“Dr. McVay, your mother is on line three. She says it’s important and needs to speak with you right away.” His receptionist hung up. Hamish stared at the phone. His mother would never call him at the clinic unless it was an absolute emergency.

“Mom, what’s wrong? Are you and Dad okay?”

“Sweetheart, I’m so sorry to bother you at work, but your father fell this morning and was rushed to the hospital. He has a broken hip and will have surgery in about an hour. Hamish, I could really use your support right now.” His mother started crying.

“Mom, please don’t cry. You’re breaking my heart. I’ll fly out in an hour or so and be there this afternoon. Is Dad at St. Thomas?”

“Oh, you don’t know. St. Thomas isn’t taking patients. Dr. Wilson had a heart attack and passed away last month. There’s no one to run it, so it’s basically closed. Your father’s at Raytown Memorial. Please come as soon as you can.” 

“I didn’t know that. See you very soon. I love you, Mom, and tell Dad I love him, too.” 

*

Hamish picked up the phone again and dialed his boss’s number. “Carl, I have a situation. My father fell and broke his hip and needs surgery. My mother’s alone, and she’s struggling. I’ll be leaving in fifteen minutes to get to them. Carl? Carl?”

Carl barged into Hamish’s office. “Like hell, you’re leaving in fifteen minutes. There are patients to be seen. Your old man’s in the hospital being taken care of, and your mother must be there, too. So if she needs help, she’s in the right place.”

Hamish stood up. He could feel his face was red with anger. “Are you fucking kidding me. These are my parents. They need me, and I’m going.”

“Well then, it looks like you’ll be throwing away your opportunity to become a partner in this clinic.” Carl had a smirk of superiority on his face.

“You know, Carl, you can shove that partnership crap up your ass. I should’ve been partnered here fifteen years ago.” Hamish sat at his desk and pulled out a drawer. He took out a folder and pulled several papers from it, then quickly wrote several things on the papers and handed them to Carl.

Carl took the paper smugly. “What’s this?” He read the papers, paled, and went from smug to shocked. “You’re resigning? You can’t. I have to have enough notice to replace you.”

“Once again, Carl, fuck you. I’m taking my thirty vacation days, and my resignation is effective as of that date. Plus, I contacted the board inquiring as to why I was rejected as a partner last month. Do you know what the answer was, Carl? You stopped it for the twelfth time. You did that, Carl. So once again, fuck you.”

Carl stood gaping at Hamish. 

Hamish picked up a box that had his personal things in it. “You see, Carl, I planned on leaving here soon, but now I have reason to leave immediately.” He turned and walked out the door. He thanked the staff as he left the building. 

Hamish went home to his condo and packed several suitcases. He got the cat kennel out and hunted down his cat, Trina. Then he got Eddie, his toy poodle-Yorkie-Shih tzu mix’s harness, and took a cab to the small local airport. Hamish had called ahead, and they had his plane gassed and ready to fly. He loaded his pets and suitcases and took off for home. He looked at little Eddie and said, “Boy, we’re going home.”