Chapter 5
Diane’s first week in Unity was a tough one. The weather cleared up around Wednesday, but although the sun was out, it was watery and did little to help against a freezing wind that blew for days.
Added to the list of the sick was the list of the injured who waited in the apothecary store for help.
Julie had been right. With the cold snap well in effect, the sleet turned to sheets of ice on everything.
Ethan wasn’t the only one to slip and fall, hurting himself.
There were many bruised tailbones, twisted ankles, and battered elbows and wrists from folks trying to stop their falls.
It seemed that the whole town spent at least a portion of their day in the apothecary store.
“We’re going to need more of everything,” Diane said Friday morning. They were taking inventory of the stock on the shelves, and it didn’t look good. They were out of almost everything that was necessary in their current situation.
Julie sighed. She looked terribly tired, what with the lack of sleep at home because of her teething baby and the nonstop work in the apothecary store from dawn till way past dusk. “I suppose we can find out when the cart is heading to San Antonio. We might be able to get some supplies.”
“That’s a great idea,” Diane said. “But one of us would have to go. I don’t think a list will suffice.”
Nodding, Julie agreed. “I once wrote mugwort on my list and got two bags of lungwort instead. It’s useful, of course, but not what I was looking for.” She sighed and rubbed her temples.
“Are you feeling all right?” Diane asked, looking at her friend with concern. “Is the little master of the house allowing you to get any sleep?”
“Chris? Not much. He’s finally getting over the worst of the latest teething spell, I think. But I think it’s the seven-day weeks here in the store that are doing me in,” she said. “I’ve been working solidly since I got here well over a year ago without any breaks.”
“Where is Chris now?”
“He’s with Andrea and Mary. They started a group where the children can play together and …”
“That sounds wonderful,” Diane said when Julie’s voice trailed off. “Here. This is a prescription for you.”
Julie took the piece of paper that Diane had scribbled something on. She read it and chuckled. “What are you talking about? I can’t go.”
“Why not? Between us, Antoinette and I can handle whatever comes through that door,” Diane said.
“I’ve worked in hospitals in the middle of epidemics, with women going into labor seemingly en masse, with trolley accidents and train derailments and all sorts of things too numerous to recount.
I can handle a few snotty noses and a couple of sprained ankles,” Diane said, using her stern but caring look.
It was the one she used to help convince folks to take their medication without a fuss.
Julie couldn’t seem to think of anything to say. “All right … I’ll be back in the afternoon,” she said.
“Sure,” Diane said, turning her attention back to the rows of tinctures and salves and ointments.
The afternoon was full of coughs and fevers, but fewer sprains. Ethan came in for a check-up of his ankle. It was healing nicely.
“Keep putting the comfrey salve on twice a day, and we’ll have you back on that foot in no time,” Diane told him.
He smiled and took her hand in his. “Then we’ll go dancing.”
“Dancing?” she asked in surprise. “Where?”
“San Antonio,” Ethan said. “Julie mentioned you need supplies, and I’m heading into town tomorrow with some mine business. We could make a day of it.” He waggled his brows in a mischievous manner.
Laughing, Diane squeezed his hand. “All right,” she said. “Tomorrow.”
He grinned happily and then his expression turned thoughtful. “You know, there’s an open office space next door to the store.”
“I noticed,” Diane said. “I was wondering what was supposed to be there.”
“It was going to be part of the main office, but we decided to keep that closer to the mine,” Ethan said.
“I can speak to Andrew, and if you like, maybe you could take it over. Turn it into a clinic. You can only see one patient at a time now with the one exam room. You would be able to see more people with twice the space.”
Diane chuckled. “You’re right. You’re also a genius!” Leaning forward, she kissed his cheek. A feeling like she’d touched a live wire shot through her, and she pulled back, surprised.
Ethan had a dreamy look on his face, and he smiled at her. “Tomorrow!”
“Yes, but dinner first tonight—assuming I ever get out of here,” she said.
“Yes, let me know.”
She nodded, and he hobbled off, allowing the next person to come in through the examination room door.
It was very late when Diane finally finished with all the patients. She’d even gone to three houses where the inhabitants were suffering so much from fevers and chills that they couldn’t come to the store. In each case, the least sick person was trying to look after them.
On her way back, she stopped at Julie’s house.
Knocking on the door, she was greeted by Julie with her little son on her hip. The child looked like an angel. He had curly blond hair, large blue eyes, and smooth pink cheeks.
“This is Chris?” Diane asked. “You never said he looked like an angel.”
Julie handed him over to Diane as she ushered her into the house. “He looks like an angel, but he just destroyed the whole linen cupboard, so … I’m thinking there’s some mischief in there.”
Diane didn’t care. Chris smelled like soap and sweet innocence, and she loved the way he stared at her with those big eyes. She pulled a funny face at him and Chris giggled, his chubby cheeks wobbling with mirth.
“So,” Julie said, drawing Diane’s attention. “Was everything okay today? Did something happen?”
“Actually, a lot of things,” Diane said, smiling.
Julie led her to the hallway, where the two lowest shelves had been emptied of their sheets and pillowcases.
“Did you do that?” Diane asked Chris. He blew bubbles at her with his spit. “Of course you did. I’m going to help your mommy—” She began to lower him to the ground, but Julie stopped her.
“No, no! You hold him, and I’ll clean up,” Julie said, picking up a pillowcase. “So, tell me what happened at the store.” She folded the linen and began to restack it.
Diane told Julie all about the day, the patients who had come to the store, those who were too sick to, who she had gone to see, and Ethan’s suggestion.
As she spoke, Chris got bored with her not paying attention to him, and he grabbed a newly folded hand towel from a higher shelf and dropped it on the floor.
“Christopher Andrew Carter!” his mother admonished. “Keep your fingers off my things!”
The child didn’t even bother to try and look contrite. He grinned and reached for another thing to drop. Diane noticed just in time and whisked him away, making a whooshing sound with her mouth. Chris burst into laughter as though this was the best trick ever.
“Ethan suggested turning the office next door into another consulting room?” Julie asked as she continued folding lines.
“He said it was possibly large enough to turn into a clinic,” Diane said. “Which might be what we need.”
“What do you mean?”
Diane sighed. “Influenza’s a strange thing.
It spreads like wildfire through dry brush.
One person has it, and the next thing, another two, and then another six or eight get it, and it can take weeks to recover.
” She dipped and swooped Chris through the air, making her way up and down the hallway. The little boy giggled with delight.
“I was thinking,” Diane continued, “that we might need to quarantine folks who have it. It’s just spreading too quickly, and we have no way to stop it and not enough people to look after the sick.”
“Quarantine?” Julie asked, pausing. “Keep them in their houses?”
“Only the walking wounded, as we called them in the hospital. That means the ones who are able to get up and make something to eat or brew a cup of tea. Who can take care of themselves. All the ones burning up with fever, too sick to even take any medication, those we take into the clinic and look after.”
“But how?” Julie asked. “We don’t have enough people. We don’t have a hospital.”
“We’d have to ask for volunteers,” Diane said. “I just don’t see this ending any time soon. We’re going to work until we get sick from exhaustion and then what will everybody do? We need a plan of action.”
Julie folded another sheet and placed it on the shelf. She looked thoughtful, and Diane did another couple of passes with Chris in her arms, swinging him about so that he giggled and laughed.
Then the front door opened, and Andrew came in.
“Hi, honey,” his wife said wearily. “I’m glad you’re back. I think we need to talk to you.”
Diane frowned. “We?”
“It’s your idea,” Julie said. “I want to know what Andrew thinks.”
“All right,” Andrew said. “How about staying for dinner? You took over from Julie today, and that deserves a good meal. Don’t you think?”
“Oh, that’s okay,” Diane said, shaking her head. She didn’t want to intrude. “I have dinner waiting at Mrs. Odenkirk’s.”
“It’s after eight,” Julie said. “You know there’s no way she’ll give you anything now. Stay. It will be good to be able to hash this all out.”
So, Diane stayed. She hadn’t realized how late it was. She would just have to apologize to Ethan in the morning. Julie took Chris up to bed, and the little tyke went to sleep with no trouble.
Then they sat down to a dinner of chicken, rice, and vegetables. It was a wonder to Diane that Julie somehow found the time to cook amid everything else she had going on right now. While they ate, they discussed Diane’s idea of a separate clinic.
“It’s a good idea,” Andrew said. “How many times have you wished you had a place to keep people overnight when needed? Wouldn’t this solve the problem?”
“Yes, but it also creates another problem,” Julie said. “We don’t have the staff to run it.”
“You have your volunteers,” he pointed out.
“They come in when they can,” Julie said. “A clinic would need staff that could always be there. We don’t have that.”
“I’m sure if we asked around, some folks would volunteer to help out consistently,” he answered. “Maybe you can organize them into shifts. Would it help get this flu under control?”
“It might,” Diane conceded. She didn’t want to overpromise and then not be able to deliver.
“Then I think you should try,” Andrew said with a shrug.
“We have to do something. Letting them stay at home means that more of their family gets infected, and that means there are more people to treat,” Diane said, trying not to let her emotions ring in her words too much. She felt this should be a logical discussion, not an emotional one.
Andrew ran a hand through his hair, as though warding off the beginning of a headache.
“But we don’t have the supplies,” Julie said.
“Ethan’s heading to San Antonio tomorrow,” Andrew said. “He and Diane can go and get whatever you need.”
Julie seemed to have run out of counterarguments and sighed. “All right. Let’s use the other office as an extra examination room and then see what happens after that.”
Diane nodded. “That’s great. Let’s do it.”
Diane waited nervously for Ethan the next morning. She wasn’t sure how he would take her not showing up for dinner the evening before, when it had been her suggestion. Would he be annoyed? Angry? Upset?
Losing track of time and working well beyond the hours she was supposed to was not an excuse for neglecting someone she cared for. She would have to make amends.
When Ethan arrived driving the buckboard, he had a bunch of flowers in his hand and a contrite look on his face. Getting down from the driver’s seat, he rushed up to her on the porch and took her hands in his. The earnest look on his face had her worried.
“Diane, I can’t begin to explain how sorry I am that I didn’t come around for dinner last night. It’s inexcusable! I just got stuck into solving a problem we’ve been having at the smelter, and I …” He stopped speaking as Diane began to laugh. “What’s so funny?” he asked.
She tried to compose herself, but it was too much. She was so tired, and the coincidence was so perfect … She doubled over, clutching her stomach as she laughed and laughed.
Poor Ethan was so confused. Diane wanted to tell him, but she couldn’t seem to gain control of herself. Eventually, when her mirth petered out, she managed to draw a breath and said, “You aren’t the only one who missed our dinner date last night.”
“What?” Ethan asked.
Diane bit her lip, feeling guilty but still seeing the funny side of it all. “I also lost track of time. I got swept up in your clinic idea and proposed it to Julie, and then we got to talking … I’m afraid time ran away with me.”
“So, I’m not in trouble?” Ethan asked.
Shaking her head, Diane smiled. “Not at all.”
“Ah,” Ethan said. “Well, then these apology flowers are just ‘I think you’re wonderful’ flowers.” He thrust the bouquet at her.
Diane kissed his cheek and took them, then hurried into the boarding house. Mrs. Odenkirk agreed to take care of the beautiful bouquet. Diane suggested she put them in reception. “To brighten everyone’s mood.”
Mrs. Odenkirk grinned. “That’s a marvelous idea, dear.”
Heading back outside into the chill air, Diane was optimistic that they would have a good journey to San Antonio.
It turned out that Ben and Matt would be traveling with them. They would offer protection as there were several crates in the back of the buckboard.
“What’s in the crates?” Diane asked.
“Byproducts of copper mining,” Ethan said.
She frowned, not understanding what he meant.
“Gold and silver,” he said. “But it’s a secret. That’s why we’re only bringing Ben and Matt with us on this trip.”
Diane had a sudden thought. “Hold on a moment; I must get something.” She hurried upstairs to her room, where she grabbed her large black medical bag and came back down. “Just in case,” she said, climbing into the buckboard.
Ethan looked at his companions and squared his shoulders. “All right, to San Antonio!” He flicked the reins, and the horses started forward.