I made my report here in Ottawa about my European trip, I hunted
up the forestry offices and signed a government contract to supply
them with wood pulp. I was amused at their reaction. For they
treated me as if finally I had come to the realization of one of
their greatest problems ... they were almost paternal. So I guess
once again I am a Canadian in good standing because I’m prepared to
help them in every way I can.
I have to make a flying trip back to the ranch to round up help for
the project. You know, I’ve never hired forestry help before, and
it may take a little time to find the right men for the job. Then,
believe me! I’m coming straight back to Elmhurst!
Jeannie, my darling, I worry so about you! The epidemic in Elmhurst
makes me almost panicky when I think of you in the midst of it.
Please try to get all the rest you can. Keep your chin up. The
summer may be bad for you now, but I’ll try to make it wonderful
for you when I get back. Give my love to the family. I love you!
All my love,
Ralph
Jean slipped the letter into the pocket of her apron and smiled. She
felt stronger, less tired than before. Then impatience spread through
her. Would the summer never end, she thought.
She walked briskly down the hall. Sally Hancock met her near Timmy
Lester’s small room. She smiled at Jean as if it were an effort to move
the muscles in her face.
“Why in the world doesn’t Dr. Barsch send you to bed, too?” Jean asked.
“He did. A couple of hours ago. I couldn’t sleep. I thought I’d pass
out if my head hit a pillow, but I was too worried,” Sally said. She
nodded towards Timmy’s room. “Listen,” she said. “Someone else couldn’t
sleep, either.”
Jean heard low voices coming from Timmy’s room. “Is Ted in there with
Timmy?” she asked.
Sally shook her head. “Ted’s got too much sense. He’s dead to the world
... down in Dr. Barsch’s office on the sofa. No, that’s bright boy.”
“Dr. Benson?” Jean asked.
Sally nodded. “No one else can get near the boy. Or haven’t you heard?”
“I’ve been tied up in the contagious ward all week,” Jean admitted.
“Well, any time Timmy wants something, Dr. Benson does it for him. It’s
queer. At least _I_ don’t get it. And every free minute Benson has, he
spends with the boy. Well, anyhow, it makes them both more agreeable.
That little waif! He’s the worst juvenile delinquent _I’ve_ ever seen!”
Sally exclaimed.
Jean smiled. “I think I understand,” she said softly. “And I’m sure
Timmy isn’t a delinquent.”
Sally shrugged and went off down the hall. Jean tiptoed over to Timmy’s
door. She hesitated and then knocked.
Dr. Benson opened the door and smiled at her. Lines of fatigue had
drawn his mouth down at the corners, and his forehead was wrinkled into
a frown. But his eyes twinkled.
“Hello, there, beautiful,” he said cheerfully. “Come on in.”
Jean smiled at him gratefully. She remembered how many times she had
resented his flip manner. But this was one night when she welcomed it.
“I was just passing by,” she said. “I wondered if there was anything
you two would like.”
“Nothing except a two-inch steak and a quart of milk and maybe a good
western movie,” Dr. Benson said.
Jean laughed. “I can get you some milk,” she said. “If you would settle
for--”
“Nothing doing!” Dr. Benson cried. “The whole works, or nothing at all!”
Timmy propped himself up on his elbow. “Yeah, ’n’ I’m gettin’ outta
here, too,” he said, almost belligerently. “Ain’t I, Doc?”
“That’s just wonderful, Timmy!” Jean cried.
“It’s up to Dr. Loring, old man,” Dr. Benson said. “Not me.”
“Well, he said so,” Timmy said, petulantly. “Maybe even this week.”
Jean smiled at him. “Well, if there’s nothing else you fellows want,
I’ll leave you alone.”
Dr. Benson jumped up. “Just a minute, Miss Craig,” he said. “I’ll walk
down the hall with you.”
Timmy watched sadly as they left the room. Once outside the room, Jean
turned to the young intern.
“Something’s on your mind,” she said.
“Yeah,” Dr. Benson admitted. “I’m really worried about that kid. Where
does he go from here? To some nice refined orphanage?” He scowled. “I
hate to think of that boy being shoved into an institution. It could
ruin a kid like him.”
Jean shrugged her shoulders. “I just don’t know,” she admitted. “But I
think your viewpoint about orphanages is a very biased one. You know,
there are some very wonderful ones. For instance, I visit one right
outside of town on my visiting nurse days. It’s called Mercyville.
The children there seem well adjusted and happy. A great many things,
including orphanages, have changed since your day!”
Dr. Benson bit his lip. “Maybe,” he said. “But I’m not sold on the
idea. I’d take him, myself. But how can a bachelor raise a kid? And on
the salary I get here? He’s a _good_ boy, Jean! But he’s never had a
break in his life. Gee, by comparison, I was raised royally. And now to
get shoved into an orphanage would be too much!”
Jean looked closely at the young doctor. For the first time since she
had known him, he was seriously concerned about the future of someone
beside himself.
Just then the telephone rang, and Jean raced down the corridor to
answer it.
“Miss Craig calling Miss Craig,” Kit’s voice said at the other end.
“How’re you doing up there?”
“What is it, Kit?” Jean said, fearing that another patient was coming
in.
“I have a delegation to see you ... or someone.”
Jean put down the phone and walked down to the lobby. Tommy and Billy
Ellis and Buzzy Hancock were standing by the desk. They all held large
baskets.
“Whatever do you want?” Jean demanded of her brother.
“We brought these over,” Tommy said. “Mother and Becky and Mrs. Hancock
sent a lot of food over for you guys.”
Jean smiled. “That was nice, Tommy. Thanks for bringing them over.”
“There’s something else,” Tommy said. “We’ve formed a squad.”
“Yeah, a riot squad,” Billy added.
“That’s a riot, son,” Buzzy squelched him.
“What do you mean, a squad?” Jean asked.
“Oh, do errands, if there are any. You know, shipping, or errands
at the drugstore or books from the library for your patients. Just
anything anyone wants us to do,” Tommy said. “You just have Kit or
whoever’s on the switchboard call home when you want something. We’ll
get it done.”
Jean felt tears sting her tired eyes.
“We can cart clothes to the laundry,” Billy reminded Tommy. “We got
our bikes rigged up to carry big bundles. We could pick up your things
in the morning, and then the guys who would drive your trucks could be
free to do other things.”
“Oh, golly, boys,” Jean cried. “I’ll tell Dr. Barsch.”
Tommy saw how close Jean was to crying. “Come on, gang,” he said. And
the three boys ran down the hospital steps.
Jean fought back the lump in her throat and said to Kit, “Make out a
note to Dr. Barsch. He’ll keep them busy.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Kit said, jotting the message down on a scratch pad.
“Somehow I don’t feel so tired any more,” Jean confided. “I think I’ll
peek into the contagious ward before I go to bed.”
Kit grinned. “Maybe I should join you. I haven’t had any calls but
Tommy’s since I’ve been here. I’ll fall asleep myself, if I don’t get
more business.”
Jean made a wry face. “Don’t say that!” she cried. “You’ll put a whammy
on us! Just for that, we’ll probably have a half dozen calls before
morning!”
But as the night hours passed, Kit had all she could do to keep awake.
No outside calls passed through the switchboard. She sat silently for
a while staring at the mural which Jean had painted for the clinic,
and which now hung above the fireplace in the center of the lobby. She
studied the figures of the farmer and his wife and son holding hands
and the motto, “Co-operation, Ingenuity, Labor.” She smiled as she
remembered Jean painting the sturdy picture with Ted Loring’s words
in mind. Resolutely, she shook her head to clear it of the cobwebs of
drowsiness. It was a good motto, Kit decided. She felt pleased with
herself and with her community.
13. The Doctor’s Dilemma
As suddenly as the virus pneumonia epidemic had broken out, it stopped.
The staff couldn’t believe that Kit had had no calls through the long
night she sat at the switchboard. Ted Loring, who had stretched out
for a cat nap on Dr. Barsch’s sofa, woke to find that he had slept all
night. He jumped up guiltily and looked out of the window. The summer
sun was already high in the blue sky. Quickly Ted looked at his watch.
“Eight-thirty!” he cried. “I must have thought this was a hotel!” He
smoothed out his rumpled clothes as best he could and ran a pocket comb
through his tousled hair. Then he banged open the door of the office
and almost knocked Dr. Barsch down as he started out.
“So, you’ve decided to let me into my office,” the older doctor said.
“I’m sorry, sir. I had no idea it was so late. I left a call....”
Dr. Barsch shook his head in gleeful despair. “Too bad, old man,” he
said. “If business falls off any more the way it did last night, you’ll
be out of a job!”
“No new patients?” Ted asked incredulously.
“No new patients,” Dr. Barsch replied. “And so if you’ll excuse me,
I’ll ready my office for my out-patients’ calls. Office hours in a half
an hour, you know.”
Ted let out a war-whoop and hugged the older man.
“Dr. Loring,” Dr. Barsch protested, “I suggest you get yourself some
breakfast and a shave.”
“Sorry, sir,” Ted apologized, and laughed. “I had forgotten what it
was like to have a full night’s sleep.” He tore down the corridor and
headed for the cafeteria.
The dining room was full of chattering nurses and office help when he
came in. He immediately spotted Ethel sitting with Eileen and Helen
over near the corner. Dashing across the room, he nearly upset the
trays of two young office girls who were balancing them precariously on
their way to a table.
“Oh, sorry,” he muttered. “Hey, gorgeous! Do I know you? And if not,
why not?” he cried as he reached Ethel’s table.
Ethel’s weary face lit up as Ted sat down and reached for a cup of
coffee on her tray. “Poor man. It must be amnesia,” she explained
to her friends, “I believe we’ve met,” she said to Ted. “I seem to
remember, we even were married.”
“Well, what do you know!” Ted said gleefully.
“Now drink your coffee,” Ethel instructed. “My, you look terrible!” she
chided him as she inspected him.
Ted gulped down his coffee and snitched a doughnut from Ethel’s plate.
“Make you fat,” he said by way of an apology.
Both Eileen and Helen burst out laughing as they looked at Ted’s
slender wife.
Between mouthfuls, Ted said, “I mean that! You take a nurse off the
floor and put her into a lovely new home with nothing to do, and you
have to watch her diet! And that’s what’s going to happen. Starting
today!”
“Watching my diet?” Ethel teased.
“No,” Ted said, his mouth full of doughnut. “You get put in your
golden palace and you don’t stir out of it from now on!” he swallowed.
“Nothing to do from now on.”
Ethel laughed helplessly as she thought of the million chores to be
done at home. There were curtains to be hung, floors to be waxed, rugs
to be laid.
Jean and Kit came into the dining room and waved to the party at
Ethel’s table. They went through the line and selected their breakfast
and then joined the cheerful little company.
“It’s simply amazing,” Jean said. “Know what I did? I went for a nap
around nine last night, and I just woke up!”
“Me, too,” Ted said.
“Don’t be too optimistic,” Eileen warned. “We may have a flood of
patients today.” She looked over to the door. “Oh, oh,” she said. “Here
comes glamor boy.”
They all looked around and saw Dr. Benson standing hesitantly in the
doorway. Slowly he made his way through the line and then he chose a
table by himself. The food on his tray remained untouched as he sat and
stared out of the window.
“Ted, invite him over!” Ethel cried impulsively, clutching her
husband’s arm.
“Well, I can stand him if the rest of you can,” Eileen said grudgingly.
“No, wait,” Jean cried. “I think he probably wants to be alone. He’s
quite troubled. I know, because I talked to him last night.”
Ted sat down again and finished his coffee. “What’s the matter with
him, Jeannie?” he asked.
Jean hesitated. “I’m sorry I said anything,” she said finally. “He
confided in me, and I don’t think I ought to betray his confidence.”
Ethel and Ted and Helen nodded.
“Who is Dr. Benson?” Kit asked. “And what have you all got against him?”
Eileen explained about the new intern. She merely said, very justly,
that there were several things about him that the rest of them didn’t
understand.
“For example, his devotion to the little boy upstairs,” Helen said.
“Before Timmy came, I didn’t think he could be devoted to anyone but
himself.” She laughed a little. “But of all the funny people to be
crazy about!”
Ted nodded. “I think I’m beginning to understand,” he said. “Something
tells me that Dr. Benson maybe knows first hand what sort of family
Timmy comes from.”
Jean blushed furiously. “Please, let’s stop talking about him.” She
looked at Eileen, who was gazing at Dr. Benson as if she saw him for
the first time.
“You mean, you think they’re related?” Kit asked.
“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Ted explained. “I just have a hunch our
new doctor knows a little something about living in the slums.”
Eileen jumped up and ran out of the dining room.
“Well, what’s the matter with her?” Ted demanded.
Ethel laid her hand on Ted’s arm. “I think we’ve discussed it long
enough,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me ...” and she got up and walked
out of the cafeteria.
Eileen was sitting on a bench in the hall outside of the dining room.
Ethel sat down beside her. “Let’s you and me catch up on our sleep,”
she said cheerfully.
“And I wouldn’t even give him a date!” Eileen cried. “No wonder he acts
so funny. He probably hates us all!”
Ethel put her hand on the young girl’s shoulder. “Never mind, dear,”
she said. “Dr. Benson probably understands.”
“But how could he? He must think we’re _awful_ snobs! But we didn’t
know! We just thought he was being fresh! And he probably thought that
we wouldn’t associate with people who were poor!” She clenched her
fists. “Oh, Ethel, and I was worst of all!”
Ethel studied the girl’s intense face. She nodded, but she wisely said
nothing about what she was thinking.
“I’m going to wait right here,” Eileen said grimly, “till he’s through
with his breakfast, and then I’m going to tell him he can take me out
any time he wants to.”
Ethel grinned and patted her arm. “I think you ought to go to bed.
You won’t feel so desperate when you’re rested.” She stood up and
stretched. “I’m going up to the laboratory for a few minutes to check
some of my notes. Then I’ll be upstairs in my old room if business
picks up.” She started off and then turned around. “And please don’t
tell Ted!”
Eileen waited a few minutes until Dr. Benson came out. She stood up and
smiled. He stopped, surprised.
“Good morning, Miss Gordon,” he said. His manner was cool.
“Good morning, Doctor,” Eileen answered. “I know this isn’t a good
place to go into things like this, but I’m ... I’m sorry ... well, for
a lot of things. And I’d be honored ... if you still want to take me
out some evening.”
The doctor stared at her. “Why, thank you very much, Miss Gordon,” he
said. “I’m going to be pretty busy for a while.” He hesitated. “You
see, I’d sort of like to get Timmy settled in some way, and that will
take a little time, I’m afraid. But I appreciate the gesture.”
Eileen felt as if she had been slapped in the face. “Any time,” she
said weakly, as she turned and sped down the corridor.
Jean came out of the dining room just as Eileen disappeared. Dr. Benson
nodded to her and sat down on the bench.
“I shouldn’t be goofing off,” he said, “but I keep going around in
circles about Timmy. Incidentally, what did you tell that gang at
breakfast?”
Jean sat down beside him. “Honestly, Doctor, I didn’t say a word. Dr.
Loring guessed the truth. I tried to change the subject, but everyone
kept asking questions. You see, they really are interested in you.”
Dr. Benson shrugged. “So now they all feel sorry for me. I see.”
“Oh, no!” Jean cried. “That isn’t it at all! Why should a lot of nurses
feel sorry for a doctor?”
“Well, that’s beside the point, anyhow,” Dr. Benson said. “I’m really
worried about Timmy, and what’s going to become of him. I’ve decided
I’ll keep him myself before I’ll turn him over to a home!”
“Let’s go upstairs,” Jean suggested. “I go on duty in a few minutes and
I want to call Mother.”
Tommy was waiting in the lobby when Jean and Dr. Benson came up. He
grinned and called, “Hi, sis! How’s business?”
“Falling off, thank heaven!” Jean cried. “Dr. Benson, this is my
brother, Tommy. Laundry service man!”
They shook hands. “We had quite a load this morning,” Tommy said
gleefully. “And boy, am I glad things are going to be slack. Not
that we don’t want to help, but we just scheduled a whale of a tough
ballgame for later in the summer. We’re going to need all the practice
we can get.”
“Baseball?” Dr. Benson asked, his eyes lighting up.
“Yeah, a gang of us has a club. Billy and Buzzy and the rest of the
kids at the high school. We play some important games, too. But I never
dreamed we could get a game with Mercyville. They’re just awfully
good....”
“Mercyville!” Dr. Benson cried. “I thought that was an orphanage!”
Tommy nodded. “It is, sort of. But it’s actually more like Father
Flanagan’s Boys’ Town. You’ve heard about Boys’ Town, haven’t you?
They’re really keen guys out there. They do everything themselves. But
they’re really just being nice to play baseball with us. They’re way
out of our class.”
“You mean, this place takes in orphans and boys with no homes? And the
boys really like it out there?” Dr. Benson quizzed.
“You’d never know they didn’t have real homes,” Tommy said. “They have
a swell time out there.” He sighed. “And can they play ball! I saw them
play Fieldston last week. It was a slaughter!”
Dr. Benson looked at Jean. “Why didn’t you explain to me about the
place?” he demanded.
She deliberately looked blank. “I don’t know too much about it,” she
confessed. “They have their own medical staff, and we simply make
routine checks out there to coordinate our health reports to the
county.”
“They have everything. Doctors and everything,” Tommy interrupted.
The young intern hesitated. “Imagine God listening to a prayer from an
old sinner like me,” he said softly as he walked away.
“What’s the matter with him?” Tommy asked.
“Oh ... nothing. Tell you later,” Jean cried, dashing after the doctor.
“And ... thank the boys for us, Tommy. You’ve been swell to help out!”
Dr. Benson waited for her at the foot of the stairs. “Let’s go,
gorgeous,” he said. “Lots to be done this morning, and I’m on duty.”
She looked at him. “I thought you were up all night. Don’t you go off
duty to get some sleep?”
“Sleep?” he cried. “Who wants to sleep on a day like this! Just look at
that sky! Say, this is perfect baseball weather, isn’t it?”
Jean giggled. “I’m right with you, Doctor. Let’s go.”
They entered the contagious ward, and Dr. Benson waited till Jean had
recorded the temperatures and pulses of the patients. Then he went over
to the bedside of a middle-aged woman. “Let’s hear that back,” he said
gently, as he put the stethoscope to his ears.
A pleased grin spread across his face as he listened. “Now, the front,”
he said, putting the instrument to the patient’s chest. “Say this
sounds good. I can’t hear a thing!”
The woman’s eyes lit up and she smiled at him.
“If we catch this virus right away,” he explained, “we can lick it in
no time. Now, if I send you home this week, will you behave yourself?
No heavy chores for a while. Lots of rest.”
She nodded happily. He patted her hand and moved on to the next patient.
When the examinations were over, Dr. Benson took the stethoscope from
around his neck and ran his hand through his red hair. He sighed
happily. “And now to see Dr. Barsch about Mercyville,” he said. “Want
to come along?”
Jean smiled and shook her head. “I _want_ to, but I can’t. I’ve lots of
work to do this morning.”
As Jean went the rounds of the floor, she eagerly waited for Dr. Benson
to come back. She peeked in at Timmy, who was sitting up in bed gazing
out of the window. Poor fellow, she thought. All recovered and no place
to go! Or so he thinks! She waved to him and went down the hall. As she
passed the operating room, she looked in. Sally and Hedda were cleaning
it.
“Business here today?” Jean asked.
Sally shook her head. “No, but now that the pneumonia seems to
have died down, we’re getting ready for the usual summer business.
Operations don’t seem to respect the weather, and we haven’t had time
to really clean up the right way for days!” She scrubbed the instrument
case furiously.
Jean grinned and went down to the floor desk. She picked up the
assignment chart and scanned it. Then, on impulse, she walked down to
the nursery and looked at the youngest guests through the large glass
window.
“Welcome to the world, people,” she cried happily.
Two red fists waved at her.
“Oh, you babies!” she cried. “I’d like to take you all home with me!”
“You would, would you?” Helen said, coming out of the nursery. “Well, I
don’t blame you. You certainly sound happy!”
“I am!” Jean cried. “It’s contagious. I’ve just been with Dr. Benson.”
“Dr. Benson? Happy? At breakfast his chin was down to his knees!”
“Something’s happened,” Jean replied mysteriously. “At least it _might_
happen.”
Before she could say more, Dr. Benson appeared, waving his hand.
“We’re in!” he cried. “Timmy can go out there any time.”
Jean turned around. “Just like that?”
The doctor paused to catch his breath. “I suggested to Dr. Barsch that
we investigate the place. So right off he called Boston and some people
in public aid that he knows. They gave Mercyville an A-number one
rating. So then we called out there. And Mr. Henderson, who runs the
place, simply said, ‘Bring him out. We’ll be glad to take him.’ Just
like that!”
“Just like that!” Jean gasped.
“Well, their big problem is overcrowding. They can take only so many
boys, Mr. Henderson said. But, you see, last month a lot of boys
graduated from high school and will be going out to work or to college.
So they have some room right now.”
Jean clasped her hands. “Now to tell Timmy. I hope he’ll want to go.”
Dr. Benson smacked his hands together. “Just leave Timmy to me.”
“When are you going to take him out?”
“Soon as I’m off duty,” he replied. “No use in hanging around here any
longer. The boy’s perfectly well, you know.”
He whistled as he went down the hall towards Timmy’s room.
“We certainly have done that man an injustice,” Helen said, watching
him go. “I feel like a heel, but I don’t know how to tell him so.”
Jean shook her head. “We don’t have to. I think he’ll get to like us
better from now on.”
14. Mercyville
“Now, the first thing we have to do, Tim,” Dr. Benson said to the boy
as they picked up the odds and ends Timmy had collected during his
stay, “is to get you an outfit.”
Large blue eyes stared up at him. “A what?” he asked.
“Clothes! You know, a suit, underwear ... the works!”
Timmy whistled. “You mean, jest fer me?”
Dr. Benson smiled. “Well, it won’t be so much. I’m only an intern, so
we can’t afford a regular trousseau--”
“Whazzat?” Timmy demanded.
The doctor laughed. “Never mind. We have everything now?”
“Yeah, but Doc, this place you’re takin’ me. What gives out there?”
“Oh, it’s just a place where a lot of boys live together. They run the
whole town, themselves, and they raise their own food--have their own
cows--”
“Cows? What fer?”
Dr. Benson stared at the boy. “For milk, of course! And they all live
and play and go to school together....”
Timmy recoiled at the mention of school. “That’s not fer me,” he said.
“I _hate_ school!”
Dr. Benson tousled his hair. “Well, never mind about school now. It’s
vacation time. You’ll have a lot of baseball and swimming and ...” he
stopped as he saw the blank look on the boy’s face. He felt a lump in
his throat as he realized that Timmy had never seen a game of baseball
or been near a place to swim. “You’ll like it,” he added. “Come on,
now. Let’s go.”
Eileen Gordon was in the lobby when they came down. Dr. Barsch had made
a final examination of the boy and had signed his release, and she had
the papers waiting for them.
She almost laughed when she saw Timmy wearing a rudely cut-down suit
which had apparently belonged to Dr. Benson. “You aren’t going anywhere
like that,” she said to the doctor, looking at the boy.
“Nope, we’re going shopping before we go out to Mercyville.”
“The two of you? Let me come along. I’m a good shopper!” she pleaded.
Dr. Benson turned to Timmy. “Okay?”
Timmy shrugged his shoulders.