Everyone knew how beneficial it would be to know the champion of the Top Doctor Competition.
"But—" Troy said, breaking off when he realized he didn't know what to say. He felt humiliated by Alex's success.
Melissa's face turned red, and she just couldn't believe it. She was still convinced Alex was infatuated with her and had only come here to be close to her. And yet, he appeared to be well versed in medical matters.
An examiner stepped forward and handed Wayne a crumpled piece of paper. "Mr. Shannon, this is the test Dr. Wilkinson gave to Alex. After Alex had finished, Dr. Wilkinson threw it out the window and refused to discuss it."
Wayne looked at the paper and recognized the questions as relating to his own work on tropical diseases, so he knew Alex's answer was correct.
He looked up, glaring at Troy. "You lied about an examinee! You knew Alex had passed your test, and you sought to cover it up. Dr. Wilkinson, you are clearly lacking in ethics. You will be removed from the state medical board, and your license will be revoked. Go home and reflect on your behavior. If you decide you still want to practice medicine, then you'll have to retake the exam."
He knew if he hadn't arrived when he had, Alex's reputation would have been destroyed, so he was furious with Troy.
Troy's face flushed scarlet, and even his ears turned red. His cheeks felt like they were on fire, and he had never been so humiliated in his life. He couldn't stay there for a moment longer, so he fled, trying to ignore the whispers that followed him from the room.
"Congratulations," Melissa said, walking up to Alex. "Perhaps you're not so useless, after all. Who knows? Maybe one day, you might actually be good enough to be my boyfriend."
"Get lost," Alex said, feeling no need to be polite to her. She wasn't worth his time, and he had had enough of her for one day.
Alex left his contact information with Wayne, and then he went back to the clinic. He told Debbie and the others that he had passed the exams, and everyone was happy for him. They all wanted to take him out to celebrate, and Alex agreed.
Sophie went to make a phone call, and Alex checked his email, finding one from Lindsey. After reading it, he went to the pharmacy and spent an hour preparing medication.
When Alex came back out, Sophie and the others were ready for dinner. When they saw what he was holding, they were curious.
"What's that?" Sophie asked, staring at the small container. "Some new formulation of healing cream?"
Everyone gathered around Alex, staring at him with admiration.
They had each tried several of Alex's products, and every time, they had found them to be better than anything else available.
Alex didn't respond. He simply glanced at Kendall and asked, "Are you afraid of pain?"
Kendall snorted. "Not even a little."
"Good!" Alex grinned at her. Then he took a knife and moved closer. "Give me your hand."
Kendall hesitated, but then she finally reached out her hand.
Before Alex could respond, someone pounded on the door to the clinic, and a woman screamed.
"Help! I need a doctor! Please, save my child!"
Although the clinic had closed for the day, none of them would turn away from an emergency, and the woman's cries made it obvious this wasn't a minor problem.
Sophie ran to the door and opened it.
A woman rushed in, carrying a five-year-old child, followed by several men and women. They were all stained with blood.
"Doctor, please help my son," the woman begged, tears running down her face. "He accidentally cut himself with a knife. There was blood everywhere, and we can't get it to stop!"
Sophie quickly took the child and put him on an examination table.
She and Alex examined the boy and saw a deep cut running down his chest to his abdomen. He was still bleeding, but he was unconscious, so he wasn't crying.
Sophie looked up at the woman and scowled. "How did this happen?" she demanded. "How did he get this wound?"
"He'd been watching a TV show about hospitals," the woman said, sobbing so hard they could barely understand her. "And he likes to pretend to be a doctor. Normally, he plays with a toy scalpel, but this time, he took a knife from the kitchen. It was an accident! Please help him. Nothing we tried even slowed the bleeding."
Sophie cut off the child's clothes to get a better look. "This wound is too deep, and he's losing too much blood," she said. "We'll do what we can to stabilize him, but you'll need to take him to a hospital after that. There's a limit to what we can do here."
The boy was clearly very weak, and he would need a blood transfusion, so he needed to go somewhere with more resources than their clinic.
"We wanted to take him to the hospital," the woman cried, wiping the tears from her face. "But he was bleeding so badly, and we were worried we wouldn't make it there on time."
"Well, let's stop the bleeding first," Sophie said. "And then we'll get him to hospital."
Ready to begin, she looked down at the wound, but then she realized she had no idea where to start. The wound was long, and several parts of it were incredibly deep. She knew she had to move quickly to stem the blood loss, but she was paralyzed with indecision.
Alex had been watching, and now he stepped up beside her. "Let me," he said.
Relieved, Sophie stepped back, indicating Alex should take over.
"The patient's injury is too serious for more conventional treatment," Alex said, bringing out the container he had shown everyone. "We'll try this new prescription I've made up."
"Doctor, we tried using a healing ointment, but the cut is just too deep," the woman said. "The blood just washes the ointment out before it has the chance to do any good."
"Just do whatever you can to stop the bleeding long enough for us to get him to the hospital," one of the men called out.
Several family members shook their heads, certain Alex's powder would be useless.
The woman wrung her hands in anguish. "Is there nothing else you can do?" she asked.
Kendall and Sophie looked doubtfully at Alex, not sure his powder could help with such a serious wound.
"Don't worry, the child will be okay," Alex reassured them, opening the container.
They all watched him, waiting to see what he would do, but not expecting much.
Alex lifted the container and poured the white powder along the laceration, causing the bleeding to stop immediately. Right in front of their eyes, the skin began to knit together as the wound grew narrow. Before long, it had completely closed, leaving a raised red line.
The boy was breathing more easily, and it seemed the crisis had passed.
"This powder can stop bleeding in three seconds, relieve pain in ten seconds, and cause a wound to scab over within a minute," Alex said, placing the lid back on the container. "Within twenty-four hours, the wound will be completely healed."
Everyone's jaws dropped as they stared at him. How could this powder be so effective?