Dorothy Garlock (12 page)

April made a quick slash in the boil, and white pus shot out into the gauze she held at the ready.

“It’s over, honey. It should be feeling better anytime now.” “Did yours ever come to a head?”

“The doctor came out the next morning. I had to bare my butt. I was sure that I’d never be able to look him in the eye again. But know what? When next he saw my face, he didn’t recognize me. It made me wonder if he would know me if I showed him my bottom.” April worked swiftly while she talked. “This may sting a bit,” she said before swabbing with antiseptic. “You are a brave girl. Did you see that?” she asked the mother. “She didn’t even flinch.”

“I want to be a nurse . . . like you,” the girl blurted. “That would be great. You and I could talk about all the boils we’d lanced.” To Mrs. Watson she said, “Keep a warm, damp cloth on it for a while to be sure it’s completely drained before it closes up.” Then to the girl: “Does it feel better now?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Your mother will have to dab it a couple of times with iodine. It’ll sting for a minute or two, but we don’t want that ugly old thing to come back.”

“What do we owe you?” Mrs. Watson asked when they were ready to leave.

“If Doc was here, it would be about fifty cents, but he isn’t here and—”

“You did as much as any doctor could have done.” Mrs. Watson placed several coins on the desk.

After her patient had left, April put away the supplies and poured boiling water over the scalpel, then placed it into the sterilizer. Before she left the office, she called the operator.

“Diane? The doctor still isn’t back. I’m going home. If I’m needed again, call me at Mrs. Poole’s.”

When April arrived back at the house, Fred was sitting on the front porch reading the paper.

“Good morning,” she murmured as she went quickly up the porch steps.

“You’re out early.”

She nodded, then hurried into the house and back to the kitchen, where she hoped for a cup of coffee. Mrs. Poole, dressed for church, took a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon from the oven.

“That looks good but it’s coffee I need.” April reached for the percolator on the stove.

“If you would like to go to church, I’ll wait for you to get ready.”

“Some other time. Doc isn’t back yet. I should stay near the phone.”

“Where is he?”

“He may be out on a call, and he may have driven up the river road. He’s worried about flooding.”

Mrs. Poole sniffed. “If it floods down there, it won’t be a great loss. The rats and whores will scatter. Maybe they’ll settle farther downriver. The town would be better off without them.”

“Fifty or more people live along the river in Shanty Town. Wouldn’t the merchants miss their business?”

“They’re more trouble than they’re worth. Fred has to go down there regularly to collect on bills.”

April began to eat. “Doc says floodwater can get into the water wells and cause typhoid.”

“I figured he was worried about something other than river rats and whores. There’s a colored whore down there who services the men. They say that she could almost pass for white. I’ve never seen her. She doesn’t dare show her face in town.” Mrs. Poole whipped off her apron almost angrily and hung it in the pantry.

“The plum butter is delicious, Mrs. Poole.”

“I should send a jar to Dr. Forbes. Poor man, he doesn’t have a woman to do for him.”

April thought of the pies, cakes and even meat loaf the single ladies in town brought him, but she wasn’t about to tell Mrs. Poole that.

“He would enjoy it, I’m sure.”

“Are you setting your cap for him?”

“For Doc? Heavens, no. He’s my boss and my friend.” “Well, he’s sure a cut above Joe Jones.”

“What do you mean? Isn’t Joe respectable?” There was a note of irritation in April’s voice.

“Respectable, but a fly-by-night. He’s flitted here and there for years. Farming now, I hear. I wonder how long that will last.”

“Is there something wrong with that?”

“Not for some girls, but you’re educated. You wouldn’t be satisfied pulling water from a well and going out back to an outhouse.”

April bit her tongue to keep from retorting. She looked at her landlady as if seeing her for the first time. Her hair was set in stiff waves and pinned in a tight knot on the back of her head. Her face was pinched, her small mouth was tight. Her head was tilted; her nostrils quivered as if she smelled something offensive.

What in the world happened to this woman to make her so bitter?

“Do you know the Jones family?”

“Oh, yes. They live on the edge of town, but never been considered town folk. Joneses have been scratching out a living out there on that rocky farm since long before the war.”

“In other words, the people who live on farms surrounding the town are considered outsiders even though they trade with the merchants in town?”

“They don’t pay taxes in town or contribute to the cost of running the town.”

“They must pay county tax. Doesn’t the county help provide services for the town?”

“I don’t know how that works. My late husband was on the city council. They were always short of money.”

“Sister,” Fred called from the doorway. “We’d better be going or we’ll be late.”

“Coming. I cooked the meat for dinner last night. When I get home, all I have to do is fix the potatoes. Church is out at noon. Dinner should be ready by one.”

“I won’t be here for dinner.”

“Oh.” Mrs. Poole looked as if she had swallowed a bug. “If I’d known that, I’d not have cooked such a large roast.”

April said nothing. She’d be damned if she would apologize. The woman waited beside the door as if expecting an explanation. April remained silent.

She stayed seated until she heard the click of the front screen door closing. She got up and hurried to the front window to be sure Fred was leaving with his sister. When she saw the two of them walking side by side and Fred talking earnestly to Mrs. Poole, she went back to the kitchen to wash her soiled dishes and put them away.

Leaving the bathroom door open so that she could hear the telephone if it rang, April ran water into the tub. She was determined to bathe, wash her hair, get ready for her date and be out of the house before Mrs. Poole and Fred returned. Rather than wait for Joe to come here, she would meet him on Doc’s front porch.

She mulled over in her mind what to wear while she lay back in the warm water. It was hard for her to believe that she was actually going on a date. She had gone out before, but never with a man as handsome and charming as Joe Jones.

A secret smile worked its way onto her face.

Give it your best shot, Joe. I’ll enjoy being with you, but there’s no way this girl is going to let you charm her into doing something as idiotic as falling for you.

Chapter 9

“W
AITING FOR SOMEONE
?”

April had been sitting on Doc’s porch for a good long while before he came to the door.

“I didn’t know you were back. I’m waiting for Joe. He’s taking me out to meet his sister Julie.”

“Is that right?” Doc stepped out onto the porch, slouched down in a creaky old rocker and lit his pipe.

“You don’t approve? My landlady doesn’t approve of me having anything to do with the Jones family.”

“What business is it of hers? You don’t have to p-please anyone but yourself. But to answer your question, it isn’t up to me to approve or d-disapprove. Joe’s a g-good man. So’s Jack.”

“Mrs. Poole was telling me that unless you live in town, you’re considered outsiders. She said Joe was a fly-by-night and that he and Jack chased every new woman who came to town.”

“Horse hockey.”

“She also said that some of the women they chased left town suddenly. Is this true?”

“Joe and Jack are as d-decent as you’ll find anywhere. I don’t know where she got such cockeyed ideas.”

“She has strong opinions.”

“Mrs. Poole is a b-bitter woman. Pay her no mind.”

“She cares even less about the people who live along the river than she does about those who live outside of town.”

“There’s some r-rotten apples down there, but some good folk, too. The s-same as here in town.”

“Is the river any higher?”

“It’s about the s-same.”

“Isn’t it strange? A few hundred miles west of here the crops are dying due to the drought, and here we have to worry about the river flooding.”

“From what I hear, it’s j-just in this area. Western Kansas is dry as a b-bone, and so is Nebraska.”

Doc leaned his head back, propped his feet on the porch rail and looked off into the distance. Apparently his mind was fully occupied. For a long while April hesitated to break into his thoughts. Finally she was compelled to tell him about her early morning patient.

“The operator called for me to come to the clinic this morning. Mrs. Watson brought her little girl in. She had a boil under her arm the size of an egg. I met her there and lanced it.”

He turned to look at her. “You’re a g-good nurse, April. The best I’ve ever had.”

April was struck by the sad tone of his voice and the bleak look on his face, as if the weight of the world were riding on his shoulders.

“Thank you. Is something worrying you, Doc?”

“Only that I should have let you know that I would be g-gone for a while. I’ll be sticking c-close to the office for the next week or two. I have t-two expectant mothers due anytime now.”

“Mrs. Appleby and Jill, Joe and Jack’s sister?”

“They’re due about a w-week apart, but it’s Jill’s f-first and it could come early or late.”

“Do you anticipate any problems?”

“No. She’s h-healthy as a horse. If I’m not mistaken, here c-comes your beau.”

“He’s not my beau!” April stood up and waved to make sure Joe would see her and stop. She didn’t want him going to Mrs. Poole’s.

“You’d b-better tell him that. I don’t think he knows.”

“I will make it perfectly clear. No way will I fall for a good-looking flirt.”

“We all hide our insecurities b-behind something. Joe does it by f-flirting.”

“Joe insecure? He’s one of the most confident men I’ve ever met. I doubt he’d back down from a tornado.”

Joe came up the walk with an unabashed grin on his face. He was wearing a freshly ironed shirt, string tie and duck pants.

“Well, damn if you d-don’t look pretty,” Doc said.

“I clean up pretty good. You knew that, Doc. Talk about pretty. Look at Miss April. She’s about as pretty as a covey of quail.”

April rolled her eyes toward the heavens. “I’m terribly flattered to be compared to a flock of birds.”

“You’re not impressed? She’s not impressed, Doc.”

“She got more b-brains than to be taken in by that old line. You’d better get a n-new one.”

Joe’s shimmering eyes were busy exploring every inch of her, from the green print dress with puffed sleeves, square neckline and full skirt to her bare legs and the sandals on her feet.

“All right. How’s this? She’s as pretty as apple blossoms in the spring.” Joe’s admiring gaze caused the color to rise in April’s cheeks, and she hated it.

“Crab apple? Hardly flattering. Can’t you think of something that rhymes?”

“She’s sharp today.” He flashed a dangerous, heart-stopping smile. “I’ll have to watch my step. Doc, Julie sends an invitation for you to come to supper.”

“Tell her thanks, but I’d better s-stick around here today.” “If you change your mind, come on out.”

After she was seated in the car, April looked back to where Doc sat on the porch.

“He looks so lonesome.”

“Yeah. Doc’s got a heavy load right now.” Joe spoke so quietly that April turned to look at him and saw the serious expression on his face.

“What do you mean ‘right now’?”

“He’s worried the river will flood the water wells.”

“I can’t help but wonder if there’s something else on his mind.”

“Doc’s a very private man.”

They were driving slowly down Main Street. The only cars parked along the street were at the hotel.

“The town buttons up on Sunday,” Joe said as if he had to say something to fill the silence. “Spring Lake amusement park is open, but the dance hall is closed on Sunday. We’ll go out there some Saturday night when it’s really hopping.” His eyes smiled into hers. “Do you like to dance?”

“I like to, but I’m not very good at it.”

“That’s a fib if I ever heard one. I bet you’re good at everything you set out to do.”

“Thanks for the confidence, but you’ll change your mind after you suffer a broken toe or two.”

They rode in silence. She had not experienced silence before when she was with Joe. It made her nervous. Good Lord! She hoped that he wasn’t aware that she had to open her mouth to get enough air in her lungs and how hard and fast her heart was thudding.

Settle down, silly thing, or you’ll give this jellybean something to really crow about.

“Is this your car?”
Her voice was quite normal, thank goodness.

“No. It’s Pa’s. I don’t have a car. I go horseback where I want to go. Every cent I could scrape up went into Rolling Thunder.” April saw the deviltry in his eyes as well as something warm and fluttering in their depths. “That’s why I wasn’t going to let you hurt him.”

For a moment she couldn’t breathe, then laughter bubbled out of her. She laughed, gasped, then laughed again.

“I only had a little old umbrella.”

“But you had blood in your eye.”

Their laughing eyes held until he had to look back at the road. April stared at his profile for several moments longer. She could see the squint lines at the ends of his eyes and the small mole on his lower eyelid. His cheeks were flat, his mouth wide and firm. A cowlick stood up next to the part in his crisp, clean hair.

He turned and caught her looking at him. She took a deep breath, afraid that if she spoke he would be sure to know how happy she was to be here with him.

Joe’s hand left the wheel and covered hers on the seat between them. She was fun to be with, smart as a whip, and she could very well be the girl of his dreams. Her hair was the rich color of ripened wheat, her mouth wide and sweet, her eyes warm and smiling.