PART 4
A few days later, as Dorothy
and Nat were trying to manage the printing press to get the days paper out,
they heard somebody walk in the front door.
“I’ll go see who it is,” Nat
offered. He walked into the other room.
“I’ve been replaced,” the young
man that had come in said when he saw Nat come out of the back room with ink
stains all over his hands. “I was only
gone five days,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.
“Brian!” Nat said, as he
walked over to him.
“Hey, Nat. Good to see you. I hear you’re working here with Miss Dorothy and me.”
“Yes. I’m certainly not a replacement. We still need you in there,” Nat pointed to
the room Dorothy was in.
“Probably. The Gazette is getting bigger all the
time. As the town grows, so does the
newspaper.”
“Brian! Is that you?”
Dorothy called out from the other room.
“Yes, Miss Dorothy. I’m home.
Dorothy’s head appeared in
the doorway. “Thank goodness. I hope you’re ready to get back to work,”
she smiled.
“Sure am. Let’s get that newspaper out,” Brian said
enthusiastically.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * *
“Hey, Ma! Over here!”
Michaela’s youngest son yelled over to her as she and Nan walked over to
Grace’s Café. Brian and Nat were
getting ready to order lunch. Brian had
only been home a few hours, but he and Nat already started up a new
friendship. Michaela and Nan sat down
across from them and ordered their lunch.
“Has it been busy at the
clinic?” Nat asked the ladies.
“Busy? Yes. Nothing serious
though,” Nan told her husband. “Cuts, burns, chicken pox, catarrh, a broken
arm…”
“I think chicken pox and
catarrh are going around. I’m glad
Katie’s feeling better and the girls have already had chicken pox,” Michaela
told them.
“What about Matthew’s and
Colleen’s kids?” Nat asked.
“Charlotte’s had chicken
pox, but Charles and Daniel haven’t.
They’ll be next,” Michaela predicted.
Grace brought over their
lunch. “Here you go?” she told them.
They quieted down some as they ate.
After Michaela finished her
lunch, she announced, “I need to make a house call. Anna Johnson, Reverend wife, broke her leg last week. She can’t leave the house. I need to check up on her.”
“Can I go?” Nan asked.
“No, I want you to stay in
town, Nan. Case you get more children
with chicken pox,” Michaela smiled.
Nan looked disappointed,
“Oh, OK.”
Michaela patted Nan on the
back as she got up and left. Brian and
Nat went back to work as Nan finished her coffee.
“Michaela, Michaela!”
somebody called out. Nat looked over to
see where the voice was coming from.
“Michaela!” Nat got up to see
what the commotion was about. A
grizzly-looking man with a young woman in his arms came running toward the
café.
“Excuse me, Mr.” Nan ran
over to him. “I’m Dr. Blake. I’m interning with Dr. Mike. She went out on a house call. “ Nan calmly
told the man.
“What’s going on, Hank?”
Grace walked up to them.
“It’s one of my girls. Emily.
She was complaining of a stomachache, and then she just fell to the
ground,” Hank told them.
“Stomachache. Dr. Blake, can you do anything?” Grace asked
her.
Nan looked nervous, “Why
don’t you take her back to the clinic?”
“I’ll tell Robert E. to ride
out and find Dr. Mike,” Grace told them.
“Good idea! Let’s go,” Nan led the way.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * *
