The Chain Letter
By Zoinks
ergirlz@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: This is an ER story. That means that the characters do not belong to me. If this was an IR story, I would not have to attatch this fun little notice to it, but it's not IR, so here it goes:  I do not own these characters, I have just borrowed them temporarily for my own use. Someday, I hope to obtain ownership to them, but to do that, I'll probably have to convince Michael Crichton that I am his long lost daughter, so until I find an effective way to do so, I'll just stick to borrowing for a while longer.

A young girl was walking through the woods. She came to a river and decided to take the bridge across it. The water was raging underneath, with the rapids moving quickly downstream. The girl stepped up onto the bridge and began her crossing.   Just then, the beams beneath her gave way and she was dropped into the wicked waters, to be forcefully pushed underwater,
and carried downstream. The girl was never to be seen again. 

This story is true. It happened to a young girl, who resided in Chicago, Illinios. If only she would have sent a chain letter she received to six of her friends, her life would have been spared. Do not wind up like this poor, unfortunate soul. You can controll your own destiny. Send this letter to six of your friends and you will be protected from harm, while you flourish with your career, experiencing tons of good luck. However, if you fail to pass this along, you will be a living example of a worst case scenario, possessing bad luck.

John read the letter, over and over again. He stood up and walked to his computer. He scanned the letter and ran off six copies. He then put them in envolopes. Because he planned to pass them out randomly, there was no need for him to address the envelopes. He grabbed his stack and left for work. 

John entered County. He saw Mark, Kerry, and Jing-Me standing at the admits desk discussing a patient. 

"Here, these are for you guys," John said smiling. He gave each of the doctors an envelope. He headed towards the lounge. He spotted Randi making coffee.

"Randi, this is yours," John said, giving her a letter.

"What's this for?"

"Just open it, you'll see." He turned and exited the lounge.

"John," Kerry called, "would you mind running these charts upstairs to Corday?"

"No problem," he said. He took the charts and walked upstairs.

"I guess John's having a party or something," Jing-Me said, looking at what she thought was an invitation.

"Well," Mark answered, "Let's find out." The group opened their envelopes, and to their dismay, found that the contents were not invitations, but chain letters. 

John knocked on Elizabeth's office door. Peter answered and greeted John as he entered. "These are from the ER," he began, "And these are from me," he said handing out the chain letters.

"Thank's John," Elizabeth said.

"Yeah, thanks," Peter chimed in. John smiled and nodded to them both and then left. The surgeons opened their envelopes.  Both read the letters. They looked up at each other and burst out laughing.  

"Where in Chicago is there a big river that runs through woods?" Elizabeth asked.

"I know we got Lake Superior, but beyond that, I haven't seen one yet," he answered. The two began laughing again. 

"Are you going to do this?" he asked.

"No," she said, still laughing, "These are just superstitions. Are you going to do it?"

"No, no, hell no," was his reply. The two continued laughing. 

"Did you guys get one of these," Randi asked, approaching the group at the admits desk.

"Yes, but I don't know if I'm going to send them out," Jing-Me said.

"Oh, I'm sending them out, I have quite the list of people who need these. Let's see here, I can give one to Romano, I'll mail two to Seattle, one to Lewis in Phoenix, one to..."

"Kerry, chill," Mark said, "You're actually going to do this?"

"Yeah, hell, why not? I mean, I can run off copies right here and just pass them out. It won't be a problem at all."

"If it's that easy, we should all do it," Jing-Me added, "Besides, if this place can use some good luck."

"Are you with us Mark?" Kerry asked.

"It's not like my luck can get any worse."

"I'm in too, I can hit the nurses," Randi said excitedly. "I'll get the members of my hit list and a couple other doctors."

"Jing-Me and I will cover the rest of the staff," Mark said.

The group made their copies and split up to distribute the letters. It was a slow day, so any amount of excitement was welcomed by the staff. Randi tracked down the nurses, while Kerry looked up addresses of former colleagues she despised. Jing-Me distributed her letter to the other ER docs, while Mark headed upstairs to hit surgery. Mark knocked on Corday's office door. Peter let him in. The pair was still laughing. Everytime they could they would reference the chain letter in their conversation. Both calmed themselves and turned their attention towards Mark.

"What's up?" he asked.

"We're supposed to be discussing the schedule, but we got sidetracked," Elizabeth answered.

"Oh, well, here guys, these are for you," Mark said, handing them each a letter. They burst out laughing. 

Elizabeth's laughter was more controlled than Peter's, but they were still loud enough for Romano to poke his head into the office. "You three doing a little something, something?" he questioned with a grin.

"No, just discussing a letter we received," Peter said.

"Oh, well then, carry on." Rocket left the three alone. 

Mark looked at Elizabeth, "Now, what's so funny?" he asked.

"Oh Mark, it's just that, well, not you too."

"Not me too what?"

"Not you too, with these dumb chain letters," Peter answered. "We have been making fun of chain letter believers for the past hour and a half."

"Boared," Mark asked.

"Extremely," Elizabeth replied.

"We've been waiting to be called on consults and no one will call us, and the next surgery isn't even being done for another 45 minutes," Peter added.

"Maybe if you gave out the letters, you would be lucky, and get a consult."

"Hey, I'm not complaining."

"Well, suit yourselves. I gotta get back downstairs with people who understand the way America works. I guess that's what I get for giving chain letters to two minorities."

"Hey," Peter and Elizabeth said at the same time.

Mark just smiled at them and all three chuckled as he left for the ER. 

"Yes, hello, I am looking for someone in Atlanta, Georgia. The name, Al Boulet, B-o-u-l-e-t. Yes, uh-huh, yeah, I'll hold,"

"Kerry, what are you doing?" Mark asked. He had just returned to the admits desk, and overheard some of Kerry's conversation.

"Oh, hi, just trying to locate some people. Did you distribute your letters?"

"Yeah, I gave Dale, and Kit and some other OR people them. Then, I found Peter and Elizabeth in Elizabeth's office."

"We're they doing something kinky?"

"No, they were making the schedule."

"I thought that that was Corday's job."

"It is, but he was helping her."

"Oh, well, did they accept the chain."

"Let's just call them two the broken links."

"You mean they refuse to send out six letters?"

"Not only do they refuse, they have been..."

"Yes, yeah, I'm still here," Kerry's interrupted him as she was taken off hold. "Uh-huh, mmhmm, yeah, oh, thank you, I appreciate it. Good-bye." Kerry grabbed an envelope and quickly wrote down the address she was just given. She stamped it and sent put it in the 'to mail' pile. She looked back up at Mark, "You were saying," she said.

"Oh, um, they have been sitting up there, making fun of that chain letter all day. Then, when I gave them another one, they just laughed harder."

"Maybe it'll come back to bite them in the ass."

"Kerry, do you actually believe those things work?"

"No, but it's fun when you find people that do. Dr. Carter is an excellent example."

"Are you serious?"

"Serious as a mild-cardio infraction."

"I worry about him sometimes."

"Maybe we should tell him that we have a couple non-particpators."

"You know what Kerry, I think that that is a wonderful idea."

Okay now I need your help (bet you thought I'd never ask)

John is obviously going to be told that Peter and Elizabeth do not believe in the chain letter thing. So, what should happen next:

Should he care?
If yes, what are some ways he can persuade them to send them out.

Should something happen to Peter or Elizabeth, causing everyone to think that it is a result of the chain letter? 
If yes, what should happen.

Should something happen to Al Boulet (who will also break the chain), causing Jeanie to come to County. 
If yes, should she come back thankful, or in a wild rage.

Please e-mail your responses to:
Zoinks
ergirlz@yahoo.com