The Assistant

Tim Collingworth was a dentist. He had just completed his college and was practising dental surgery at a clinic in New York. This was a new experience for him and he was still a bachelor. He lived in an apartment a few miles away from the clinic. The apartment was a very old one, yet well maintained. Tim was happy with it since he was a bachelor and that was more than enough for him.

It was a fine Monday morning. He woke up like the rest of the others, irritated. He hated Mondays like others as well. Who would like to go to work after a nice relaxing weekend? Moreover, he had to do a major root canal surgery for a patient and the appointment was already fixed. He had just bought a car a few weeks back. It was a brand new Toyota Camry, a black one. And since it was a new car, he was very cautious about his driving. He spent some time to admire his car and then took it for a drive to the office.

Monday morning, 8: 35 AM. The busy streets of New York were already packed with traffic. ‘Grid block’ is what they coin it there, unlike the ‘traffic jam’ term we used in British English. Tim was a British man (which I forgot to mention earlier). He moved to New York for his higher studies and settled up for a temporary job there. Frankly speaking he missed his hometown a lot. Yes, he was from Liverpool. If you are a football fan, you would know. Liverpool and Manchester are two towns which are neighbours. But when it came to football, they were total enemies.

Tim was moving inch by inch in the busy rush hour traffic. He just got a call from his assistant.

“Appointment at 10 AM, sir. Just a reminder.”

“Yeah yeah, I know that. I’m caught up in traffic”

“Oh, I am sorry sir. Please get as soon as possible.”

Mia Tan Wong was Tim’s assistant. She was a Chinese-American girl. A very pretty girl, that is. They both were seeing each other, yet not revealing what they had in their hearts. And the frequent calls as this one, which are not really needed is an example for my statement.

Tim reached the clinic a few minutes late. He went up, wore his coat and took a look at his instruments. Mia was missing. He was wondering where she went while she just arrived.

“Good morning, Dr. Tim.”

“Good morning, Mia. Are the instruments sterilized?”

“Yes they are, doc. You are ready to go!”

Tim welcomed the patient and followed the procedures for the surgery. It took two hours for him to finish the surgery, that too with a non-cooperative patient. Then he washed his hands and went for lunch. He used to have lunch in a nearby restaurant. He went to a table and took his seat,   gasping at the very familiar menu card, waiting for waiter to take his orders. As he was reading through the menu card, a very familiar female voice was heard.

“Hello, doc!”

“Hey Mia, what are you doing here?”

“The same as you, I came for lunch. I couldn’t make lunch today. Woke up a bit late.”

“Oh. I see.”

“Can I join you?”

“Yes, sure. Please take your seat.”

“Thank you”

They both had their lunch and as they did, they talked over about their personal stuff. That was the first time they met outside the clinic and it was more like an informal date. They were talking so much that they never knew they were having lunch for the past one and a half hours. Yeah, this is where the theory of relativity comes to play.

Albert Einstein gave this explanation when he was asked to do so about the theory of relativity.

“When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours. That’s relativity.” — Albert Einstein

Now that’s so true. Isn’t it?

Tim looked at his watch. It was already half past 2, half an hour after the normal lunch time. He paid the bill and they rushed back to the clinic. Tim dealt with a few patients and then it was time to leave home. Just then, Mia came by.

“Bye doc. See you tomorrow. I guess we must have dinner sometime soon.” She winked.

Tim was out of this world for a few seconds. Then getting back to himself, he said,

“Bye, Mia. Yes, we should….err… pretty soon… I guess….”

His thoughts were all about what happened the whole day as he drove his Camry back home. The only thing that flashed before his eyes was Mia’s pretty face. He reached home and refreshed himself. Tim lived on the 12^th floor of the apartment and he could get a nice view from his window. He sat by the window with a cup of coffee and admired the view. He wondered why Mia’s behaviour was so strange today. Most of all he wondered why she came to that restaurant that day. She always used to bring her own lunch, she never called him doc, and all their conversations before were so very formal.

The next day, he went to work as usual. Mia was making arrangements as always. She looked at him and they wished each other good morning. Then she looked straight into his eyes.

“Shall we have dinner together tonight?”

Tim was dumbfounded. He never thought she would ask this so soon.

“Oh, yes… of course… why not?”

“Where shall we go?”

“Well…. Let me think…”

“I know a place, doc. We shall go there if you have no objection.”

They both went home after work and Tim was busy selecting one of his best suits. He drove his Camry to a place where she mentioned she would be waiting. Then, they went to the restaurant she directed him to.

As they had their dinner, they kept exchanging personal things about themselves. Just when the dinner was finished, Mia showed some strange movements. She looked around and then took out a box from nowhere. Then, she handed over the small box to him.

“It is for you, a small gift of mine. I wanted to tell you that I am resigning my job and moving to Canada. I will not be coming to work from tomorrow.”

Tim was in a huge shock.

“What??? But why?” That was all he could say.

“I had to make the decision, doc. I have no other choice.” She smiled.

Then they both left the restaurant and he dropped her at her place. They bid each other good bye and that was the last time they could ever see each other again.

The next morning, Tim went to work. The same old clinic, same old room, same old equipment. And yeah, a new assistant.

“Hello doctor. I’m Julia, Julia Andrews. I will be replacing Miss. Mia Tan Wong.”

 

Well, we always dream about things to happen our own way and build castles in the air. That’s why someone said this long back. “Man proposes, God disposes.”