Microstory 245: Perspective Twenty

This is an experimental Perspectives microstory. The introduction can be found in Microstory 225. More to follow.

I’m in trouble. Never in my life have I raped somebody, or sexually assaulted them. But one dumb little nurse is a little tired and her consent might not have been perfectly perfect, and now I have to answer for it. I’m going to have to work on my story. She definitely consented, that much I know. Well, I mean, that isn’t quite what happened, but her fatigue actually acts to my advantage since she won’t be able to recall events with accuracy. Though, it’s still not good for me because I’m the one who draws up the schedule, and she could argue that she was being worked too much. That’s an entirely different set of problems, but one that I can reason my way out of. Medical professionals are overworked all the time. It’s a systemic problem, and one that is not completely in my control. That’s no reason to fire anyone...or worse. Yes, that’s what I’ll do. My mother always said that the best way to avoid answering for something was to pass the blame off, especially if there turns out to be no solution, because then we end up in a standstill. Yeah, my mother was a weird one. Probably shouldn’t have listened to her when she said such things, but I did, and now I can’t find someone to love me. It’s all her fault. See? That blame thing is pretty easy. Rape claims are so common these days, though. Shifting focus away from that is going to be rather difficult. People love to vilify people they think to be rapists. That word is just thrown around all over the place, and everyone thinks they know what it means. In my day, a woman’s responsibility was to a man. But now they’re supposed to have their own lives, and we’re supposed to listen to their problems and care about their feelings. Ugh, shoot me now. No, I can’t talk like that. I have to pretend that I don’t feel that way; that I love women. No, I can’t say that I “love” women because then they’ll use that against me. I have to pretend like I respect women, even nurses. If I just take some time to adjust my brain, it shouldn’t be too hard. Fortunately, I have a friend in human resources.