Compass North

by Cathleen Ellis

  Tyann just smiled to Julie and shook her head.

  

  “Awesome sky tonight, I’m so glad you suggested we get away for a little while. Your family, they’re pretty intense. I’ve got my mom and sister, and my dad, he’s super low key, well we all are.”

  “Uh huh, us Haroldson’s, a different bunch, wait’ll dinner tomorrow. Hey, the skiff of snow’s pretty much gone. I hope that means good travels back home, Tyann.”

  “I’m only two and a half hours away.”

  They stopped, gazing up into the light-studded sky, the moon appearing from behind a single cloud.

  “Wanted you to be the first to know, I got my first choice, I’ll stay at Iowa Med.”

  They hugged.

  “Oh wow, it’s what you been hoping and praying for. Congratulations, Jacob, you’ll keep your place, still?”

  “Yeah, but no more volunteering in the ER, I’m gonna have so much to do, plus there are still a couple classes that we have to attend and participate in. Nursing Leadership should be interesting. It’s hard to believe, but pretty much, wherever I go, I’ll be in charge, ‘cause so much of the staff is aides, LPN’s, not that many RN’s.”

  “Especially ones that are BSN’s, with the degree.”

  “You know, within about five years, I could basically be running a program, wow, like a whole orthopedic wing.”

  “You’re right, and Jacob, you know there’s the Nurse Practitioner scenario that’s coming along, that’ll be pretty amazing.”

  “Uh huh, they write prescriptions and even do small surgeries.”

  They held hands as they returned home.

  “Some incredible things’re gonna happen in the field of health care in the next few years.”

  Before they climbed the stairs to the front porch, Jacob picked her up and kissed her. She kissed him back.

  After he put her down, she looked up to him, “Your future, my future, it’s gonna be so exciting. I don’t think anybody can predict all the ways we’ll help folks.”

  “Yeah, it’s a little scary.”

  “For me, too.”

  

  Tyann tried to filter out the conversations and listen to various people talk at the Thanksgiving dinner table.

  “So, Tyann, where’re you headed in your nursing career?” Granddad Haroldson asked her from across the table.

  Everyone quieted down to hear her.

  “This coming summer, before my senior year, I’m part of a group getting lots of hands-on in the hospital setting at Iowa Med. I’ve been doing Ride Alongs on Air Corp Emergency Transports; want to do trauma training so I can be a Flight Nurse on the helicopter flights. So it’s my roundabout way of saying, I’ll be trauma, critical care nursing, somewhere, someday.”

  “After I got into the Ride Alongs, I let Tyann know about them. We actually met in the Emergency Room, Saturday mornings, she’s done 8-10 as a volunteer; I was follow on 10-noon. That’s been for several years now,” Jacob smiled as he nodded to Tyann.

  “So you two’ve been in deep, in the medical work, basically since you got into your programs,” Jacob’s Grandma Merchand spoke up.

  Both Jacob and Tyann nodded to her.

  “Jacob’s mom and I’ll keep you all informed about the progress of our two medical folks,” Jim Haroldson said.

  Tyann heard murmurs of “Yes, please, we want to know,” from several family members.

  Early the next morning Jacob and Tyann said their goodbyes before she headed out. They drank the hot coffee from the thermos and ate the breakfast rolls Julie set out for them the night before.

  “Somehow, somewhere, at Iowa Med we’ll see each other again. You’re in my thoughts and prayers, Tyann.”

  “As you are in mine, so much ahead of you, Jacob, good luck and God speed. I’d like to see myself out. I have a real hard time with my emotions when I have to walk away from a loving situation as we have. Please go back to bed and not watch me go.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Tyann nodded up to him as they hugged at the front door of the farm house. He kissed her on the top of her head.

  “Hold her smile, in your mind and heart,” Jacob told himself as he closed the door behind him. He bounded up the steps two at a time. He felt a huge lump in his throat and his eyes misted again as he lay down.

  3

  Tyann got up and made coffee for her folks. She looked at the kitchen clock to remind her of how long she had left at home. Then her mind rested on Jacob, and the time she spent with him and his family. She remembered, as she gave him her last smile, she saw tears in his eyes. That brought a teary mist to her eyes just now.

  “I really miss him, and I think he was sad to see me go. We just got so much ahead of us,” she shook her head.

  She took the last load of her clothes out of the dryer and added them to her bag. The way she planned it she would have just a half hour with her folks before she would need to drive back to Iowa City. Her parents arrived home at the planned time.

  They sat together at the kitchen table as Tyann talked of her visit with the Haroldson family. Tyrone thanked her for watching over the shop.

  “I’m just so much more confident with you in charge.”

  Tyann smiled to him, “You gotta be finding someone else to be confident in.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Dad, please, when I come home for Christmas, I want you to have news for me. I’ve given you my thoughts about who’d be good to replace me.”

  “You have, and I’m thankful for that, at this Thanksgiving time. Hey, your mom, Mandy, and I missed you, our first Thanksgiving apart.”

  She looked from parent to parent.

  “And I missed you both; you’re looking the most rested I’ve seen you in a very long time.”

  Annie spoke up, “Oh Tyann, our little time away, it renewed us.”

  

  “Conner’s coming over, this Christmas afternoon. I said it was OK; what are the plans?”

  “We’re taking wreaths to the graves, then snacks, after our big Christmas meal, and play games. Conner c’n join us in some poker, or other games you decide,” Annie spoke up to Tyann. “That boy is always welcome here; been coming over with big brother since he was knee high.”

  The family headed out to the graveyard after Christmas dinner. Tyann insisted on doing the cleanup so they could go. She knew Conner would be along soon.

  She put a Christmas CD on the player and then heard the doorbell ring.

  “Merry Christmas, Conner.”

  “And Merry Christmas to you, Tyann.”

  They hugged and Conner pulled off his boots. As they stepped away from each other at the front door, Tyann looked up and up at him.

  “Yeah, I’ve grown taller and put on some weight.”

  “Plus your hair’s short; you do look so different, Conner, not sure I’d a recognized you, like passing you on the street.”

  “Guess I’m getting prepped up for the large animals, Tyann we gotta talk, tell you what’s going on.”

  She took his winter jacket and laid it over a chair.

  “Hot chocolate?”

  “Sounds super, hey where’s your family?”

  “Out at the grandparents’ graves, with the wreaths they always take on Christmas afternoon. I gotta get to Brody’s grave, in the next day or so.”

  They sat close to each other at the kitchen island after she brought the steaming cups of hot chocolate and set them on the island in front of them.

  “Tyann, I’ve done it, I’m graduating in the spring.”

  Conner watched her mouth drop and her eyes widen, “What, in just three years?”

  “Yup, worked my hind end off, but I’ve done it.”

  “Apps in to vet schools?”

  “Right, here at Ames, Auburn, and Cornell, Cornell’s a long shot; all the programs are good.”

  “Wow, so you’ll be off, working the DVM training, and me, just a snotty-nosed senior, doin’ my internship.”


  “Necessary steps, Tyann, but yeah, we’ve not gotten to see each other much.”

  “Yeah, much going on and we each had someone else come into our lives.”

  “It’s over, with the girl. I really liked her, but I had to let her go.”

  “That’s what Jacob and I decided, even though he’s at Iowa Med for his internship, so demanding of his time.”

  “Uh huh, and I know you, every minute of every day, you’re occupied.”

  Tyann nodded to him.

  “But now on this Christmas afternoon, I’m free. We could go for a walk along the trail by your place. Uh, what’cha want to do?”

  “Let’s talk about our programs; I’ve got the three I’m looking at.” He shook his head, “don’t know which one might want me.”

  “And I, I really want to do my internship at St. Augustine’s.”

  “It’s a smaller hospital?”

  “Right, it’s nearby; I’d get to do a lot more hands on, since it takes fewer interns during the spring semester. They’ve got cardiac, birth care, orthopedics, and cancer.”

  “Wow, four units, what about surgery?”

  “Uh, general surgery, nope, I won’t get that, but I’ll see surgery through the four units I’d do.”

  “You’ll hear?”

  “Middle of next fall semester when hospitals make their decisions for spring semester, for who they want to bring on board, for internships.”

  “And I’ll know,” he paused, “different dates for the acceptance letters for the different DVM programs.”

  Conner noticed her smile grow wider and wider and her eyes sparkle.

  “I’m so excited for you, Conner, I am.”

  He heard the lilt in her voice, and she kept turned to him. He touched her cheek and kissed her, a deep and caressing kiss. She returned his kiss and their tongues teased, touching again and again. She felt the deep burn rise from her groin and move up, and up, way to her throat. They moved their lips away from each other.

  “Oh my,” Conner shook his head, his velvety eyes wide with desire.

  “Oh, my, is right,” Tyann looked into his eyes.

  “Time, this is what time’s done, starting to make us aware of what’s going on with us.”

  He took her hand and held his own over hers.

  “We’ve cared for each other, I, I,” Conner shook his head, not able to express what he wanted to say to her.

  Tyann took a deep breath and plunged on, “I think all our lives, but this is what adult caring feels like.”

  “It’s shocking, the intensity of desire I feel for you,” Conner spoke in a soft voice.

  She watched his eyes, the dark blue turning almost black.

  “For sure, I’ve never had these kinds of feelings, so strong, before, and with you, someone I’ve known since our young days.”

  Conner pushed his chair a little ways from her as she sat in her chair.

  He looked directly into her eyes, “One day, someday, Tyann, you will be the sun of all my mornings, and the fire of all my nights.”

  She felt hot tears burst from her eyes as she trembled at what he told her. She heard his tone; he meant it.

  Just then the sounds of the returning family rang in their ears.

  “Hey Conner, we saw your wheels, welcome, and Merry Christmas,” Tyrone said as he approached them. Conner stood and shook hands with her dad. Annie and Mandy came and got hugs from him.

  “So, which school for you?” Annie asked as they gathered around Conner.

  “Whichever DVM program will take me; it would be nice to have a choice. I’ve been to the other two campuses. Uh, I applied here at ISU. The other two schools are Auburn and Cornell.”

  “We wish you good luck and hope you’ll return to your old homestead once in a while; stop by here and keep us up to date. We don’t see a lot of your mom and dad anymore,” Annie shook her head as she said that.

  “So much’s changed, in their lives with both sons gone. I, I don’t get home much, ‘cause I work a lot at a vet’s office in Ames during breaks and on Saturdays, well,” he paused, “I’ll be there until I start my program. Gosh I’ve learned so much from him.”

  Cami watched his wide smile go round to each of them.

  “Just like Tyann’s observed so much, volunteering her time in the Iowa Med Center ER,” Tyrone turned his gaze on his daughter, “learning,” he paused, “a bunch.”

  She felt a soft warm glow wrap around her at her dad’s compliment.

  “Play games later, and you’ll stay for a supper of leftover Christmas, that is, if you’ve got the time.”

  “Thanks, Annie, yeah, I don’t need to be home until later in the evening. Tyann and I’re gonna go for a walk in the snow along the trail at our place. We’ll be back.”

  “Take your time and enjoy each other; your times together, precious,” Tyrone gazed first at his daughter and then to Conner. He nodded to them.

  

  “So beautiful out here, snow blanketing the ground, just enough to still make walking easy.”

  They started along the trail Brody and Conner established on the Mulrenan land when they were in Scouts. They reached the trees near where the almost frozen brook meandered along. Conner stopped her. She heard the gurgling sound of the water. They turned to each other.

  “I’ll need to get an apartment, a studio will do, when I find out where I’m headed. What about you, Tyann?”

  “In the dorm for fall; in the spring I’m so hoping I’ll be at St. A’s, such a cool setup there. Years past, the hospital had a nursing program, fairly good sized; catholic hospitals, especially, did a lot of nurse training. My point, the hospital still rents out rooms in what once was a rooming house for nurses in training. It’s right next door to the hospital. As a nursing intern I’ll be eligible for one of those rooms. So I’d step out of my room and into the hospital, that close. I’ll go from a dorm to a rooming house. I’d take my meals at the hospital. They say the food’s good there and not expensive. That’s my thought for my plan for next year.”

  “We need to start back; it’s cooling off, your plan, you’ve thought this through.”

  “And I’m starting to get hungry.”

  “Me, too.”

  They laughed together as they remembered the old days where snacks and drinks consumed their thoughts. The Mulrenan’s and the Hulfitz’s always had cookies, crackers and drinks available, except close to dinnertime.

  “Debt, it’s gonna be incredible, Tyann, I’ll be paying back my vet school loans for at least 10 years after I’m done. Pops and momma can’t help me with that, and I don’t expect them to ‘cause they paid for undergrad.”

  She hugged him.

  “Yeah, I know that’s gonna be rough. I don’t have that much I have to pay back. I scrimped and saved, worked as much as I could at work study, and my IU scholarship, wow, that’s so great, pays my tuition, every semester I make grades, which I’ve always done. And my folks, they helped me too, so did my grandparents.”

  “What’s your dad gonna do about the farm supply?”

  “Hang in there; it’s all he’s known. He’s bought out his silent partner. It’s all his now. What about your farm, the corn?”

  “Pops’ll work it for at least 10 more years and then sell. Uncle Michael’s agreed and is starting to divest of some of his properties in other states; he’s aging quickly. His dream’s pretty fulfilled. Brody helped make that decision.”

  “Any chance you’ll return to the corn?”

  “None, except maybe as a large animal vet, in a rural area.”

  “I want a new life in another part of the country. A lot will depend on my schooling.”

  

  After an early supper the five of them played poker.

  “Like in the old days at the Sletery’s,” Conner chuckled.

  “Except we have German beer instead of Irish whiskey.

  Later in the evening Conner and Tyann sat on the floor in front of the glowing fire
.

  “It’d be great to get back to calling each other. I was bad about that.”

  “Me, too. But now, the e-mail system is campus wide at IU.”

  “Same at ISU, yeah, we need to start e-mailing each other. It’s a nice way to stay in touch.”

  They kissed, a slow, tongue-teasing kiss that ignited Tyann’s groin. They moved apart in slow fashion. He touched his hand to her cheek.

  “I’m on fire for you, Tyann.”

  She let out a deep breath and nodded, looking into his eyes, “Same.”

  He helped her up and they went to the front door to put on boots. Tyann pulled on her boots and put on her winter coat as he did. Outside they moved together along the sidewalk to the county road.

  “Let’s walk for a little.”

  They held hands and looked up into the overcast sky.

  “No stars to see.”

  “Hidden.”

  “But they’re up there.”

  He stopped her.

  “Time.”

  “Right, time will help us decide. I love you, Tyann.”

  “And I love you, Conner.”

  He picked her up and swung her around.

  As he set her down, he kissed her on the top of her head.

  “I pray 1993’ll be a good year for you.”

  “I pray that for you also.”

  

  “I’m in finals, got two the day you graduate, so I won’t get to come to your ceremony. I’m so sorry, Conner, ‘cause I was so looking forward to seeing you. Love, Tyann”

  His e-mail back to her came several days later.

  “I’m disappointed that you’ll not be at ceremony, ‘course I understand. But I got news. Think you know I’m accepted, here at ISU, and at Auburn, decided on Auburn, I know, not what you expected. Time for me to spread wings, to a different place, yeah, Auburn University is in Auburn, Alabama. That’s a haul from here, but I’m excited. I’ll be working here for the vet I’ve been with the last four years, that’ll be until a month before vet school starts. He wrote me the most outstanding reference letter, which I’ll save for you to read one day. I’m trying for a chance with vets in practice around the Auburn area, to keep doing what I’ve done with my DVM in Ames. We’ll see. Good luck with your critical care unit this summer. It’ll help you decide, is trauma what you really want? Love, Conner”