One Shenandoah Winter by Davis Bunn

Author:Davis Bunn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2010-09-14T04:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Nathan found it strange to return to roads that went in a straight line.

He followed the directions to Charlottesville’s university hospital. Thankfully the chief resident oncologist had heard of him and his work. Of course they would make time for the patient. Melanoma with possible lymphoma? Critical stages? Could they have a couple of students observe the procedure? Much obliged.

The hospital sat at one corner of the University of Virginia campus, more a part of the city than the university. Nathan had never been there before, but even so there was a sense of returning to his former stomping grounds. As he pulled into the parking lot, he sensed the old surging energy. Simply by being here he was fitting on the familiar armor, hefting the old weapons, returning once more to the battle.

Poppa Joe’s reaction could not have been any more different. In the fading light of day his eyes looked washed of both color and certainty. He stood by the car and stared up at the building, and asked, “This thing here, it’s important?”

“Absolutely vital.”

The old man gazed at Nathan across the top of the car. “Son, you ain’t expecting to get me cured in there, now.”

“We’re here for an examination.” He had rehearsed the argument while calling the university doctor. But to his surprise, the old man had fitted himself to Nathan’s speedy departure, saying not a word as he had been shepherded out of the clinic and into the car. “We need to have some blood work done and a full set of X rays. We should be finished and on our way back to Hillsboro in a few hours.”

He might as well not have spoken. Poppa Joe told him, “Because I ain’t worried about going Home. And that’s the truth.”

“Fine.” Nathan came around the car, patted the old man on a shoulder solid as Hillsboro rock. “Let’s go get this over with.”

As they crossed the lot, Nathan reflected that the air seemed thicker here. Dense and clogged with people and city smells. When they entered the hospital, instantly he was struck by the sharp odors. Poppa Joe stiffened beside him, his eyes open and alert and worried. Nathan gave his name to the receptionist, asked for her to ring the oncology department and let them know they were on their way.

Poppa Joe endured the examination with a detached calm which unnerved even the university specialist. He sat with his shirt off, erect and still while the nurse took blood and the specialist led his students through the cursory inspection.

The three medical students watched with the same kind of avid interest Nathan recalled from his own studies. It was almost a hunger, this desire to study and know and conquer. Only here they were inspecting a new friend. Nathan stood to one side and sensed his own internal fears and shadows congealing into another confrontation with the enemy.

Nathan forced himself to hold steady as the hospital’s chief oncologist explained to the students, “Melanoma can be readily identifiable by the black irregular growth you see here below the rib cage.

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