The Interview (Part 1)

[balor]

The Interview

Looking at herself in the elevator’s mirror, Lucia straightened her long straight black hair and adjusted her short but crisp pencil skirt. As the elevator reached the 32nd floor, she gave herself one last pep talk. Her rent was already overdue, her student loans were piling up, and so she really needed this job. She was a damn good dental hygienist, and any dentist should be proud to have her, right? So what if Dr. Grimhardy advertised his practice as a Sedation Dentistry clinic? She’d learned about this in dental school, learned that it served a legitimate need for patients with intense dental phobia, and she didn’t mind trying to be extra gentle with those that were afraid the most.

As it was 7pm, right after the clinic closed, the door was locked, but remembering the phone instructions, Lucia knocked loudly. She heard a muffled, “coming” and then a few moments later the door swung open. As she stepped in, she inhaled the familiar dental office odors. There was the sharp tang of medicinal antiseptic, the light odor of vinyl from the seats, and a musty scent of latex. Those all seemed very familiar, but there was another, more sweetish, heady odor that seemed to underly all the others, a smell that she couldn’t quite place.

She was startled out of her reverie as Dr. Grimhardy stepped out of one of the workrooms. She’d seen a photo, but in person, he seemed even more hunky. Tall, broad shouldered, with deep piercing blue eyes and slightly, but distinguishingly graying black hair. Ooof, back off Lucia. It’s been a year since your last boyfriend, but get a hold of yourself. You want this guy to be your boss, and you better start acting like it. To break the moment, she stammered “Hi, I’m Lucia. I have a 7pm interview with you.” He smiled at me, his mouth creasing in a wonderful manner, and stuck out his hand. “I’m Frank. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me so late, you know how it is running a practice short staffed, never enough hours in the day. Anyhow, step into one of the examination rooms, and let’s talk.”

While not completely modern, the room we stepped in was Lucia’s idea of what a dental office should be. The examination chair was covered in crisp light blue vinyl, the lights were stainless steel, and there was a carefully arranged instrument table, also crisp stainless steel. But it was what was next to the table that made Lucia take an almost involuntary gasp. The gas machine was elaborate, resplendent with all sorts of knobs, dials, and meters. Turning back to Dr. Grimhardy, I noticed that he saw me eyeing the gas machine. Oh well. Frank smiled and waved at me to sit down on the examination table as he took a seat on the nearby chair.

“So, Lucia, I am really glad you’re here. I’m going to admin something, but before the interview I called your old professor, and inquired about you. He had nothing but the best to say.” As I tried to stammer something out, he continued. “So from the conversation I know you’d make a great dental assistant at a regular clinic, but what he could not tell me was how you’d do with phobic patients.” “So why don’t you begin by telling me what you know about Sedation Dentistry.”
Trying not to show my nervousness, I responded. “Well, we use sedation dentistry to help patients get over their phobias. For patients who have only slight phobia, or perhaps, for those that just dislike the dentist, we usually use Nitrous Oxide.” As I said that, I took another look at the gas machine. “For patients who have a more serious phobia, we offer Oral Sedation, by giving them a pill to help them forget the experience. With patients even more fearful, or in the cases where a longer procedure is indicated, we will use IV sedation. While most Oral and IV Sedation doesn’t fully knock a patient out, but just sends them into a twilight sleep, we can also fully knock out a patient either again by IV, or by using the… gas machine over there.”

Frank nodded approvingly. “That was very good Lucia, very very good. Clearly you know your stuff. Now let me ask you another question, and it’s an important one. Have you ever been put under before? The reason I ask this question is that I want to make sure that you’ll understand what our patients are feeling.”

Looking into his deep blue eyes, his rich lips, I couldn’t lie. So I told him the truth… that I’d never ever has an opportunity for it. And, also, that if he thinks that’s a deal breaker, that I’d understand. He let out a little laugh and told me not to be worried. Nonchalantly, he asked “Do you have anything planned for later in the evening? I answered promptly, indicating that I had nothing else planned until morning. “Wonderful” exclaimed Dr. Grimhardy. Then if it’s okay with you, we can do a few experiences tonight, and that will get you ready to working with the patients next week.” ”You mean I got the job?” I yelped. “Well, assuming everything goes according to plan tonight then yes…” he replied with a twinkle in his eye.

A couple minutes later I felt a little bit ridiculous. There I was, a 25 year old woman, and in my hand was a lollipop as if I were a little girl. Seeing the confusion, Frank elaborated. “Generally, with the highly phobic patients, what I will do is offer them this lollipop when they first get in the office. Go on, try it.” With his eyes on me, I took a lick, and then another and another. It actually tasted quite good! “There, you see, now you’re already on your way to being sedated. The lollipop contains Fenatyl, and in just 5 or 10 minutes, you’ll be feeling very relaxed and quite sleepy. I’ll just let you finish that while I finalize some paperwork. Feel free to lie down on the examination chair, take off your shoes, and I’ll be back in a few.” said Frank calmly. Then he went in the next room and closed the door.

All the while continuing to lick the lollipop, I thought about the situation I was in. I really did want this job, and I really found Dr. Grimhardy attractive, but what was I doing? Did it really make sense that I needed to understand what it meant to be put under to be able to work here? Was this just a little bit sketchy? I mean, the office is empty, I’m here after hours, and he’s going to knock me out and then maybe do some other things… some of which I’d never be comfortable telling him I wanted of course. As I glance down at the lollipop, I notice that it’s all done. A wave of happy pleasant euphoria begins to kick in. Colors seems so much more friendly, and a desire to lay down and cuddle with something soft, and perhaps close my eyes begins to grow stronger and stronger. My eyes fixate on the patient chair and warm quilt that Frank must have left these. Stumbling only a little bit, I manage to make it to the chair and wrap myself in the quilt. I try to think back to my worry about the legality and safety of this situation, but all I can really think of is how warm and comfy the quilt is, and how sleepy I am.
In this state, I don’t notice Frank making his way to join me, until he pets me gently on top of my head. “How are you feeling there Lucia? A bit sleepy?” I want to tell him that I am feeling used and I don’t appreciate it, but, instead, what comes out is an “Mmmm, I’m so warm and sleepy”. He pets me a few more times, rubbing his hand up and down my bangs, making me feel more and more relaxed. “For a girl your size, the Fentanyl lolli should have been 1/4 the dosage, but unfortunately there was a bit of a “mistake”. Now, it’s not a problem, as being relaxed is great for this next stage.

As I sleepily look to the side of my examination chair, I notice Frank is fiddling with something down there. If I wasn’t already drugged out of my mind, I’d have realized that those were restraint straps. As he brings them up and begins to tie me into them, I start feeling very scared. I try to scream, but my screams sound more like sleepy moans and do nothing except for draw Frank’s attention. “Now, Lucia, you don’t want to be a bad patient do you? Why don’t we see if there is something else we can give you to calm you down for a bit. As he’s saying this, he’s taken off a latex mask attached to the gas machine I was admiring earlier. Oh no, I’m about to be gassed I think. I cry a little tear and whimper a bit more. “Please let me go DR. Grimhaldy. I don’t think I can work here, and I won’t tell anyone about how you interview assistants.” The effort of making such a reasoned statement was too much for me, and I decided to close my eyes for just a minute or so until things became less fuzzy. It was there that Frank turned on his gas machine, and then lifting my head gently placed the mask on it. A scent of sweet strawberries filled my lungs and within 15 seconds I felt like I was completely floating.

Any reasonable or rational thoughts were long gone by that time, so when Frank strapped me in really tight using the restraints, I didn’t even notice, lost in the haze of Fenatyl lollies and a high dosage of Nitrous oxide. I could only imagine what he was going to be to next. I’d probably be too sleepy to know.