A Nurse for Walter by Marlene Bierworth

Author:Marlene Bierworth [Bierworth, Marlene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-24T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Shannon gasped. “Oh no. I’ve just come from Jan’s Tailor Shop and her youngest son, Jerry is very sick with the fever and is not strong enough to manage a decent cough.”

“Jerry? I never brought any more Fenton babies into the world after she miscarried the last one. In fact, I told her not to have any more children,” Walter said, shaking his head. “Why doesn’t she bring him over?”

“Maybe they are short on cash,” Shannon attempted to cover the underlying reason, then succumbed to the whole truth. “And her husband appears not to have faith in your institution.”

Walter Franssen groaned. “Yeah, I get that. His boy Peter died here a year or so back, but there were added complications. The boy was never healthy from day one. You can’t measure one case against another.”

“What can we do?”

“If you’ll be so good as to accompany me, I’d like to do a house call.”

Molly interrupted. “Jan will be right nervous about that.”

“We can try. If she kicks me out, then so be it. I can’t force anyone to receive medical attention.”

The minute they walked inside the door of the tailor shop, they heard a muffled scream from the back room and a loud thump followed it. Racing to the door, they met a red-faced burly man about to exit. His black eyes bore into the doctor. “You get out of here, now!”

“Tommy, you need to let me see the boy,” Walter argued.

“Don’t need none of your interference. The room is half freezing and Jan expects the boy to recover using ice! What kind of stupidity is that?”

“That was my doing, sir. It’s been known to work better than suffocating heat.”

“Who the blazes are you?”

“She is my nurse, Tommy. Now settle down. Won’t be any harm letting me look at the boy.”

A movement in the corner caught Shannon’s attention, and she saw Jan struggling to her feet, wiping the blood from her cut lip. Shannon rushed over to her.

“Are you all right?”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t fret none about me. It’s not the first time he’s knocked me down and probably won’t be the last.” Her voice raised as she blasted her husband with an icy glare.

Shannon was dumbfounded. She’d heard of men who beat their wives but had never actually met one. “How is the boy?”

“Like I was trying to tell his stubborn father, since I started the cool bathing, he seems more coherent, like he wasn’t off in some faraway place in his mind.” She yelled the next statement across the room. “But do you think he’d listen? Nope! It’s not the way his Ma did it, so it isn’t right. He isn’t right in his head and I’ll not stop after seeing the fog lift from my boy’s face.”

“You advised her on the cool treatment?” Dr. Franssen asked.

“I’ve seen it done, and it works,” Shannon said.

“We are trying it with the second patient at the hospital, but I think we’re too late,” Walter said to Shannon. “That couple of hermits should have wandered in from the hills days ago.

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