Kay Lyttleton

“ Jean patted Jack’s shoulder. “You’re learning young that no man is indispensable to his business.”
He looked up at her. “Huh?” he said.
They all laughed. “Jean means that business has to go on no matter what happens,” Mrs. Craig said, smiling. “And it usually does. Billy Ellis and Buzzy Hancock were over this morning. They want to see you as soon as you can have company.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jack said. “They wrote me. Jeepers, what a swell gang they are! Those dumb letters! They made me laugh till I hurt!”
Ted Loring brought in a wheel chair. ”

“ Mr. Craig’s first impulse was to chuckle. But he stopped himself and said seriously, “I’m quite glad that you’re so fond of Doris, son. You see, she’s a great one for hiding her light under a barrel. Someone near her own age can make her see how foolish some of her fears are better than her parents can.”
Bert nodded solemnly.
“But as for you,” Mr. Craig said. “I would say that you have pretty normal feelings for a boy your age. After all, a seventeen-year-old boy is getting to be pretty grown up. Naturally he finds some girls attractive.”
“I’m almost eighteen, Mr. Craig,” Bert said. ”

“ Dr. Daley, the clinic internist, was waiting for the judge when he arrived. The doctor was a comparatively young man, and he fervently hoped that he would find Judge Ellis in good shape. He knew what a chore it would be to try to convince the eminent citizen of Elmhurst to take any sort of treatment.
Dr. Daley’s heart sank as he saw the older man’s sagging waistline. But he smiled cheerfully and invited the patient into his office.
“This stuff and nonsense,” Judge Ellis snorted, “is a complete waste of time, young man.” He glowered at the doctor. “Why aren’t you taking care of sick people? ”

“ You know, I’ve never hired forestry help before, and it may take a little time to find the right men for the job. Then, believe me! I’m coming straight back to Elmhurst!
Jeannie, my darling, I worry so about you! The epidemic in Elmhurst makes me almost panicky when I think of you in the midst of it. Please try to get all the rest you can. Keep your chin up. The summer may be bad for you now, but I’ll try to make it wonderful for you when I get back. Give my love to the family. I love you!
All my love,
Ralph
Jean slipped the letter into the pocket of her apron and smiled. ”

“ It would be a shame to let your talent go to waste.”
Doris hesitated. Then she said, “But Mother, I don’t want to go away! I’m not like Jean and Kit. I’d just like to stay right here in Elmhurst forever and ever. I like it at home.”
Mrs. Craig tapped the steering wheel with her fingers. “Doris, I want you to enter that contest. Why shouldn’t you have the right to go away to school? We were able to send Jean to New York for a year of Art School,” she said, referring to Jean’s experiences which are recounted in Jean Craig in New York. “Then Kit won herself the chance to go to Hope College. ”

“ Tommy agreed. “I’m gonna get the gang together next time he comes for dinner. We’ll have a peachy time.”
They could hear Bert tuning his violin in the hall.
“Tommy,” Mr. Craig said, “isn’t Bert a little old for your gang?” He glanced over at Doris. “I have a hunch that next time he comes to dinner, he might be calling on someone else.”
Bert came back into the parlor and handed Doris some sheet music. “This isn’t exactly fair. You have to do all the sight reading. I know it by heart.”
Doris sat down at the piano. “I don’t mind,” she said. “Oh good! Scarlatti! Why, I know this sonata!” ”

“ Frank was waiting for Kit when she came downstairs to the lobby. She introduced him to Professor and Mrs. Wilson, the chaperons, and then they headed out into the spring night.
Kit sighed happily at the light of the city around them. “I like this,” she said simply. “I have a feeling that this trip is going to be wonderful. Every minute of it.”
“You sound as if you had some doubts before,” Frank said.
Kit told him about her two roommates and the generous gesture Bernice had made. “It just goes to prove,” she said, “that you can’t judge people beforehand. ”

“ Bert asked.
Doris smiled shyly. “Well, not exactly about trying out. But I was mixed up about whether or not I wanted to leave home, even. I don’t seem to have the spunk that Jean and Kit have. They always go out chasing things. I always kind of liked it at home.”
Bert was a born leader. It was hard for him to understand the fears and doubts which plague the shy personality. But he had learned how real these fears and doubts can be when he had worked with younger and shyer boys at Mercyville. ”

“ Eileen ... my good friend, Eileen ... has become a witch who haunts me at night. She’s going to be on the examining board. And so are all the doctors! I get all nervous when I think that Ted or Dr. Daley or especially wonderful Dr. Barsch can up and flunk me without a second thought if I don’t pass my exam.”
Gerald laughed. “Then I’m your friend of the hour. I won’t be on the board. I’m just an intern. Now, let’s see. What’s troubling you so?” He turned to the front of the book. Then he closed it. “Let’s start at the beginning. In the first place, did you ever run a switchboard?”
Jean nodded. ”

“ Ted nodded. “You don’t know what this means to me, Mr. Craig,” he said warmly. “You and Mrs. Craig have been like a second father and mother to Ethel, and this gesture just about completes the picture.”
Mr. Craig nodded. “Fine girl,” he mused. “I can’t remember knowing any finer girl, as a matter of fact. Well, I guess all young people have to listen to some old man recount the blessings and pitfalls of marriage sooner or later. Your mother is still living, isn’t she, Ted?”
“Yes, sir. She will be here next month for the wedding. She and Ethel have been corresponding for several months, now. ”

“ Dr. Barsch frowned. “If polio were all we were concerned with, it wouldn’t be quite so bad. It seems we’re having another epidemic, too.”
“Virus pneumonia,” Jean added. “Three new ones today.”
Kit stared at her. “But I thought you got pneumonia in the winter ... or spring, at the latest.”
Dr. Barsch shook his head. “Not this brand. It can come any time.”
Kit looked at the doctor. “Well, put me to work. Anything I’m capable of doing, just let me know.”
The doctor smiled and patted her hand. “It takes misfortune to discover how fine people can be,” he said absently. ”

“ For instance, I visit one right outside of town on my visiting nurse days. It’s called Mercyville. The children there seem well adjusted and happy. A great many things, including orphanages, have changed since your day!”
Dr. Benson bit his lip. “Maybe,” he said. “But I’m not sold on the idea. I’d take him, myself. But how can a bachelor raise a kid? And on the salary I get here? He’s a good boy, Jean! But he’s never had a break in his life. Gee, by comparison, I was raised royally. And now to get shoved into an orphanage would be too much!”
Jean looked closely at the young doctor. ”

“ Timmy demanded.
Dr. Benson chuckled. “Democracy is being well in spirit. Just as healthy is being well in body, I guess you could say. You haven’t had a very good start. When people are poor and forced into slums, they get sick and scared, and sometimes all sort of crazy. Their bodies are diseased and twisted because they don’t have enough to eat, or warm clothes or fresh air. And sometimes their minds are diseased and twisted with this fear and craziness. So pretty soon they turn on each other and start to hate each other. The first thing they do is hate people who look different. ”

“ Frank said. “Many people think that the tensions which exist between the North and the South today are as strong as those in Lincoln’s day. But no one except downright crackpots would ever suggest going through another Civil War. We talk about our grievances. We don’t shoot about them.”
“That’s right,” Kit agreed.
Frank grinned sheepishly. “I know I’m an idealist,” he said. “But I’ve a hunch that before too long man is going to wake up! Someday he’s going to realize that to ally himself with greed, bad temper and bad will towards other men is to sign a pact with our natural enemies. ”

“ Things are different with everyone now. I’ve got my girl, and I’ve made good friends with the doctors at the clinic. You know, I graduate, myself, pretty soon.”
“That’s right,” Jean said. “Your internship is almost over.”
Gerald fought back a lump in his throat. “But the thing that gets me is that they want me to stay on. Dr. Barsch, Ted Loring ... Daley, Jenkins ... all of them. Jean, you know, this is the first time in my life I realize that people like me just because of myself.” ”

“ Jean shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “He wouldn’t give his name or address or what he was doing in town, or anything. He just swore at us.”
“Jeepers!” Jack exclaimed. “How do you like that!”
“We think he caught a freight train into town from the south. He did say he was going to Boston.” She sighed. “His parents must be worried to death.”
Jack looked thoughtful. “Polio catching?” he asked finally.
Jean shook her head. “No one knows. Why?”
“Oh, just wondered. This kid ... you think he was riding a freight? I mean, he looked sorta ... poor?”
Jean nodded. ”

“ And, of course, one of the first projects Israel, as a new country, undertook was the establishing of fine papers.
“But we must have more wood pulp! As long as each of these countries, large and small, can have their papers, this world is comparatively safe. These papers can carry news ... facts of the world ... right to the doors of all the people in the world. Then, the people themselves can decide what is good and what is bad in this world.”
Jean sighed. ”

“ There’s always the danger of a patient choking to death.”
“Then the child will be conscious?” Jean asked. “He’ll know what’s going on? I know we’ve used that frequently for adults, but won’t it be difficult with a child?”
Ted laughed. “He won’t know much. We already have him so groggy with sedatives that he doesn’t know what’s going on.”
Dr. Barsch frowned impatiently. “What’s keeping them? Every minute we lose gives us less of a chance.”
As he spoke, the small patient was wheeled into the operating room. Jean’s heart went out to the tiny, white figure lying on the table. ”

“ Jean held up her hand. “Adults, children and expectant mothers.”
Eileen nodded. “Very good. Any more?”
Sally raised her hand. “Sick people have to have lots of different diets, depending on what’s the matter with them. And an office worker needs different food from the food needed by a laborer.”
Eileen hesitated. “You’re right about the first category, but don’t forget that all people need the same basic foods, no matter what they do.”
“All except Dr. Benson,” Lucy muttered under her breath. “He eats people. He’s a wolf!”
Eileen caught part of Lucy’s remark and blushed fiery red. ”

“ Kit protested. “Here it is August, and Frank has to go back home, and I have to go back to school, and it’s almost time for Jean’s wedding ... and, oh, Mother!” she threw herself into her mother’s arms. “Why does she have to go so far away!”
“Never mind, dear,” Mrs. Craig said.
Doris looked at the mess in the parlor and shook her head. “How’re we going to get everything in?”
Kit shrugged. “We always do,” she said philosophically. “Come on. Let’s get to work.”
As they packed, Mrs. Craig jotted down the errands which must be done in the remaining two months before the wedding. ”

“ The music started again, and Ralph set down his cup. “May I borrow your fiancee for a dance, doctor?”
Gerald smiled and nodded. “Take care of her. She’s all I have.” He held out his arms to Jean and whisked her away.
“Happy?” he asked her.
“Oh, yes!” she cried. “I can’t really believe that we’re actually going to be married!”
Gerald smiled wistfully. “He’s a very nice fellow,” he said. “Even now I have a little twinge of conscience when I think about trying to cut in on him.” [208] He laughed. “Guys like me are always the worst. If anyone tried to date Eileen, now, I’d really be sore.” ”

“ Each day after lunch, the students were assigned to special duties for the day, and Jean wanted to check on her assignment. She frowned as she saw her name opposite that of Dr. Benson. Then she grinned sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders. As long as he was on duty, Dr. Benson would be professional and mannerly. Jean determined that she would be as pleasant as she could be to the young man.
Dr. Benson was making routine checks in the contagious ward when Jean found him. He seemed very grave as he examined his patients. ”

“ He laughed. “No girl of mine is going around flunking industrious young students, either. You might remember that!”
Gerald was true to his word. Every day until exam day he drilled Jean in the intricacies of the nervous system. And when she went in to face the examining board, she felt more confident than she ever believed she would feel.
Dr. Barsch headed the board. Dr. Daley, Dr. Jenkins, Ted and Eileen asked the questions, but Jean was sure enough of herself to enjoy the ordeal. As the exam went on, the doctors and Eileen became more relaxed. ”

“ Dr. Benson pounded his fist into his hand. “That’s right,” he muttered. “Makes me feel like a heel!”
“Oh, no!” Jean cried, “he didn’t mean to! Dr. Barsch is a very considerate man!”
Dr. Benson shrugged and turned away. “I can’t figure out this deal at all. People just aren’t as considerate as everyone here seems to be. I know. I’ve been around.”
“You sound so tough,” Jean giggled.
[70] “Well, I found out a long time ago there’s only one thing that really is interested in you ... as long as you have it. And that’s the dollar. People? Huh, they’re interested in you when you’ve got it. ”