my stomach now?” his face became tense with fear. Sally rubbed his
forehead and grinned.
“Too bad, Gene,” she said. “You missed the show.”
Gene stared up at her. “What?” he asked.
Dr. Barsch dressed the wound and pulled the curtain aside. “How do you
feel?” he asked.
“I’m ... I’m a little scared,” Gene admitted.
Dr. Barsch laughed. “We just played a dirty trick on you, son. Your
operation’s all over.”
Sally gave the patient an injection, and he relaxed again.
“You’re going to sleep for a while now. And when you wake up, you’ll be
back in your room with a sore tummy.”
Gene relaxed and slipped off to sleep as Sally and Helen wheeled him
down the corridor.
Dr. Barsch slipped off his gloves and glanced at the broken appendix.
He shook his head. “Get that to the lab right away,” he said. “Miss
Hancock can take it down when she gets back. Miss Craig, you come on
down to my office with me. I want to take a look at that sketch.”
When they reached Dr. Barsch’s office, Jean laid her sketch pad on the
desk for Dr. Barsch to see. He picked it up and nodded.
“Sit down, Miss Craig. Dr. Loring will be down in a minute. I want him
to have a look at this, too. Then we’ll get some coffee. I could use
some.”
Jean smiled. “I’ll go down to the kitchen and get some while we’re
waiting,” she offered. “You must be tired.”
Dr. Barsch waved his hand. “Sit down. The coffee can wait.” He tapped
the sketch with his forefinger and looked at it thoughtfully for a
moment. Then he searched among the papers on his desk for a letter.
Finding it, he nodded his head as he read it over.
“I think maybe we’ve found a way to put your talents to practical use,
Miss Craig,” he said slowly.
Jean jumped up. “Really?” she cried. “But how? I mean, I’m so far
from ready to do anything useful with my art. Surgical art is such a
specialized and highly skilled profession!”
The doctor nodded gravely. “Yes, it most certainly is,” he said
thoughtfully. “And of course the sketch you did for us just now is
still rather amateurish. But I was right about you, I think. It shows a
great deal of promise.”
Jean grinned with pleasure. “Thank you, Doctor,” she said.
Dr. Barsch picked up the letter again. “I’ve been in touch with a
medical publisher about you. You see, whenever they hear of a promising
young artist who knows something about medicine, they leap at the
chance to sign him--or her--up. It doesn’t happen often. Not often
enough, that an artist is also interested in medicine.”
Jean clasped her hands together. “You mean, some publisher wants me to
do drawings for him?”
Dr. Barsch laughed. “Not so fast, young lady. No, their offer isn’t
quite that spectacular.” He rubbed his hands together. “But in a sense,
I suppose maybe the offer is in its way more spectacular. You see, they
want you to take more art courses.”
“But ...” Jean began.
The doctor held up his hand. “Wait till I finish,” he said. “I think
it can all be figured out quite simply. You will finish your nurse’s
training this summer. And then, as I understand it, you are thinking
about being married.”
Jean hesitated. “Of course no definite date has been set yet.”
Dr. Barsch stroked his chin. “Well, let’s assume that the wedding
will take place soon after your graduation. When you reach Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan, you can begin a correspondence course in art, can’t you?”
Jean grinned. “I had sort of planned to continue studying art after
Ralph and I were married.” She looked down. “You see, I don’t want to
forget my skills just because I’m being married.”
The doctor grinned. “Fine! Fine!” he said. “Then my little plan _can_
be worked. This publishing company is prepared to award you a sort of
scholarship so that you can take the course. In return, you will have
to make arrangements with a hospital near your home in Saskatchewan to
attend their operations and do sketching for the company when you have
completed the course.”
Jean thought a moment. “There is a small hospital near Ralph’s
ranch,” she said. “Ralph has told me about it. Certainly I could make
arrangements with them to sketch at their operations.”
Dr. Barsch nodded. “Of course I’ll help you arrange things. I think
maybe if they realize you’re a student of mine, there won’t be much
trouble with the details.”
“Someone open the door,” Ted called from outside. “I’ve got coffee for
everyone.”
Jean went over to the door. Ted brought in the tray and set it on the
desk.
“You should have let me get it,” Jean cried.
Ted smiled. “Division of labor, my child. Dr. Barsch operates, you
sketch and I just stand around. So I’m elected coffee boy.”
“Take a look at Miss Craig’s sketch, Loring,” Dr. Barsch said, handing
him the pad. “I think it’s pretty fair.”
“That’s high praise, coming from you,” Ted laughed. He looked at it
carefully. “Uh huh,” he said, nodding. “It looks swell. Jeannie, you
could make a career out of doing this.”
Jean laughed. “Dr. Barsch and I have just been discussing that.”
“But of course you’re off to the altar, and there’s the end of a
beautiful career,” Ted said dolefully.
“Oh, no!” Jean cried.
Dr. Barsch smiled slyly. “Sounds to me as if _you_ are against
marriage, Dr. Loring. I suppose Miss Simpson realizes this?”
Ted blushed. “Oh, marriage is all right,” he protested.
Dr. Barsch lit his pipe. “Marriage is all right. Hm,” he said
playfully. “I’ve a notion to tell Miss Simpson how enthusiastic you
are about the institution of wedlock. You and your city ways! Moon and
pussyfoot around and steal the best doggoned Supervisor of Nurses I
ever had! All right, indeed!”
Ted shifted painfully. “Oh, I’m very much in favor of marriage,
doctor....”
“That’s good to hear,” Dr. Barsch said.
“It’s just that Jean draws so well....”
“And Miss Simpson makes such a good Supervisor,” Dr. Barsch added.
Ted squirmed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You can’t have her back!” He
looked at Jean’s and Dr. Barsch’s faces. They were grinning.
“Dr. Barsch, you shouldn’t tease him so,” Jean said lightly. “Isn’t it
all right to tell him about the plan?”
Dr. Barsch puffed at his pipe. “Of course, my dear.”
Breathlessly, Jean repeated Dr. Barsch’s plans for her to Ted. The
young doctor nodded and clapped his hands together in agreement.
“Marvelous idea, Jeannie,” he said. “I think Ralph will like the idea,
too.”
5. April Wedding
Ethel’s and Ted’s wedding was scheduled for April eighteenth. The first
two weeks of the month were dreary and rainy. The skies above Elmhurst
were constantly gray, and the countryside looked bleak and unpromising
after the long winter. Tempers were short at the clinic. The season of
spring colds was on, and Jean felt a great depression as she tended
her duties as an upperclass nurse. Because of the shortage of graduate
nurses at the hospital, Jean and her classmates were used almost as
regular nurses. Jean had to attend courses in chemistry, biology and
dietetics along with her regular duties, and as the spring term got
under way, she was now in charge of the pediatric ward.
A whole procession of youngsters flooded both the doctors’ offices and
the hospital wards. And Jean’s days were full of bathing youngsters,
trying to put dosages of penicillin and sulpha into unwilling small
mouths, taking temperatures and pulses of the squirming children. She
tried to study at night after writing her daily letter to Ralph, but
often she would steal back into the ward to hold the hand of a tiny,
miserable patient lonely for his mother. Jean found solace in the quiet
ward at night. The children were calmer, there were no adults about,
and she couldn’t see the dreadful, gloomy sky.
Ordinarily, Jean would have welcomed the chance to work so closely with
Ted, whose capacity as pediatrician kept him closely in touch with the
ward. But Ted was cross and nervous. For hours at a time, he swabbed
throats and sprayed sniffly noses and tried to reason with mothers
weary of the winter and of housefuls of pent-up children.
The radio forecasts were always the same: showers.
“April showers,” Jean remarked one day bitterly as she gazed up at the
sky which was sending down its interminable drizzly rain. “If these are
showers, let me know when one stops and the next one starts, someone!”
Only Ethel and Jack seemed to retain their high spirits. Ethel was
too excited about her wedding even to notice the weather. And Jack,
bedridden already a month, had drawn from some inner source a courage
and even temper which amazed everyone around him. Although Jack
knew that he would be in bed for many months, he never seemed to be
depressed. He made a full life for himself within his tiny room.
Although he wasn’t allowed many visitors, he soon fell into a routine
which occupied his mind, but which didn’t excite him too much.
But just when everyone decided that it would never stop raining, the
sun came out. The sky was blue with fluffy white clouds, and spring had
come to Elmhurst. Trees which had been barren two weeks before were
now covered with soft green buds. The whole countryside softened with
new-growing greenery. The river ran with vigorous energy to carry its
extra burden to the ocean, and the air smelled clean, as if the heavens
had spent two energetic weeks in spring housecleaning.
The day of Ethel’s wedding was cool and clear. The ceremony was to be
held in the Craigs’ parlor, and the whole family was busy making final
preparations.
Doris was singing “Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day” from the _Mikado_ as
she dusted the living room furniture for the third time. Jean arranged
the wedding presents on the dining room table for everyone to see. She
sighed gently as she laid out the sterling silver which Mrs. Loring
had given her son and daughter-to-be. And she smiled in satisfied
anticipation as she arranged the kitchen equipment which had been the
contribution of the nurses at the shower. She handled the linens and
china with loving care.
Mrs. Craig ran downstairs and popped her head into the dining room.
“Time to get dressed, dear. I want you to be ready so you can help me
with the bride. Oh, dear,” she sighed, “where _is_ that girl?”
“Ethel?” Jean asked. “I suppose she’s still at the hospital. If I
know Ethel, she’s probably making a long list of instructions to leave
behind her.” She sighed. “Oh, Mother,” she cried, “all these lovely
things! And you should see that terrible little apartment they’re going
to have to put them in! Darn it, anyhow! Why couldn’t Ted have been
a veteran? Then he could have one of the houses Dad designed for the
veterans’ project. Now, where on earth will they put all these things
in that stuffy little place?”
Mrs. Craig smiled knowingly. “Never mind, dear. Ethel can store things
here if she wants to, till she has a better place. Now hurry, Jean.
With everyone dressing here, we have to hustle.”
Jean obediently went upstairs. Mrs. Craig went in to send Doris up to
dress, muttering, “Ethel should have come to breakfast as I told her
to. She probably didn’t eat a thing.”
As she spoke, Ethel came in the front door. Mrs. Craig stretched out
both hands to her, and Ethel grabbed them. She attempted to smile.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it for breakfast, Mrs. Craig,” she said.
“But there were just a few things I wanted to take care of at the
hospital before I left.”
Jean bent over the upstairs railing and called down, “What did I tell
you, Mother?”
Mrs. Craig smiled in despair. “Oh, child, this is your wedding day!
Now, let’s get you upstairs and into your finery.”
Suddenly Ethel burst into tears. Mrs. Craig put her arms around her
and drew her over to a chair.
“I ... I don’t _want_ to get married,” Ethel cried. “I ... well, I just
don’t want to get married!”
Mrs. Craig smiled knowingly and patted the girl on the shoulder. “I
know, my dear. I know just how you feel....”
“They’re so short-handed over at the hospital. They can’t spare any
nurses,” Ethel sobbed. “I just can’t get married now! There are too
many things to do!”
Suddenly her eyes brightened. “Do you think Ted would understand if we
called the wedding off? I mean, just till I finish everything that has
to be done at the hospital?”
Mr. Craig came into the front hall together with Aunt Becky. He stopped
at the sight of Ethel’s tearful face and stared at her in alarm.
“Great heavens!” he exclaimed. “Tears on your wedding day?”
Becky elbowed him out of the way and came over to Ethel. “Oh, run along
with you, man,” she snapped at the bewildered Mr. Craig. “There isn’t a
girl alive who doesn’t get plumb nervous at the thought of her wedding
day!” She turned to Ethel. “Now, now, child,” she said, “you just have
a good cry, and....”
Mr. Craig interrupted Becky with a loud laugh. He threw back his head
and roared. “If you think you’re nervous, my girl,” he said, “you
should see Ted, now. When I stopped in to see him, his poor mother was
trying to help him dress. Ted was hopping around on one foot like a
scared chicken....”
Mrs. Craig touched her husband’s arm. “All right, dear,” she said, “now
run along and get _yourself_ dressed.”
As Mr. Craig went upstairs, whistling, Ethel composed herself and
smiled at the two women.
“Poor Ted,” she grinned. “He’s _so_ helpless. And of course he’s
scared! He needs someone to look after him.” She glanced at her watch.
“Good heavens!” she cried, “I’d better hurry and dress! Mrs. Craig,
where is my gown?”
Mrs. Craig smiled. “Your clothes are up in Jean’s room, dear. Doris and
Jean are waiting to help you. I’ll be up, myself, in a few minutes.”
Ethel threw her arms around Mrs. Craig’s neck and hugged her. “How can
Ted and I ever thank you for what you are doing for us?”
“Humph!” Becky snorted. “Now, scat, girl. And Marge, you come out
with me to the kitchen. I want to unload my basket.” She shook the
overflowing basket of last-minute additions to the party food which she
was carrying.
Ethel nearly collided with Tommy on the stairway.
“Hi, beautiful,” Tommy said, grinning. “I hereby swear my eternal
devotion to you on your wedding day.”
Ethel laughed. “You idiot! Whatever do you mean?”
Tommy shook his head. “Only for you. For you only, I say, would I
struggle into this!” And he waved a stiff collar under her nose. “That
is, outside of the immediate family.”
As Tommy reached the bottom of the stairs, still muttering about his
collar, the front door flew open, and Ted, followed by a distraught
Mrs. Loring, came dashing into the hall. Ted confronted Tommy, his face
twisted in wrath.
“Tommy, where’s your father?” he demanded.
Tommy stared at the bridegroom.
“Now, now, dear,” Ted’s mother clutched at his arm, “don’t upset
everyone, now. Calm yourself!”
Ted turned to face his mother. “But you _know_ this means the wedding’s
off! How can a man get married when...?”
“Huh?” said Tommy.
“The apartment! The furniture! Gone! Everything’s gone! I’ve been
robbed! The apartment wasn’t much, but it was a place to live, and
Ethel and I picked out all our furniture and had it sent to that place.
Now it’s gone!”
Mrs. Loring took Ted’s hand. “Now listen, son,” she said, “there must
be an explanation. People don’t run off with a houseful of furniture.”
Mr. Craig came downstairs.
“Well, hello, Mrs. Loring,” he said, shaking her hand. “And Ted. I’m
afraid I have to do the honors. The women are all upstairs dressing.”
Mrs. Loring smiled wryly. “Mr. Craig, forgive this ridiculous son of
mine. We would have come over at the proper time when everything was
ready. But Ted has some fool notion that he’s been robbed.”
Mr. Craig chuckled. “If Ted didn’t come crashing into a party, I would
know there was something wrong. Did he ever tell you about the first
time we met?”
Mrs. Loring smiled as if she knew her son’s habits. “I can imagine the
entrance he made was spectacular,” she said.
Mr. Craig laughed at the memory. “It certainly was. We gave a large
barn dance to celebrate the building of the clinic. Dr. Gallup was in
the midst of introducing Dr. Barsch to the community when, bang! The
lights all went out. Seems as if Ted had come in and tripped over the
light cords.”
Mrs. Loring laughed despairingly. “Oh, Ted,” she sighed. “I’m afraid
you had a typical introduction to my son,” she said to Mr. Craig.
“Mother!” Ted cried, “how can you stand around swapping tales with Mr.
Craig when I’ve been robbed?”
Mr. Craig looked at Ted gravely. “Suppose you start from the beginning
and tell me the whole story.”
“Well, sir, I went over to see the apartment this morning to check on
last minute details, you know. The landlady told me that she didn’t
_have_ an apartment for me! I told her that was ridiculous and that I’d
already paid my first month’s rent and that I had a whole apartment
full of furniture moved in not two days ago. She showed me the
apartment and there wasn’t a stick of it ... there wasn’t anything in
it! Then she handed me back my money!” Ted’s face became redder.
Mr. Craig began to chuckle. “How much rent did she want for those three
rooms?”
Ted glowered. “Sixty-five a month.”
“Sixty-five a month is a little high for children just setting up
housekeeping. I tell you what, Ted. There’s no point in upsetting your
wedding by keeping it from you any longer. You see, for forty-five a
month, you can have a regular house.”
Ted stared at Mr. Craig. “I don’t understand, sir,” he said.
Mr. Craig smiled. “Mrs. Craig and I went over to see your apartment
a week or so ago. Frankly, Mrs. Craig didn’t think much of it. So we
decided to move you out. It just happens I have a house for rent. In
the housing project that I designed. It’s been open for four days,
only, and they’re pretty nice little houses. The builders gave me one
as a sort of bonus, and I want to rent it, of course. Perhaps it was
presumptuous of me....”
Ted gasped. “This ... this is a miracle. But it’s too much! We couldn’t
possibly accept it!”
Mr. Craig shook his head. “Mrs. Craig and I are very anxious to see you
two settled nicely. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for Ethel.”
He handed Ted a set of keys. “Here you are, son. You’ll find your
furniture at this address.”
Mrs. Loring sat down. “I don’t know what to say, Mr. Craig,” she
murmured.
Ted sat down and stared at the keys in his hand. Mr. Craig patted him
on the shoulder and turned to his son. “Hey, Tommy,” he called. “Come
here, and I’ll fix your collar.”
Only the members of the Craig family even suspected that Ethel had shed
tears less than an hour before the ceremony. When she came down the
stairs on Dr. Barsch’s arm, she was the perfect picture of a radiant
bride. The wedding was held in the front parlor with the family and
hospital staff in attendance. It was a regular old-fashioned wedding,
and the fragrance of roses and lilacs filled the parlor as the minister
read the time-revered words. And from the silent congregation came the
sound of muffled sobs--not from the happy Mrs. Craig, who beamed on the
beautiful bride, nor from Mrs. Loring, who smiled at her new daughter
with contented pride, but from Jean, who suddenly felt the tragic
loneliness of a girl whose beloved is many, many miles away.
6. Dr. Benson Confesses
Ethel and Ted had gone on a short tour of New England for their
honeymoon. The routine of the hospital resumed, and Eileen Gordon
became official Supervisor of Nurses. Jean was amused at the comparison
of the two girls. For Eileen had taken over Ethel’s classes, and Jean
and the other girls soon realized that Eileen was every bit as devoted
to her profession as Ethel had been. Eileen was a bit different from
Ethel in that she was new at handling girls. But there was no question
about the fact that she knew her business. And she was friendly and
helpful, so the students became used to her brusque manner in class and
on the floor.
Jean, Sally, Hedda, Lucy Peckham and Ingeborg were all in dietetics
class when Eileen took over the class for the first time. The new
Supervisor was plainly nervous, and the students smiled encouragingly
at her as she opened the notebook which Ethel had left for her.
Eileen toyed with a pencil as she scanned Ethel’s notes. “You all know,
or should know, by this time,” she said, “the importance of a balanced
diet.” She smiled at the class. “I’m rather hoping that one of you will
plan to specialize in dietetics, because we will be needing a good one
for our own kitchen. But we all have to know about diet ... in fact,
every human being should know about it.” She stopped, realizing that
she was being too repetitious and long-winded.
“Let’s start with the three major groups of foods. Miss Peckham, will
you please name them?”
Lucy smiled and said, “The three major classifications of foods are
fats, carbohydrates and proteins.”
Eileen nodded. “And who can tell me what a calory is?”
The class groaned in mock despair. Counting calories was an unpleasant
job which some of them occasionally had to do.
“Something we could do without,” Sally said flippantly.
Eileen laughed with the rest of the class. “As a woman, I agree with
you, Miss Hancock,” she said. “But as a nurse, I have to send you to
the foot of the class.” She looked about the classroom. “Miss Craig,
will you tell Miss Hancock what a calory is and why she couldn’t
possibly get along without it?”
Jean laughed. “A calory is a unit of heat ... or, in the case of food
which provides fuel, weight. And Sally would have to have calories or
give up eating altogether.”
Eileen nodded as the rest of the class tittered. “Can anyone name foods
which do not have calories?”
The class thought. Lucy raised her hand. “Coffee doesn’t have any
calories,” she said.
Eileen frowned a little and nodded. “Strictly speaking, I think you
can’t exactly call coffee a food. It’s actually a drug ... or, at
least, its main function is that of a drug.”
“How about salt?” Hedda asked.
“That’s right,” Eileen said. “But of course no pure minerals have
calories. The function of the mineral is not to provide body heat.” She
flipped a page. “Now let’s talk about diets and people. Can someone
name three special categories of people needing different diets?”
Jean held up her hand. “Adults, children and expectant mothers.”
Eileen nodded. “Very good. Any more?”
Sally raised her hand. “Sick people have to have lots of different
diets, depending on what’s the matter with them. And an office worker
needs different food from the food needed by a laborer.”
Eileen hesitated. “You’re right about the first category, but don’t
forget that all people need the same basic foods, no matter what they
do.”
“All except Dr. Benson,” Lucy muttered under her breath. “He eats
people. He’s a wolf!”
Eileen caught part of Lucy’s remark and blushed fiery red. She
hesitated a moment and then decided to pass on to something else. For
the rest of the hour, the class discussed the essentials of a balanced
diet. And when Eileen dismissed them, the class adjourned for a few
minutes in the lounge before they returned to duty.
They all helped themselves to cokes from the machine in the lounge
and relaxed. Sally giggled as she opened her coke bottle. “That was a
lovely remark you made in class, Lucy,” she said. “Eileen heard you,
too.”
Lucy made a face. “I don’t care. She feels the same way we all do.”
Jean looked questioningly at Lucy. “I didn’t know you knew Dr. Benson
that well.”
Sally giggled. “Haven’t you heard? Lucy had a date with the man himself
last night.”
“Really?” Jean asked.
Sally nodded. “Lucy and I made a bargain that the first one he would
ask yesterday to go out would date him. Just to see if his bark was as
bad as his bite. So he asked Lucy, and Lucy is forthwith ready to make
her report to the clan.”
Lucy took a drink of her coke. “It wasn’t bad at all,” she confessed.
“In fact, I would have been quite flattered by all the lovely words.
That is, I would have been if my name had been Jean.”
“What on earth are you talking about, Lucy?” Jean asked.
“Such a crush on you our Dr. Benson has! He talked on and on about you
till I almost got insulted.”
The door opened and Eileen came in. “Okay if I join you?” she asked.
“Come on in,” Sally answered. “We’re having a time roasting Dr. Benson.
Lucy went out with him last night.”
“So that’s what was behind the remark you made in class,” Eileen said.
“Well, how was it?”
“We went to a movie,” Lucy continued. “Then the dear doctor started to
make a play for poor little me....”
“Oh, goodness, Lucy!” Eileen interrupted. “You aren’t actually
_telling_ them all about your date!”
“She went out with him on a sort of a dare,” Sally explained.