Angela sighed and reluctantly opened the door. Wadley was sitting at his desk in front of his regular microscope, not the teaching microscope.
“Come on,” Wadley called again. He waved Angela over and tapped the top of his microscope. “Take a gander at this slide.”
Warily Angela advanced into the room. Several feet away she hesitated. As if sensing her reluctance, Wadley gave himself a little push, and his chair rolled back from the desk. Angela stepped up to the microscope and leaned over to adjust the eyepieces.
Before she could look in Wadley lunged forward and grabbed her around the waist. He pulled her onto his lap and locked his arms around her.
“Gotcha!” Wadley cried.
Angela shrieked and struggled to get away. The unexpected forcefulness of the contact shocked her. She’d been concerned about him touching her subtly, not manhandling her.
“Let me go!” Angela demanded angrily, trying to unlock his fingers and break his grip.
“Not until you let me tell you something,” Wadley said. He was chuckling.
Angela stopped struggling. She had her eyes closed. She was as humiliated as she was furious.
“That’s better,” Wadley said. “I’ve got good news. The trip is all set. I even got the tickets already. We’re going to the pathology meeting in Miami in November.”
Angela opened her eyes. “Wonderful,” she said with as much sarcasm as she could muster. “Now let me go!”
Wadley released her and Angela sprang from his lap. But as she pulled away he managed to grab her wrist. “It’s going to be fantastic,” Wadley said. “The weather will be perfect. It’s the best time of year in Miami. We’ll be staying on the beach. I got us rooms in the Fontainbleau.”
“Let go!” Angela demanded through clenched teeth.
“Hey,” Wadley said. He leaned forward and looked at her closely. “Are you mad or something? I’m sorry if I scared you. I just wanted it to be a surprise.” He let go of her hand.
Angela was beside herself with anger. Biting her tongue to keep herself from exploding, she dashed into her office. Mortified and demeaned, she slammed the connecting door.
Forcibly she rubbed her face with both hands, trying to regain a modicum of control. She was shaking from the adrenaline coursing through her body. It took her a few minutes to settle down and for her breathing to return to normal. Once it had, she grabbed her coat, and angrily stalked out of her office. At least Wadley’s oafishly inappropriate advances had finally spurred her to action.
Avoiding the misty rain as much as possible, she dashed from the main hospital building to the Imaging Center. Once under the projecting eaves she slowed to a fast walk. Inside she went directly to Cantor’s office.
Not having called beforehand, Angela had to wait almost a half hour before Dr. Delbert Cantor could see her. While she waited she calmed down considerably and even began once more to question if she were partly to blame for Wadley’s behavior. She wondered if she should have anticipated it and not have been so naive.
“Come in, come in,” Cantor said agreeably when he could finally see her. He’d gotten up from his disordered desk to escort Angela into the room. He had to move a stack of unopened radiology journals from a chair for her to sit down. He offered her some refreshment. She politely refused. He sat down, crossed his legs and arms, and asked what he could possibly do for her.
Now that she was face to face with the chief of the professional staff, Angela was not encouraged. All her misgivings about the man and his attitude toward women came back in a rush. His face had assumed a smirk as if he had already decided that whatever was on her female mind was of little consequence.
“This is not easy for me,” Angela began. “So please bear with me. It was hard for me to come here, but I don’t know what else to do.”
Cantor encouraged her to continue.
“I’m here because I’m being sexually harassed by Dr. Wadley.”
Cantor uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. Angela was encouraged that at least he was interested, but then she noticed that the smirk had remained.