Flight 909

Indianapolis International Airport is huge. Covering 7700 acres, it handles close to 10 million passengers a year from 40 gates and is the second largest FedEx air hub in the world. The main terminal, named in honor of Col. Harvey Weir Cook, a WW1 fighter ace and civilian aviation pioneer in the state of Indiana, appears to be a futuristic oval hangar big enough to house Captain Kirk's U.S.S. Enterprise. The inside of the terminal houses scores of businesses from popular coffee shops to top of the line department stores, albeit on a much smaller scale.

After passing through the TSA inspection station, Richard Taylor walked to the waiting area for his gate and searched for an empty seat. The area was fairly crowded but he was lucky to locate an available seat near the window overlooking the passenger loading ramp attached to the aircraft. As he headed toward the chair, he noticed another passenger headed the same way. He wasn't about to act like a juvenile and run for the seat, but he hoped he would get there first. The other man was busy talking on his phone and nonchalantly making his way toward the chair. Just as both men were about ten feet away from the seat, the loudspeaker came to life announcing the latest departure and a stranger, sitting in an adjoining chair rose and made their way to the line for the assigned gate.

Richard seated himself near the window and breathed a sigh of relief. The man on his phone sat down next to Richard. He finally said goodbye to the other party and punched the telephone's OFF icon. He slid the phone toward his pants pocket but the phone fell on the floor. Richard reached down, retrieved the phone, and handed it to the man. The man said, "Thank you," and offered his hand to Richard.

Shaking hands, he said, "Don Noble."

"Nice to meet you Don, I'm Richard Taylor."

"So where you headed?" Don inquired.

Richard replied, "Los Angeles. You?"

"The same," Don answered. "I've got an interview at the Los Angeles Medical School."

"Oh my God," Richard blurted. "So do I!"

"That's fantastic," Don added. "Ya know, I never thought I'd get a medical school interview with my non-medical background, but I guess you never know what they're looking for."

"What's your background?" Richard wanted to know.

"Music," Don said. "All through college, I've played music in a band to pay down my student loan. It's been hard, learning the words and music to new songs in addition to keeping up with my classes, but somehow I've done it!"

"What kind of music do you play?"

"We play rock 'n' roll, country, blues, some ballads; ya know, just all around music that people like to drink, dance, or listen to."

"What instrument do you play?" Richard asked.

"Bass guitar," Don said. "I started playing when I was a senior in high school. My dad played guitar from the time he was six years old and taught me a few things on the bass. I picked up most of it on my own because it was easy."

"So what makes you want to get into medicine? Sounds like you've got a pretty good thing going," Richard said.

Before Don could answer, the loudspeaker came to life again announcing their departure from gate 7. Gathering their carry on bags, they headed toward the boarding ramp, talking like long lost friends the entire way.

Looking at their tickets while walking down the ramp, they noticed their assigned seats were different, but discussed sitting in the rear of the aircraft. They had both flown before and knew most people sitting in the back of the plane would gladly change seats if offered. Their plan worked beautifully and they ended up sitting in adjoining seats in the last row after stowing their bags in the overhead bin. Don sat next to the window and Richard gladly took the aisle seat (which he wanted anyway) with plenty of room to stretch his long legs. With a six hour flight to their destination, he wanted to be as comfortable as possible.

They buckled their seat belts and prepared for takeoff after listening to the standardized messages from the pilots and observing the hand signs from the flight attendants. After a smooth takeoff and climbing to thirty seven thousand feet, the flight attendants walked up and down the center aisle taking drink orders and handing out little packages of peanuts to those who wanted them. Richard and Don were unexpectedly enjoying this trip and decided to have an adult beverage, or two, with their peanuts. Toasting each other on their remarkable fortune of getting interviews at the same medical school, as well as meeting each other, they settled into the flight and their seats.

"So Don," Richard began, "you were just about to tell me how you got into medicine. Like I mentioned before, it sounds like your life was close to perfect playing music."

"Playing music can be rough," Don explained. "The band had a really amazing fan base and we were pulling in good crowds wherever we played. Since all of us either had day jobs or were in school, like yours truly, we were only playing in the large bars on Friday and Saturday nights from 9 p.m. till 2 a.m. Since the crowds were so good and the owners were making a pretty good penny, the owner of the largest club where we played asked us if we would consider playing on Thursday night, as well as on Friday and Saturday night. We agreed and added Thursday night to our schedule. The money was better for us as well, but let me tell you, it was rough. I was okay because I had arranged my Friday morning classes at school to begin at 10 a.m. cause I liked sleeping in late, but the working guys in the band had to suck it up on Friday mornings, busting their rear ends, and hoping they didn't make any mistakes on the job. To make a long story short, it worked for six weeks until our guitar player fell asleep driving home one night and rolled his car. We were relieved he wasn't seriously injured, but that ended our Thursday night gigs quickly.

I'm sorry, you asked me how I got into medicine..."

"That's okay," Richard responded. "You've had some exciting times, but not all of them a good kind of exciting."

Don continued, "Yeah, some of them I could have done without. Anyway, I've got a sister with cerebral palsy. She's been through a lot in her life. I love her very much and I felt I needed to do something worthwhile in my life to maybe try and help her. Yeah, I love music, it brings me a lot of joy seeing how happy it makes people, but something deep inside of me is pulling me, willingly, into medicine. Does that make any sense to you? Sorry, I didn't mean to be so long-winded."

"Oh no, you're okay," Richard said quickly. "I didn't mean to pry."

"No need to apologize," Don said. "What about you? What were you doing before getting into this serious med school waiting game we're playing?"

Richard drew a deep breath. "I was in the military for a while and worked as a medic. I loved it! There's something special about the medical field!"

"You got that right," Don remarked.

Richard continued, "You've got to understand, this is the way I see medicine. Every medical problem is an intriguing investigation of sorts, and searching for the clues and learning how to put them together for a correct diagnosis seems like it would be very gratifying."

"Sounds like you have exactly the attitude the medical schools are looking for," Don said.

"I certainly hope so," Richard added. "I took a lot of college pre-requisites in the military which helped me financially because the military paid for the courses as long as I kept my grades up. And believe me, I kept my grades up because I knew in my heart I was going to pursue a degree in medicine. Then when I got out of the military, I only had two years of college to complete and pay for. But working as a military medic helped me decide to at least try to go med school."

"Man oh man," Don exclaimed. "Listening to you makes me wish

I had considered the military. I could've saved a heck of a lot of dough!"

Richard went on. "Remember I said working as a medic helped make up my mind?" Don nodded.

"Well, two of my medic experiences cemented my decision. I was parachuting one day in California and was enjoying the view as I descended. Our landing zone was the large grassy area at the approach end of one of the runways on base. I had not slowed the speed of the parachute fast enough and was dangerously close to a nearby freeway. I finally got my parachute turned around correctly, but by then I was falling like a rock! I made the mistake you should never make when parachuting when I took my hands off the risers (directional controllers) to brace myself for the impact. My left hand hit the ground really hard and I dislocated my ulna (forearm bone on the little finger side) at the elbow. That hurt a lot. My team always watched our landings with binoculars from the on call ambulance and said if we were okay, to stand up, and if not, stay down and they would come get you. My legs weren't hurt and I could've easily stood up, but my arm hurt and I thought, "They can come and get me," which they did. One of the medics working with me, but not a parachutist, retrieved a rigid cardboard splint from the ambulance to immobilize my arm. But here's the kicker. He was trying to apply the splint crossways on my arm at a 90 degree angle! I was obviously in pain, but I chewed him out royally on the spot for not knowing something as simple as applying a splint properly."

"Oh my God dude!" Don sputtered. "Even I know how to apply a splint! I thought I had some interesting experiences, but yours just blow me away!"

"Just part of life man," Richard responded, "just part of life."

Don excused himself and got up to use the bathroom. Richard sat back and thought about the upcoming medical school interview. He had studied several books detailing the types of questions that he expected to be asked at the interview. Most importantly, everything he read told him to be himself and answer the questions truthfully.

Don returned and Richard got up to let him back into his seat. When Don was settled, Richard said, "Ya know, there was another instance that occurred that made me feel that going to medical school may be in the cards for me."

"One day another medic and I transferred a patient in our clinic to a hospital about 50 miles away. On our return, we witnessed a two car accident. We were required to stop and render aid if any was needed. A mother and her baby in one of the cars required medical attention. I took care of the baby who was unresponsive and not breathing. I took the baby to the ambulance, opened it's airway with a slight head tilt, gently blew air in it's face and nose, and the baby started crying and moving. I had never been so happy to hear a baby cry in my life! After performing a full body exam and finding no other injuries, I returned the baby to it's mother with instructions to have the baby and herself examined by their family doctor or the Emergency Room doctor.

I was in seventh heaven after that happened and knew I wanted to make medicine my life's work."

Don was amazed. "Richard, if you don't get an acceptance from a medical school, I'll be shocked!"

The remainder of their flight was uneventful and they landed at LAX on time. They gathered their suitcases and shared a cab to their respective hotels after making plans to meet for breakfast the following morning.

Richard and Don found the medical school interview questions interesting. They especially had to think quickly on their feet (so to speak) when asked: what 3 things would you change about yourself; what are your greatest strengths; and, last but not least,

what are your greatest weaknesses?

After the interviews, Richard called Don and made plans to have dinner. "Well, how did it go?" Richard asked Don after they

were seated in the restaurant.

"It went better than I expected," Don answered. "I was nervous when I walked into the conference room, but the people there went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. The interview lasted about half an hour and it seemed like I made a good impression. Now I'm crossing my fingers."

"Now we wait," Richard said.

"Hey, that sounds like it might make a good song," Don crowed.