GI Brides (55 page)

But when they reached the hospital they found the patient in a most difficult mood.

“Powelton, I want you to go down to the city right away and find that lawyer of mine. I positively
will not
be put off
another hour.
I’ve simply
got
to see him. It’s very important, and you’ll be responsible for making me a lot worse if you don’t get hold of him at once. Do you understand? And don’t let them put you off by any of these stories they’ve been telling the nurse, that he is out of the city, because I’m sure he’s not, and I won’t stand for his treating me this way another day. Now that’s your job, Powelton, and I want you to start at once.”

The lad gave his cousin one despairing look and then quietly answered his mother. “Why yes, Mother, I’ll do the best I can. But I still think you are making a great mistake getting mixed up with a man like that. I don’t believe he is an honest man. He doesn’t sound like it to me.”

“Be still, Powelton, and do as you’re told. You’re not grown up enough to be a suitable judge of people, and anyway, this is my affair. Go!”

“Very well, Mother,” said Powelton, with so little of his usual disagreement that his mother stared at him in surprise. “Shall I report back here after my errand is done?”

“Why certainly! You may bring the lawyer back with you just as soon as possible.”

Without another word, and with only a sweeping glance toward Dale and Corliss, George turned and marched out of the hospital, and the two girls by Mrs. Huntley’s bed stood silently, with averted gaze, both understanding just how unpleasant this errand was going to be for the boy, for he had expressed his views about the lawyer more than once.

It was finally Corliss who broke the silence after George left. “Mamma, when are you coming back to the house? Aren’t they letting you get up pretty soon? What has the doctor said?”

The mother looked at Corliss languidly. “The doctor? Oh, he never says anything. Just tells me I’m getting along as well as could be expected. I’ve told him again and again that I never shall get better until I have a room to myself, but he says that’s something they don’t expect to have in the hospital, not till the war is over. That’s ridiculous, of course. They’re just trying to get me to offer some enormous sum for a private room, but they’ve overstepped themselves. I shall not offer a single cent more until they actually move me to a good big room. That stuff about not having a room is ridiculous. A great big institution like this and no private room for a woman who is willing to pay for the best they have.”

“But, Mother, you’re mistaken. We know, for we’ve been all over the hospital, and every nook and cranny is filled with cots and patients, even the hallways. We came in the back door today, and we could hardly get by to the elevator.”

“That may be true about the common halls where the poor people are put, but you didn’t open the doors and look into all the private rooms, did you?”

“Why yes, Mother,” said Corliss eagerly. “Dale and I talked it over, and we thought we would just go around all the halls and see if we could discover a room that wasn’t occupied, so we did. You see, we thought perhaps somebody was being moved home or something, and we went all around and looked in all the rooms, for you see, this was the time when most of the doors are standing wide open, or if they are not we could ask a nurse. But Mother, there wasn’t a single one empty, and
all
of them had two beds and sometimes three in them. And there were three emergency cases this morning, accidents, and they don’t know where to put them. There isn’t another spot where they can put another bed, and I heard the head nurse say there was nothing else to do but to send a few cases home before they were supposed to go. That’s the reason I asked you whether the doctor had any idea of sending you home today.”

“Well, I certainly am not going to let them send me home until it’s time. I’m not going to be cheated out of my rights by some petty accident case. That certainly wouldn’t be fair. Besides, I haven’t any home to go to. I couldn’t, of course, go back out west when I am not about to take care of myself yet, could I? And I’ve no other place to go. I have been distinctly told by Dale that I’m no longer welcome in what she calls
her
house, so until I can get some sort of settlement about that house from my lawyer, I couldn’t leave here at present.”

“Oh, but Aunt Blanche,” said Dale earnestly, “you are mistaken. I did not
ask
you to leave. I told you I was going to have a school, and I was afraid it would not be comfortable for you with a lot of children in the house. But that is all changed now. I have given up the idea of having the school for the present. I have found another girl who has taken it over, and so we shall have plenty of room for you as long as it is convenient for you to stay, and we will, of course, do our best to take care of you and make you as comfortable as possible. And I have only been waiting until you were feeling a little better and able to make your plans to tell you this. My cousins and I have been getting on very pleasantly together, and I’m sure we have all been looking forward to your coming back to us as soon as you are able. There will be room for a nurse, too, as long as you need her. I thought maybe we should be inquiring about that, for they say nurses are very hard to get, and I know they have been terribly short on nurses here. Of course if worse come to worst, Corliss and I might be able to make you comfortable. I’m not exactly ignorant about nursing, for I’ve had a short course in it, and then I’ve had a good deal of experience taking care of Grandmother. But I suppose you will be a little happier if you can persuade one of the regular nurses here to be with you, at least for the first few days of your homecoming. Have you spoken to your nurse yet to see if that would be possible?”

“Spoken to her? No, certainly not. I wouldn’t have one of these nurses on any account. They are abominable. But of course you would be no better. I fancy that taking care of your grandmother was a very trifling matter compared with my case. And in any event, I shouldn’t think of troubling you. Not after what you said. I certainly could not be comfortable there, not after the way you have treated me and my children.”

“Mother! You mustn’t say that,” put in Corliss. “Dale has been perfectly wonderful to us all through this horrible experience. She has been just lovely. She’s played games with us and bought jigsaw puzzles for us, and we’ve had a grand time. If it hadn’t been for you being sick and us not knowing what was going to happen, we would really have had a lovely time. I like this place; I really do.”

“That will do, Corliss. Don’t go into hysterics about this. If you could enjoy yourself while I was suffering I suppose I ought to feel glad, but I can’t say I relish your attitude. And no, certainly I’m not coming to that house! As soon as the doctor comes, I will ask him if he can’t send us up to your Aunt Evelyn’s in Connecticut. We’ll take a nurse along, maybe two, for the journey. I’ll risk it, but I can get plenty of nurses when I get up, and I think I shall get up today. I’m not going to be kept down any longer!”

Corliss gave Dale a frightened look. What had she done by starting this subject? But perhaps the doctor would be able to straighten her mother out on a few things.

Then the nurse came in and announced that it was time for the patient to take a nap.

“But I’m expecting my lawyer,” snapped the patient. “I simply can’t take a nap till I get my business settled. After that I’m going away, and you can’t tell me anymore when to take a nap, for I’ll be my own mistress again.”

But the nurse went quietly about her duties, gave the patient her medicine, arranged the blanket, plumped up the pillows, and adjusted the screen around the bed. And in the meantime Dale and Corliss slipped away and went home.

V
ery solemnly the two girls walked along, not talking until they were some distance from the hospital. At last Corliss spoke. “Why do you suppose my mother acts like that, Dale? Is she sort of out of her head, do you think?”

Dale gave a troubled sigh. “No, I don’t think so, dear. I think she’s probably just hurt and worried with a lot of things. I’m afraid I hurt her by telling her about my school. I didn’t mean to, of course, but I just didn’t know how to plan, and I had promised the committee I would start the school.”

“Of course,” said Corliss. “And now you have given it all up just for us, and Mamma talked that way to you! I can’t bear to think
my mother
would be that way to you after you’ve been so nice and kind to us.”

“Well, don’t worry any more about it, dear. I guess I must have been to blame the way I spoke. I should have waited till she got ready to tell me what she was going to do, only I had to tell the ladies before they had their next meeting. I guess I didn’t tell the Lord about it and ask Him to look out for it. When I don’t do that, I usually get into trouble.”

Corliss looked at her in wonder. “Do you always talk to God about everything you do?” she asked.

“I should,” said Dale, “but sometimes I get going my own plans and forget that the Lord knows better what He wanted me to do. I’ll have to ask Him to straighten this out for me.”

“I suppose that would be a wonderful way to live,” said Corliss thoughtfully. “I always plan to do what
I
want and not bother about anything else. But I guess maybe that’s why I always get into so much trouble. I wonder if my mother knows how to live this way. Sometime maybe I’ll tell her about it, but I don’t know. It might only make her furious. She never likes me to know anything she doesn’t know.”

“Well, but we can pray for her, that God will show her. After all, that might be better than telling her about it now, though sometime God may show you a way to tell it. And now I’m wondering how George got along with his errand. I wonder if he got hold of the lawyer and persuaded him to come to your mother. If he didn’t, I’m afraid George will have a pretty bad time when he gets back. But never mind. We’ll pray about that, too.”

“Do you think my prayers would do any good?” asked Corliss after a minute of silence. “I’ve never been very good myself, and I’m sure God doesn’t think much of me.”

“Oh yes, God loves you. He wants you to take what He has done for you in dying on the cross and taking your sins on Himself, and if you’ll take Him as your Savior that means you are born again and are His child. Surely, pray, but first pray for yourself; tell Him that you are sorry for your sins and that you will accept Him as your Savior. Then when you are His child you can ask Him for other things. Now, here we are home, and probably lunch is ready. Shall we wait for George, or do you think he will get lunch in the city?”

“He won’t bother to wait for lunch. He’ll get back to the hospital and then come home. And perhaps Mother’ll be asleep when he gets there so he won’t have to wait. I think he’ll be here soon. But let’s sit down when Hattie is ready. I can save something for him if he doesn’t come in time.”

But George arrived soon after they had sat down. He was breathless from a rapid walk, and his eyes were troubled. “I didn’t go back to the hospital,” he said worriedly. “That lawyer is not to be found. They say he is gone up to Canada on business and won’t be back for several weeks. I don’t much believe it. I think he doesn’t want to talk with Mom anymore, and he just tells his secretary to say that. I even went to his apartment, but the housekeeper had the same tale, and they wouldn’t even give me his address. They said he was off for his health and couldn’t be bothered with business. So there! What was I to do? I knew if I went back to the hospital, I’d have all kinds of time with Mom, so I just telephoned the nurse and told her about it. Told her to ask Mom what I should do. But she said Mom was asleep and she shouldn’t wake her now, but she would tell her after she had her lunch and phone us if there was any message. I don’t know if I did the right thing or not, but I couldn’t help being glad that bum wasn’t there. I don’t trust him. I think he is putting it all over on Mom.”

“Yes,” said Dale. “He hasn’t a very good reputation. But perhaps your mother will forget about it this afternoon and there will be a little more time to work this out.”

“She says she is going to write Aunt Evelyn, George, and we are all going there as soon as she is able to get up.”

“Not
me
!” said George. “That’s an aunt I never want to see again if I can help it. She is worse than Mom about finding fault, and she thinks I’m the world’s worst. I simply won’t go there!”

“Well, don’t worry about that now, George. Wait till the time comes and maybe there’ll be a way to work it out,” said Dale.

“There sure will as far as I’m concerned,” said George.

“What if we go upstairs for an hour or so and see how we can fix up a nice room for your mother to come back to as soon as she is done at the hospital. Then we can tell her it’s all arranged, and maybe she will be pleased,” Dale suggested.

“Oh
yeah
?” said George unbelievingly. “I never saw her pleased yet at anything anybody did for her. But of course we can try it.”

“George, you ought not to be so hard on your mother,” said Dale, with a troubled look. “After all, she’s your mother, and she’s sick and suffering.”

“Okay, I know it,” said George penitently. “I guess I’m sort of a heel, but it certainly makes me mad the way she finds fault with everybody. That pretty little nurse at the hospital was almost in tears about her when I talked to her on the phone. But I guess I shouldn’t act this way, of course. Only nobody is going to make me go to Aunt Evelyn’s, not on your life they aren’t.”

“No,” said Corliss, “and I won’t go either. But we’ll have to wait till Mamma is better before we can say anything about that. Maybe she’ll be pleased after all if we fix up a room here, only it will be hard on Dale.”

“No,” said Dale, “I
want
her to come. I wouldn’t feel right if she didn’t, and perhaps if she comes we can make her have a nice time and get a better feeling between us all.”

George grinned. “Wishful thinking!” he commented, and then added, “Well, mebbe! I sure hope so.”