should probably get some rest.”
“You’ll need lunch first anyway, right? Why not grab a bite with us?” Malik said.
Magaly smiled. “Why not?”