Chapter 3
December 24th, 1897, Eagle Creek, Montana
It would be a miserable Christmas for too many people in Eagle Creek this year. Dr. Matthew Inglis shook his head as he looked along the line of beds in the clinic as he finished the late afternoon rounds. He sighed loudly, though he doubted anyone would hear. The sound of labored breathing, hacking coughs and moans from the ward were too loud. They stayed with him, long after he had made his way along the corridor and entered the small changing room where he removed the mask he’d worn on the ward and all of the clothes that he had been wearing all day, washed thoroughly, and then dressed in a clean suit.
“I’ll get those washed for you,” Mrs. Tinsley said as she bustled in and picked up his discarded clothes from the bench.
“There’s no need. I can take them to the laundry myself in the morning.”
She smiled at him. “I thought I’d explained this to you when you arrived. The clinic has a special account with the laundry. We abide by the protocols laid out by Florence Nightingale here, and we extended them, too. Everything is as clean as we can get it – and it works. Neither Dr. Walker nor myself have suffered with any of the infectious ailments of our patients since we introduced the measures, oh, ten years ago, now. So, you just let me take care of getting these things laundered and get on home for some rest.”
Matthew had been a little taken aback when Mrs. Tinsley had first detailed all the measures that they took to keep the clinic spotless, the air fresh and their attempts to prevent transmission from the patients to the medical staff, but their results spoke for themselves. Matthew might be frustrated by how often Mrs. Tinsley expected him to wash his hands, change his clothes and that he must wear a mask over his face when on the ward, but he’d not had even a hint of a sniffle since coming to Eagle Creek. And given how quickly influenza seemed to be spreading through the town, that seemed almost miraculous.
“How do you do it, Mrs. Tinsley?” Matthew asked, noting the bags under the older woman’s eyes and the weary look on her face. “You work longer hours here than anyone. Does it not get to you?”
“Of course it does, Dr. Inglis, but I can’t afford to let it. Those people in there, they need us.” She gave him a wan smile. “I cannot tell you how much it means to us, having you here. You’ve helped enormously. That you were able to come at such short notice when we’ve been advertising for a new doctor for over six months and couldn’t convince anyone to come, well, I know you don’t intend to stay, but I can’t help hoping that you will. Poor Dr. Walker isn’t getting any younger, and well, neither am I.”
Matthew smiled, but deftly ignored the emotional plea for him to make the position more permanent. He wasn’t ready to settle anywhere yet, no matter how much he liked a place. “I’m glad to help,” he said. “Though I must confess that even after just a few days here, it feels almost hopeless given the numbers of patients we have to see.”
“You must never give up hope, Dr. Inglis,” Maud said gently. “We’ll get through, we have to. And you’ll help far more than we’ll lose, you’ll see.”
“You need help, too,” he noted. “Dr. Walker and I rely on you far too heavily, and you take too much on yourself to spare us. I’d say you could use at least another three nurses, perhaps more. I could send word to Dr. Hartshorn, I’m sure he could find us a nurse in no time?”
“Usually, there’s a steady stream of patients,” Mrs. Tinsley said. “Perhaps a little more than we could handle, which was why we’ve been looking for someone for so long, but we’ve managed, somehow. You’re seeing us at a very unusual time. It’s not normally like this. I’ve never known anything like it, in Eagle Creek at least.” She paused. “I was in the south, when they had an outbreak of yellow fever, and that was horrific.”
“I cannot imagine how terrible that must have been. I read about the one in 1878 in medical school.”
“That’s the one. I’ve never, thank the good Lord, seen anything like it before or since. People so sick, families decimated. I fear seeing such a thing again, and this influenza has already spread so rapidly. Just a few weeks ago, there were just two people in the town with it, now there are over thirty – and the twelve in here are merely the worst affected.”
“The first patient was Mrs. Gilpin, was it not?” Matthew asked.
“Yes,” Maud confirmed. “She was very unwell indeed, fell sick not long after a visit to Billings. Jonas wasn’t long in contracting it, despite being a strong and healthy young man. He wasn’t as sick as her, but still unwell enough.”
“You said Mrs. Gilpin had been to Billings, is there much sickness there?”
“There is. She was visiting a friend who was sick, trying to do what she could to help, and ended up taking it worse herself.” Maud shook her head in dismay. “You know, a friend of Dr. Walker’s said that the hospital there is overrun, and the morgue is full. They can’t keep nurses and doctors well enough to treat the sick, so it is getting worse.”
“Is that why we’re so particular here, with all the precautions?” Matthew asked.
She nodded. “There’s just the two of us – and you, now, thankfully – we can’t afford for any of us to get sick, too.”
“No, no. Of course not,” Matthew agreed. “But perhaps another pair of hands could lighten the load for us all. If we are all too exhausted, we will begin to fail our patients, don’t you think?”
“It is worth thinking about. I did not realize that your agency provided nurses, too.”
“I believe so, I am sure that was Dr. Hartshorn’s intention – to provide all medical staff needed at short notice. I shall mention it to Dr. Walker before I leave.”
He found Dr. Walker napping on the couch in his private office. The poor man was not getting any younger, and the sheer numbers of patients in both the clinic, and those being treated in their homes, was wearing on all of them. Gently, Matthew shook the older man’s shoulder. “You should go home, Sir,” he said softly as Dr. Walker slowly opened his eyes.
“But it’s my turn to oversee the clinic tonight.”
“I can manage,” Matthew assured him. “You have a wife who will be worrying about you. All I have is an empty room in a boarding house.”
Dr. Walker sat up slowly and rubbed his face with both his hands. “You are comfortable at Mrs. Garfield’s? If you aren’t, we can find somewhere else.”
“It is perfectly comfortable,” Matthew assured him. “But my comfort is not the issue. You’ve been driving round the neighborhood all day, seeing all manner of patients. You need some rest, and a hot meal.”
“I wouldn’t say no to a hot bath, either. I’ve never known my joints to ache so,” Dr. Walker admitted. “Perhaps you’re right. It wouldn’t do for me to get sick, too. Are you sure you don’t mind covering for me?”
“Not at all, but I do think that we should consider getting someone to help Mrs. Tinsley, too. She’s rushed off her feet. I think she’s slept less than you have. You hired me to help, but we need at least two nurses to cover each other here in the clinic, and two to cover each other in the town. Babies are still being born, people still need their dressings checked, even if flu is raging.”
“You’re quite right. But it is hard to find the good ones – and Maud would never admit how much she needs help.”
“I could wire Dr. Hartshorn right now? He could send us someone quickly, I’m sure. It would perhaps give us time to fill a more permanent position or two? I am sure that even Mrs. Tinsley would accept help at the moment, she said as much to me just now. I’m amazed at how well the two of you have been managing before I got here.”
“We’ve had no choice. If James hadn’t written to me about his madcap scheme, I’d not have even thought it possible to bring someone like you here, just to tide us over.”
“I must confess, I thought it a little crazy myself when he first mentioned it, but now I am here, it makes perfect sense to me,” Matthew said. “So, shall I wire him?”
“I’ll do it on my way home,” Dr. Walker said. “You’re right, it is foolish to soldier on without help if there is help to be had.”
He got to his feet with a groan. “Oh, my bones,” he moaned. “I should never have let myself fall asleep on that sofa.”
“Go home to a comfortable bed, Sir. And spend Christmas with your wife.”
“I couldn’t leave you alone for all that time.”
“If I weren’t here, you would have been. I can manage. We’ll see you the day after, fully rested and ready to tackle the onslaught.” Matthew handed Dr. Walker his coat and hat, then saw him outside. He paused for a few moments on the porch, watching as the elderly doctor made his way to the postal office. Sheriff Hale rode by and gave him a salute. Matthew returned the gesture. It hadn’t taken him long to learn that there was a small group of men who, like him, had served in the military. He’d accidentally bumped into them in the saloon after his first day here. They gathered from time to time together, and it had been one of their rare meetings.
They were an interesting group of men. He’d bonded quickly with the cheerful sheriff and a couple of ranchers, Aidan O’Shaunessy and Tom Greening. They had been happy to tell him all about Eagle Creek and how much it had changed since they’d all arrived here, around the same time some years earlier. “The place was full of men,” Aidan had laughed as he bought a jug of beer for them all to share. “I think Tom’s housekeeper, Mrs. Barrowman, Mrs. Merryweather and Maud were the only women here back then.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Tom had protested.
“There certainly weren’t any women of marriageable age,” Nate had pointed out.
“So, how did you all come to be married, if there was nobody here to wed?” Matthew had asked them.
“We placed advertisements,” Tom had said. His statement was more than a little bit surprising to Matthew, not least of which because he said it so proudly. He couldn’t imagine being so desperate to be married that one would need to resort to such methods of finding a bride.
“It’s how almost everyone in town finds love,” Nate had said, laughing at Matthew’s shocked expression. “I think we must hold some kind of record, there’s at least nine, perhaps more, couples who found each other thanks to the matrimonials page in the newspaper.”
That conversation had stayed with Matthew. He’d found himself looking at all of the townsfolk since, wondering which of the many contented seeming families had begun because of a few words printed in the newspaper. It certainly wasn’t obvious. Nate rode on by and Matthew went back into the clinic. Mrs. Tinsley was poring over the notes of one of their patients. “I thought you were going home?” she said, frowning.
“Well, if I’m not welcome, I will go, though I think you should,” he said thoughtfully. “I just sent Dr. Walker home. He looked exhausted, so it might be for the best if I stay.”
“But you’d already changed ready to go,” she said shaking her head. “I’ll guess you’ve not got anything else to change into when it’s time to go in the morning – for make no mistake, young man, you will be going home in the morning to get some rest.”
“I promise that I will strip out of my clothes and leave them on the porch of Mrs. Garfield’s, so you can arrange for the laundry to collect them.”
“Not good enough. You can’t go running through a respectable place like Mrs. Garfield’s with no clothes on.” She peered out of the window and saw a young boy walking past, attempting to push a hoop with a stick along one of the ruts left in the snow by an earlier wagon. The hoop kept falling, but he was persistent. “Michael O’Shaunessy, come here, boy,” she called out as the boy grabbed his hoop and hurried forward. “Not too close. Stay on the step there.”
“Yes, Mrs. Tinsley? How can I help?” he asked eagerly.
“Go to Mrs. Garfield’s house and ask her to fetch a clean suit, shirt, tie, undergarments for Dr. Inglis, please? He’ll need it by dawn tomorrow.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” the boy said and laid down his hoop on the porch before running off along Main Street, seemingly oblivious of the ice and snow underfoot. He was as surefooted as any mountain goat.
“I’ve seen him rushing back and forth a lot,” Matthew said.
“He runs errands for Alfie at the postal office,” Mrs. Tinsley explained. “Takes the telegrams, that sort of thing. He’s a good lad.”
“I presume he’s Aidan O’Shaunessy’s boy?”
“Yes, their eldest. He’s a fine young man, a credit to them. You watch, he’ll be back in less than ten minutes with clean clothes for you.”
“Even if Mrs. Garfield is not home?”
“Especially if she isn’t,” Mrs. Tinsley said with a chuckle. “Nobody to get in his way. He can be remarkably single-minded when given a task.”
“As can I,” Matthew said, giving her a stern look. “And I am stubborn as the proverbial mule, so get changed, go home, get some rest, and come and take over from me in the morning so I can catch a few hours of sleep myself. Dr. Walker will be taking the day off with his wife.”
“You are a good man, Dr. Inglis,” Mrs. Tinsley said. “But I can’t leave you alone tonight. It wouldn’t be right. You’re a doctor, not a nurse. If anything, I should be sparing you.”
“I’ve barely been here two days. I’ve not had time to get tired. The two of you have been fighting this influenza for weeks. Go, rest, before it catches up with you both.”