Letters from My Sister by Valerie Fraser Luesse

Author:Valerie Fraser Luesse
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction;Christian fiction;FIC042030;FIC042000;FIC044000
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2023-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

He’s been up there for an eternity.” Emmy looked as distraught as Callie had ever seen her, nervously twisting and untwisting the handkerchief she clutched and taking deep breaths to try calming herself. The family had gathered in the living room, waiting for Dr. Embry to finish examining Knox.

Her mother laid her hands over Emmy’s. “Now, Emeline, we will not think the worst until we have good reason.”

Emmy looked like she was trying to smile, but her lips trembled so that the corners of her mouth could barely form a wobbly curve. “Yes, Mama.”

She sat between her parents on a long formal sofa. Callie was with Solomon on a settee near the fireplace, where George and Sam stood flanking the mantel. James hovered near his expectant wife and brought Mary Alice a small velvet stool, insisting that she prop her feet up while they all waited. Quiet, occasional conversation replaced the Bullocks’ usual rowdy banter, and the room fell completely silent when they heard footsteps on the stairway. Dr. Embry removed his mask as he came into the living room, his head bowed, his mouth a tight line, holding back words that threatened to spill sorrow all over them.

“Please sit down, Doctor,” Callie’s mother said, motioning to an armchair next to the sofa. “May we get you anything?”

“No, thank you.” Dr. Embry took his seat. “I wish to goodness I had better news for you all. But the truth is, Knox is very sick.”

Callie looked across the room at Emmy, whose eyes were already welling.

“There was blood on the handkerchief he’d been using. I didn’t like what I heard when I listened to his lungs through the stethoscope. I’m afraid he looks and sounds like every tuberculosis patient I’ve ever treated.”

Emmy’s face turned snow white. Her mouth was open, trying to speak, but it emitted no sound. She collapsed onto her mother’s shoulder. Callie felt frozen, barely able to breathe. She longed to comfort Emmy, to tell her everything would be alright, but she couldn’t move. Solomon silently slipped his arm around her.

“How long has he been like this?” Dr. Embry asked.

Emmy did her best to collect herself. “He—he was worn out by that big court case—the one for tuberculosis patients. I just th-thought he was having trouble getting his—his strength back.”

“So it’s been mostly fatigue that he’s experienced?”

“Until a c-couple of—of days ago,” Emmy answered. “He hasn’t wanted anything—to eat. Yesterday he ran a little fever. Tonight he started—coughing so badly—”

The doctor nodded. “That’s the pattern for many patients, I’m sorry to say. Knox could’ve had what we call latent tuberculosis. The bacterium that causes the disease was in his body but sleeping, in effect. Now it’s active and very dangerous—to him and to all of you.”

“I thought only people in those tenement houses in big cities got TB,” Sam said.

“No, Sam,” Dr. Embry explained. “If you can breathe, you can get tuberculosis because it’s airborne. Once you breathe in the bacterium after a sick person coughs or sneezes, everything depends on your body’s immune system—how strong it is and how resilient you are.

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