The Nurse's Report

Trigger warning: child abuse

I had just finished a 12-hour shift at The Lincoln Community Hospital and Care Center in Hugo, Colorado. As I walked out the door all bundled up in my winter snowsuit, I realized the storm was worse than I had anticipated. I know that I need the winter basics for a storm based on South Eastern America’s standard: Milk, bread, cereal, and toilet paper. I had to drive a few miles out of my way to Smith’s Supermarket on 4^th Street, but I must get these things because being a nurse at the only hospital within a 75-100 mile radius keeps me busy and I have not shopped for quite some time. Being from the southeast American region, it has taken some time for me to learn to navigate the winters of Colorado.

There were some cars on the roads. It was around 6:00pm when I pulled my Ford Explorer into Smith’s. The snow was blistering as the blizzard buzzed around my car. There were some vehicles in the parking lot, so I was excited to go see them. I still get scared of driving in the snow, especially during a blizzard. This is such a small town that everyone knows everyone. I am still the “new nurse at the hospital”, although I have been here for four years. I blundered my way inside the store and shook off some of the snow at the door. I noticed it was incredibly quiet in the store, radio playing, no voices carrying throughout the store. The back-left side of the store was eerily dark. I continued to the back of the store to milk the cow, (get a gallon of milk). Still, I have not seen anyone or heard any voices. I felt uneasy and picked up my pace back toward the front of the store. Near the office, I heard what seemed to be that of a cat meowing. I could not find anybody. “Mrs. Smith, Mr. Smith? Robert?” no answer. Where are all the people that belong to the cars parked outside? I felt very apprehensive and strange about the situation. I decided that I did not need anything from the store at this time. I put the milk into the lunch meat refrigerator in the middle of the store. I scooted out a little faster because my gut was telling me that everything is wrong with this scene. As I turned onto the can vegetable isle, which leads to the exit, I stumbled upon a bundle of blankets.

I heard that “cat” meowing again. I stopped to pick up the blankets and there was a baby bundled up in them. My first thought carried me to the people of the town and who had recently had a baby. I looked over the baby’s body. I examined the face and neck and hands. I carried the baby around the store looking for ANYBODY. Still, there was nobody. The storm was brewing outside. I had to get out of there. I could not leave that sweet little soul lying in the store floor. I realized at that moment; I was not going home tonight. I snuggled the baby inside of my snowsuit. I fumbled my way back to the Ford Explorer, now covered in what looked like two foot of snow. As I scraped the snow off the windshield, the baby cried from inside my suit. I was so panicky that I decided to go back to the hospital. I kept the baby in my suit with my seat belt securely slithering over my left shoulder and the baby’s back. I did not have a car seat, so this seemed to be the safest way to travel. The strength of the wind was shoving my Explorer closer to the ditch than I was comfortable with. The whiteout blinded me and i felt hysterical and desperate to find help for this baby and find his/her parents. The fear of not knowing if I could make it back to the hospital was frightening.

An eternity later, I made it back to Lincoln Hospital.  I left my Explorer parked under the canopy at the emergency room entrance and threatened the wind to get in my way as I crawled inside the door.

Marcy came running to examine the heap lying in the floor which was me. I caught my breath as she questioned me about coming back. She scanned my face with concern. “What is wrong?” she said as I unzipped my snowsuit and pulled out the bundle of blankets and handed it to her. The confused look in her eyes led me to explain my hour and half since leaving work. 

Marcy unfolded the bundle as I was sweeping snow out of my hair. She recognized that it was a baby boy. We shuffled to an open exam room to finish examining the baby and I shredded my snowsuit off my uncanny warm body and washed my hands in the warmest water that I could stand. I picked up the little body from the exam table and held him close as we discussed my ordeal. Marcy decided that I must report my finding to the police.

Conveniently, as usual, the local sheriff was plodding about the hospital. Not much going on in this small town on a blizzard night. His name is James Phillips, everyone calls him Phil. I would have thought Jim but his brother, Johnny Phillips, started calling him Phil as a youngster and it stuck. So, Phil it is. Johnny does go by John.

Phil chanced about the exam room and Marcy called him into the room. She told him of my ordeal, and he turned his interest back to being an investigator. He pulled out his notepad and started asking questions. I answered them all as I relived the eerily quiet supermarket with nobody in sight.

The baby was registered into the hospital as baby boy Doe. He was put onto the pediatric floor for observation. I found an empty patient room and took a shower and settled in for the night. It was roughly 9:30pm and I knew that I would have to be back to work at 6:00am so I took advantage of the convenience.

I was back up at 5:15am. I remembered that my car was parked under the canopy and I had to go move it to a parking spot. I scrambled to the ER doors where Marcy was sitting at the nurse station talking on the phone. She shushed me and asked me to wait a minute. I told her I would move my car and be right back.

When I returned, she filled me in on all the gossip streaming through Hugo. The Smiths were missing, a young girl named, Dory Miller, was missing and Robert the grocery clerk was frantic when he arrived at the supermarket to find it still unlocked and nobody inside. Cars still lined the sidewalk in front of the store, no owners had come to retrieve them, possibly due to the blustery blizzard of last night. No mention of the baby boy found inside the store. Sheriff Phil vanished from the hospital with the expectation of a crime in Hugo. He made his way to Smith’s Supermarket to question Robert. He had already questioned me about the store, the baby, no people in the store.

Robert was asked to close the supermarket for some time while the police department operated an investigation. He obliged. The store remained closed for three days, which was disheartening for the locals as this is the only grocery store in the area. The patrons of the establishment are friends and family that live in this small town. No word from the Smith’s, or the missing girl. That added to the heartbreak of this town.

The baby boy is faring well at the hospital. The Department of Family and Children Services has been contacted. They, too, are investigating the baby. Dory Miller had given birth at Denver Health Center in Denver, CO, just two weeks prior to a healthy baby boy. Father unknown. Where is Dory? DFACS was able to use blood samples to confirm maternity and the given name to baby boy Doe is Daniel Miller.

Little Daniel is a gorgeous angel of 8lbs and 13oz, rosy skin, dark hair, and the cutest little toes. DFACS placed the baby with Dory’s mother in Aurora, temporarily.

Approximately, 2 weeks have passed, the investigation seemed to be dying down. People are traumatized by the thought of not finding the Smith’s and Dory Miller. Robert was running the Supermarket with all hopes that the Smith’s will come bouncing in as any usual day. I was off work today and made my way to the local Vintage store. John Phillips was in there and approached me. He asked if I would like to go to his parents’ farm to ride horses on some new snow melted trails. I said, “of course!”. I finished shopping and John suggested that I leave my Explorer at the shop and just ride out with him in the full-size Chevrolet Silverado. We plowed the snow laden streets to the farm. When we arrived, we went to the barn to get the horses out and saddle them up. We kept hearing some strange noises in the feed room. We investigated the sounds and to our shock, we found the Smith’s and a young girl, presumably Dory Miller, stuck in the locked feed room. John and I rushed over to let them out. They were gagged with some old rags. We loosened their gags and ropes on the arms and legs. Then the accusations gushed from their mouths. Phil had hauled them here after the Smith’s witnessed a confrontation between Phil and Dory inside the Supermarket. Phil did not want any witnesses to this argument. Nobody knew that he was seeing this young girl. She lived in Aurora and is 20 years old. He is 46. He had a reputation to up stand. His family had been in law enforcement for decades. His name would be tarnished if anyone knew that he was a predator to young girls. He had been seeing this girl since she was 15. He took matters into his own hands and brought them to his parents’ farm not knowing how to control the situation.  He did not think anyone would find them because he was the one who managed the horses regularly. He left the baby at the store with hopes that someone would find him and give him a new home. Obviously, he was not thinking clearly. John called the police in Aurora, CO. They started a complete investigation.

The Smith’s were so happy to be home and back to their friends and family. Dory was reunited with baby Daniel, who will continue to live with Dory’s mother. James Phillips, aka FEEL (Phil) was arrested for malfeasance in office. He got his nickname because he was always trying to FEEL up on the younger ladies. His precious reputation ruined. His parents embarrassed.

John continues to pursue me as I still work at the Lincoln Community Hospital.  I am known as “the Nurse that helped saved the Smith’s”, no longer the “new Nurse at the hospital”.