Chances in Disguise by Diana J. Noble

Author:Diana J. Noble
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arte Público Press
Published: 2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Social News

I use a feather duster to clean the window sill and shelves. The clinic and everything in it gives me a feeling of comfort. I’ve spent countless hours and learned most of what I know about medicine in here.

There are the exam table and Doc Taylor’s desk, messy with books, papers and bottles. Two chairs against the wall for patients or anxious family members to sit on while they wait. A spittoon for men and the occasional woman who comes in with their mouths full of chewing tobacco, something Doc Taylor frowns upon and makes them spit out. A separate smaller table covered with a white sheet and a doctor’s standard tools is next to the exam table. His framed diploma and medical license hang above the desk.

“Evangelina? You down there?” I hear him call from the top of the stairs.

“Yes, sir. Doing a bit of cleaning,” I reply.

“You know you’re not my housekeeper anymore. I plan on hiring someone soon—perhaps Myrna, the young lady across the street.”

“I have time on my hands, and I’d rather be busy than sit and think for too long.”

“One day, you’re going to get back to all this,” he says, motioning around the room. “Why don’t you sit down. I have news for your eighteenth birthday tomorrow. It’s a day early, but I don’t want to wait.”

I sit down in one of the patient chairs.

“There is no conceivable way the oleander syrup you gave Ramona Healy led to her death,” he says.

“You’re sure?”

“I spent hours at the Goldendale Library researching herbal remedies. Three medical journals and two separately published studies confirmed that it would take much greater concentrations of oleander to poison someone. You gave Mrs. Healy three spoonfuls of the syrup. With the proportions of water to seeds and flowers you used, it would take ten times that much to have an adverse effect, even someone with her slight frame.”

“That’s wonderful!” I say and hug him around the neck.

“It gets better,” he adds. “I telegraphed a laboratory in Virginia that specializes in toxic substances. They confirmed my findings. You did not, in any way, harm Mrs. Healy. You provided care and comfort, that is all.”

“Doctor, you are my angel on earth. I can’t thank you enough!”

“Let’s get you out of this mess, and then you can thank me by finishing your schooling and joining my medical practice. How does that sound?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’m getting on in years, and I owe it to my patients to make a plan for my replacement. When you are ready, we can practice medicine as partners, and when it’s my time to retire, you can stay on—if that’s what you want. But there’s no obligation to do so.”

“Some of your patients would not like that very much,” I say, “but it’s a nice dream, isn’t it?”

“Attitudes and beliefs can change. People who don’t trust you or say you’re somehow less than them don’t know you. Once they do, they’ll see you as I see you. You’ll be an excellent doctor someday, and the people of this town will be lucky to have you.

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