“You’re a good man, Mark. It’s one of the reasons I love you. Now, tell me what you will need in this new hospital, and I’ll see what I can come up with.”
CHAPTER 17
September 20
We had spent the last three days looking at empty houses in Moose Creek. There was always something that didn’t work, and I was starting to feel discouraged.
“Maybe we should stick to the main road, Allex,” Mark suggested with a trace of disappointment in his voice.
“Good idea and most of them are, or were, businesses.” I frowned. “Wait a minute; I think we’re overlooking the obvious. Park at the clinic.”
I led Mark to the large house next door to the clinic. It was a two-story wooden structure with a wide covered porch that was once a clothing boutique. The main floor had a large open room, just past the enclosed foyer. Behind what was once the sales floor were two rooms that may have been a fitting room or office space. A bathroom in between the two rooms serviced the building. The north end of the main room opened to a tiny and functional kitchen, and a staircase that led upstairs took up a corner, opposite the woodstove.
Mark looked into all the rooms, and then returned to the main area. He turned slowly in a complete circle and looked up.
“Allex, I think this is perfect. Or could be perfect with some minor alterations,” he said.
He draped his arm around my shoulders and turned me as he described the vision he was seeing in his head.
“The foyer is fine. All it needs are be a couple of chairs and a desk. In this open area, picture four, maybe six twin beds, much like a hospital ward. If we can devise curtains or a screen of some sort, that would be great, though not really necessary. The back two rooms could be used as a surgery and an office. A functioning kitchen is helpful to feed whatever patients there may be. And upstairs would be private space for us. When there are patients we would need to stay overnight.” The more he talked the more enthused he became.
“Are you sure we need all this?”
“There are ten of us in our extended family, Allex, and another twenty at Mathers Lake. Eventually, yes, we might need a four to six bed facility. The fact that it’s right next to the clinic means I don’t have to move any equipment.” He searched my face. “I really want this.”
“Then let’s get Jason over here and see what he thinks. First we need to write a note to Collins and get it over to the gate.”
“Mr. Collins,” I typed while Mark dictated, “we have made the decision to expand my clinic capabilities by opening a field hospital next door to it. I will be offering my medical services to anyone in need. That includes all those who live at Mathers Lake under your protection.
“We had hoped to establish a cordial, if not friendly, relationship with your community, though our initial contact indicates that will be not impossible, but difficult. Perhaps that will improve with time.
“The new facilities will be closed, locked, and unmanned until needed. There will also be no drugs stored on the premises. When the facility is in use, it will be guarded by an armed force.
“If I’m needed, please send either Lenny or Pete. Anyone else that shows up at our home will be considered hostile and dealt with accordingly.”
“I think that’s really good, Mark. It’s an offering, without letting on we know about the pregnant women. That might get Lenny in trouble, and it sets a few rules. I like it! And I suggest we send Eric and Rayn to deliver it.”
“Why not us?”
“Collins knows a message is coming,” I said. “I don’t want to walk into a trap. He will think twice about trying to kidnap two armed messengers. Besides, he wants us not them.”
“Agreed. I sure wish I could have made a direct offer of prenatal care though,” Mark said wistfully. “Although that would have given away that Lenny gave us information. I hope he’s not such an egomaniac that he would jeopardize those unborn babies.”
~~~
“Did you have any problems with the drop, Eric?” I asked when he and Rayn returned.
“None whatsoever, Mom. It sure is nice to work with someone who knows what they’re doing.” He grinned. “While I kept the truck and the guard shack door covered, Rayn went in and cleared the room. She left the envelope on the desk, and we backed out together.”
“Excellent. On Monday I’d like the two of you to check to see if we have a response.”
CHAPTER 18
September 22
While Emilee, Jacob, and Karen, stayed with Joshua on the pretense of caring for the animals, the rest of us went into Moose Creek to check over the house that Mark wanted as a hospital.
“The plumbing is old, but it looks fine and I can’t see any leaks,” Jason announced after climbing out from the crawlspace.
“What about the wiring?” I asked.
“Impossible to tell without ripping walls down, though I found a circuit panel instead of a fuse box, which is a good sign. Perhaps it was upgraded when the previous business came in,” he ventured.
“So what’s our next step here? I’m sure Mark wants to get this operational as quickly as possible,” I commented.
“If there’s one thing I learned in the ER down in Saginaw, it’s to expect the unexpected and to never depend on having time ‘tomorrow’ to get ready for something today. So yes, what can we do to get started?” Mark said.
“Fortunately the place is absolutely empty. We can start cleaning while you guys hunt down furniture. I’m sure there is an abundance of beds in this empty town. In fact, ” I hesitated only a moment before continuing, “The house on Eagle Beach has all new beds, most of them singles, and there should be at least a dozen of them.
“Amanda, you and I can start sweeping and mopping, and then washing walls and windows while they’re gone. Once we get everything washed down, including the bathrooms and kitchen, we can go through some of the houses nearby for sheets and blankets.” I instantly had a vision of collecting floral sheets as funeral shrouds for all those people that had died in the ash fall a couple of months ago, and gave an involuntary shudder.
“You okay, Mom?” Amanda asked.
“I’m fine, dear, just a distant memory, that’s all.”
~~~
Four hours later, the guys returned with six twin bed frames and three box springs.
“Once we get the frames reassembled and set in place, we’ll go back for the rest.” Mark was beaming. “That place is a treasure trove, Allex. There are sheets and blankets still in the closets, and towels in the bathrooms. Do you want us to take those too?”
“That would be great and would save us some time. All of it will have to be washed anyway, so no need to box it carefully. On second thought, Mark, leave the linens. Amanda and I will go back for those. You four will have a full truck as it is.”
~~~
I took a moment to watch the wave action on Lake Superior. The water lapped gently at the shoreline, leaving a gray film of wet ash mixed with seaweed and sand. Still, it was peaceful and reminded me of better times, but something was missing. Then it dawned on me: there were no seagulls; no birds of any kind, and it saddened me.
I crossed the threshold into the Eagle Beach house; the house where John and his co-workers had lived. The house where I had spent many hours giving John a weekly massage; the house where I fell in love with him. I felt my heart twist into a tight knot, and I acknowledged to myself that I still loved him, different than what I feel for Mark, but the feelings were still there. I let out an involuntary sob, and felt Amanda’s hand on my shoulder.
“Dr. Mark is a good man, Mom. You did the right thing, you know.” How did she know the turmoil I was feeling?
“Yes, I know,” I whispered. I took a deep breath, and I swear I could smell John’s presence. “Let’s get this over with.”
We piled twelve sets of sheets on the large wooden dining room table, and then all the pillowcases that were in the closets. Next were as many blankets as we could find. We emptied the oth
er closets of bath towels, washcloths and kitchen towels, plus laundry soap, dish soap and even hand soap.
“It’s going to take forever to wash all this!” Amanda exclaimed.
“We’ll take it to the Laundromat at Fram’s and be done in no time,” I replied as we stuffed all of it into the back of my car.
~~~
“So who is up for a little B & E?” I asked, and all four men stopped what they were doing to stare at me. “We have to get into the Laundromat.”
Ken let out a chuckle and said, “I can help with that.”
“Now don’t tell the guys how easy this was,” Ken said, producing a ring of keys and letting us in the front door. “As the Moose Creek law, I have keys to all the businesses.”
“Your secret is safe with us, Ken. Can you jimmy the coin boxes on the machines? We can keep feeding the coins back in that way without much damage. We’ll need to have all the machines going and I don’t have that much change.”
“No problem, and I’m sure Joe would understand.” He popped the front cover off all the washers and dryers, revealing a multitude of quarters for our use. Then he slipped the key off his ring and handed it to me. “Lock up when you’re done.”
Amanda and I loaded half of the blankets into the triple washers and the sheets and pillowcases into the regular washers. The rest of the blankets and the towels would have to wait until tomorrow. It was getting late and everyone was tired.
~~~
“This looks great, Mark.” Four of the beds were lined up in two rows, box springs and mattresses in place. “Where did you get the desk and chairs for the foyer?”
“We thought it appropriate to use furniture from the township offices, Mom,” Jason answered. “There’s one in the smaller back room, too. We also took one of the file cabinets. Don’t worry though, we placed all of the files in a couple of boxes.”
I wandered from the front to the back and between the beds. “Didn’t you bring back six beds? Where are the other two?”
“We took them upstairs for when we need to stay overnight. These four fit perfectly,” Mark said.
“This is shaping up faster than I thought it would,” I said.
“Yes,” Mark replied. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? Now all we need now are curtains between the beds.”
“We have an idea for that.” Jason and Eric both grinned.
September 23
Amanda and I went back into town to the Laundromat to finish drying and folding the first load of sheets while the last load was washing.
“Where are we going to store all of this?” Amanda asked as we brought in stacks of neatly folded sheets, blankets, and towels.
“I’m not sure. For now we will leave them sitting on the bed here. It will be a reminder that we need to have Jason or Eric build some shelves.”
“What about a couple of dressers? There’s got to be some around somewhere.”
“Great idea; that would solve the problem without additional work on their part,” I concluded. “I think you and I are capable of finding the dressers, even if we can’t move them without a truck. Speaking of which, I saw the guys leave this morning in the truck, do you know where they went?”
“Um, y-yeah, I thought you knew they were going into M-Marquette,” she stammered.
“What? No, I didn’t know! What are they doing? They know we’ve been restricted from drawing attention by spending more money.” I was now concerned for my son’s safety.
“I think they had permission from the colonel. Rayn and Ansell came out together, and Jason, Eric, and Rayn went back into town for some supplies to build the privacy curtains for Dr. Mark.” She looked downcast. “I hope I haven’t gotten them into trouble.”
“No, I can’t expect them to check with me for every move they make. Between the three of them I’m sure they’ll be fine,” I said, thinking of Rayn’s military clearance.
“I wanted to tell you that Jason has been so much happier these past couple of days having something challenging to do. It gets boring, just sitting around,” she confessed. “I could tell he’s really excited about the plan they’ve come up with. He said you’re going to love it.”
~~~
When I got back home I asked Mark if he knew what my sons were up to.
“Not exactly, but Eric stopped in while you were in the shower this morning, and asked for some money. I figured it was fine since it was for construction of the hospital and I took it out of the pouch. Was that okay?”
“Of course it’s okay, that money is for all of us to use. I’m surprised you didn’t tell me, that’s all.”
Mark hugged me close, and all my doubts melted away. “I think those boys of yours love to surprise you and hope you’ll be pleased. I’m happy that they’ve taken such an active interest in fixing the hospital.”
CHAPTER 19
September 25
“Mark, while you guys hunt up a couple of dressers for the hospital, Amanda, Emi, Jacob, and I need to finish harvesting what little is left in the garden.”
“It doesn’t look like there’s much there, Allex.”
“That’s because what has survived is in the ground. There are still potatoes, beets, carrots, turnips, rutabagas, and onions. Those are the few things that weren’t affected by the ash. Although I’m not expecting a really good harvest because of the colder temperatures, there will be some. I highly doubt it’s going to get any warmer for them to grow more, so we might as well get them out.”
“You’re the gardener,” Mark said amiably. “So how many dressers do you think we will need?”
“I would say one for each bed. That way we can store extra sheets right there, and the patients will have a drawer for their stuff. That is, if you have patients.” I took his hands in mine. “I hope your expectations aren’t too high, Mark. In fact, wouldn’t it be great to not have patients?”
“Yes, it would, but I still can’t get those pregnant women out of my head. I want to be in the position to help them if they ask,” he responded.
~~~
“This is going to be fun, Nahna!”
“I sure think so too, Emi. Finding the food we planted months ago is thrilling to me.” I smiled at her. She’d grown another inch at least.
Jacob had the job of retrieving the various vegetables we dug up and putting them into the plastic wagon. I started with the potatoes, showing Emi how to spot where they might be and how to dig with the claw tool so as not to bruise them.
“Why is that important, Nahna?” she asked, wiping the dirt off a big spud and handing it to Jacob.
“The more bruised or damaged they are, the harder they are to store,” I answered. “However, any badly bruised ones we’ll eat right away by making French fries and potato chips!” That got Jacob’s attention, as I knew it would.
“Can we have French fries for dinner tonight?” he asked.
“I think that’s a great idea, Jacob.” Amanda was working quietly by herself digging carrots. She put the orange tubers in a basket after cutting the tops off and made a neat pile of the greens. At the end of each row, regardless of how few or how many greens there were, she tossed them over the fence into the chicken yard for them to eat. I was pleased how everyone had learned that we don’t waste anything.
“You might want to put on some gloves, Amanda,” I mentioned to her when she got ready to work on the row of beets. “Once you cut the greens they bleed red and will stain your hands.”
“It’s too bad we can’t use the stain somehow.”
I felt like slapping my hand to my head!
“We can! Oh, Amanda, I’m so glad you thought of that. I had completely forgotten,” I said. “Instead of giving those to the chickens, put them in a bucket. We’ll cut them up and cover them with hot water. In two days we will have deep red water that we can use to stain branches for making baskets!”
“Is there anything else that will give us a stain?” she asked with enthusiasm.
“Yes,” I answered, “the skins
off the onions will produce a pale yellow or tan coloring, but those have to be done as we use the onions, not now.”
Everyone seemed to work with a new zest and we were finished by early afternoon. We lined up our harvest in front of the barn. All the soil had been carefully brushed from each vegetable and then laid out on a tarp to dry, which was part of the curing process for all except the carrots. A gentle warm wind dried them quickly and we turned everything over to finish.
Once done, we carefully piled the potatoes into three-bushel baskets for storage in the cold pantry. The rutabagas and turnips filled another. I sighed inwardly with relief and satisfaction that we were able to harvest so much. It would make the coming winter much easier.
“What do we do with the onions?” Emi asked as she eyed the full basket.
“This is going to seem kind of silly, and it’s a trick I learned a long time ago, back when your dad and Uncle Jason were quite young. I’ll be right back.” I went into the house to find my stash of pantyhose.
“You’re right, that looks pretty silly,” Amanda agreed when I dropped a handful of onions down into one of the legs, and then attached a twist-tie. I added another handful of onions, and another twist-tie.
“Okay, Emi, Jacob, it’s your job to fill this with onions! When you’re done, we will hang this in the pantry. Whenever we need onions, we cut the bottom segment off. But,” I added, “we don’t throw away the nylon, we will put it in a bag or maybe another stocking. Then we can use all those pieces to stuff toys with, soft toys that will then be completely washable.”
The Journal: Crimson Skies: (The Journal Book 3) Page 12
