The Poet of Tolstoy Park by Sonny Brewer

Author:Sonny Brewer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780345481962
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2005-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

• TWENTY •

At noon the next day, Leddie came in the truck to say Peter was at home and resting and that he sent her to inquire after him. Henry was on the roof of the barn nailing down a sheet of tin that had blown loose on the corner. Leddie was holding a basket filled with something covered over by a white towel. “I brought some fresh oat raisin bread and a wedge of cheddar for you,” she said. “I’m sorry you’re having to work alone, Mr. Stuart.”

“Please, Leddie, think nothing of it,” Henry said, backing down the ladder. “I’m almost finished with the repairs and cleaning. It really wasn’t the task it seemed to be when I first looked over the place in the daylight.”

“Yes,” she said, looking about, but in a cursory way. “Mr. Stuart, I . . .” Leddie said nervously. “I don’t like to do this, but Peter insisted. I feel it’s none of our business unless you choose for it to be.”

“Mrs. Stedman, Leddie, please, ask what you will,” Henry said. He knew where this was going. The doctor had most likely said something to Peter or Leddie or both about his coughing fit yesterday morning.

“It’s just that Dr. Anderson said he was concerned about you. He told Peter and me that he has reason to believe you should schedule a visit with him for an examination. Lord knows on what he bases his opinion, for he would say no more than that.” Leddie seemed quite distressed to be saying these things, and Henry believed Peter must have emphatically requested she take up the matter with him. “It’s just that he placed a burden on us when he said we should encourage you to come around to his clinic.”

“Leddie, I’m sorry. The doctor—did you say Anderson?” Henry wondered if there was a family connection to Kate Anderson, the schoolteacher and mother of Anna Pearl.

“Yes, Dr. Anderson,” she said. “His family has been in Fairhope since before we came thirteen years ago. He moved here with his new bride and opened his clinic only two years ago. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I met a schoolteacher on the bayboat ride here whose name is Anderson. Kate Anderson,” Henry said. Leddie said yes, Kate was the doctor’s sister-in-law.

“At any rate, the good doctor’s youthful initiative overcomes decorum here,” Henry said, gesturing with his hand. “It’s not a thing a doctor should do, to make a community matter of his concerns for someone’s health.” Henry frowned. “Especially when such concern is entirely speculative.”

In the way only a woman can do, Leddie seemed to pass through all hesitation with Henry. She drew one eyebrow downward and said, “Is it a speculation, Henry?” She placed her free hand on top of the one holding the basket handle and lifted her chin. Henry was reminded of a schoolmarm waiting for a student to repeat why he had not turned in his homework paper with the rest of the class. Henry could not help but smile.

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