Vivid (4 page)

Vivid blinked. "So now my features
make me unsuitable?"

"For town doctor, yes," he said.

"Why do you believe a man would be
more suitable?"

"The weather, for one. Winters here
are hard. Ever try to pull a wagon and team out of a six-foot drift?''

Admittedly, Vivid had not. She shook her
head.

"Then there's the traveling
involved," he added. "The Grove's spread out over quite a few
miles."

"Surely there are maps—"

"More importantly, I'm not certain
how people will react, especially the men. You plan on treating them also, I
assume?"

"Yes, and I agree, some men may be
put off by me at first. I'm even willing to concede some won't let me near them.
However, I'm confident most will come to see me for what I am—a trained
and qualified physician."

Nate wondered if she was really that
naive. "Men are going to see you as trained and qualified for marriage, so
the sooner your husband arrives, the better it will be."

"I have no husband, Mr.
Grayson."

That statement seemed to increase his woes
because he removed his spectacles and rubbed his eyes as if he were very weary.
"No husband," he stated softly. "Good Lord."

"I take it you consider that to be a problem
as well?"

Silence.

He stood and looked out over the land,
then cast a glance at the gray sky. By his estimation, it would be storming
later and the sooner he headed back, the better. "Look, Miss
Lancaster—"

"Dr. Lancaster," she corrected.

"Dr. Lancaster," he repeated
with an apologetic inclination of his head. "It's going to storm later
today. I can't just leave you here, so I'm going to take you back to the Grove.
You can stay a few days and see for yourself why it isn't the place for a woman
to practice."

"Your aunt didn't think that would be
the case."

"Well, when you meet Abigail, you'll
understand. In her mind, women are capable of handling anything and
everything."

"Then she is an intelligent
woman."

"Sometimes."

Vivid said, "Well, since I've no
desire to reside in the Niles depot, I'll accept your invitation, Mr. Grayson,
but only if you give me a fair opportunity to try to alter your opinion."

"I very rarely change my mind,"
he told her truthfully.

Vivid looked him straight in the eye and
stated, "Then it's only right to warn you—I seldom take no for an
answer."

"Somehow I already knew that,"
he answered. "These your things?"

Vivid looked to where he indicated.
"Yes."

"All this?"

Vivid nodded.

She watched him run his gaze over her
possessions. She was about to explain that most of the crates held books and
medical supplies when he asked, "Where do you keep the tame animals?"

Vivid stared back, confused.

"There's enough stuff here for a
circus," he explained.

Vivid was insulted, but upon taking an
objective look at all the items she had stacked against the depot wall, she
realized she did resemble a traveling show. She smiled sheepishly. "The
animals arrive tomorrow."

He simply shook his head. "I have to
fetch the buggy. Wait here."

Vivid watched him walk away.

Moments later, he returned driving a small
horse-drawn buggy. He jumped down and walked across the tracks and gravel to
where she stood waiting on the edge of the platform.

"Are you ready?"

Tall as he was, he loomed over her like a
city building and she could only hope all Michigan men weren't as tall.
"Mr. Grayson, I don't believe your buggy's going to be large enough to
haul my circus."

"I've made arrangements with the
depot agent. He'll store the majority." Then, looking down at her, he added,
"
If
you can convince me to let you stay on, you can
send for the rest later."

Vivid ignored his verbal challenge for
now. She hadn't counted on being separated from her things. She'd shepherded
her circus cross-country without losing even one piece, and now she was being
asked to abandon it to a stranger. Suppose it did rain later? She had medical
supplies in some of her crates, and they had to stay dry.

Nate must have sensed her worries because
he said, "The agent is a good man. You really don't need to be
concerned."

"He must make certain nothing gets
dampened."

"Everything will be taken care
of."

Vivid didn't want to leave her belongings
behind, but she could see no other way out of her dilemma. With a small sigh,
she began to search through the stacked luggage.

"Bring whatever you think is
essential," he told her.

Vivid looked until she found the big brown
valise that held some of her clothing and toiletries. She also picked out a
slim black case that held another essential. She passed it to him.

"And this is?" he asked.

"My rifle."

"Your what?"

"Rifle," Vivid stated
succinctly. "My mother doesn't let me or my sisters travel without one.
Here, take this also."

He took a small green case from her hand
and asked, "What's in here, your bullets?"

"No. Billiard stick."

The answer rendered him speechless, Vivid
noted with a small smile. Good. "I'm ready to depart now, Mr. Grayson."

Vivid thought he had the oddest look on
his face. It was a familiar odd look. She'd seen it on the faces of her
teachers and professors back in San Francisco. She'd seen it many times on the
faces of the men she beat at billiards, especially those who wagered and then
lost large sums of money after playing with her. Her mother called it the look
of a man meeting an unconventional woman. To break him out of his stupor, she
handed him her brown valise, saying, “You wanted to beat the rain,
remember?"

He shook his head as if to clear it, then,
staring at her with a shocked expression on his face, replied, "Yes,
you're right. This way."

Vivid grabbed her black medical bag and
followed him back across the tracks.

He placed her essentials behind the seat,
then held out his hand to help her step into the buggy. Vivid placed her gloved
hand into his palm, swept up her green skirts, and let herself be assisted
aboard.

He climbed in. Vivid hazarded a look his
way and found him observing her very intently. She thought he might speak but
he did not. He studied her a few moments longer, shook his head again, and
turned his attention to his horses. He slapped the reins across their rumps,
and the buggy lurched into motion.

It was a humid day, and less than an hour
later Vivid could feel the sweat beginning to stick to the blouse inside her
jacket. The weather had been rainy when the train left Chicago last night and
her suit had been just right for the temperature, but on this side of the lake
the air was thick and cloying. If Vivid were traveling with a more cosmopolitan
companion, she would have thought nothing of removing her jacket and letting the
little breeze cool her, but she knew the men of the Midwest were far more
conservative than those at home, and since she was still trying to make a good
impression, she sweltered in silence.

She still couldn't believe his attitude.
She thought she'd left such narrow-minded people behind, but here one of them
sat beside her, grim-faced as if he were the injured party. Had he really not
been aware of signing the contract? Vivid thought not. Nate Grayson did not
impress her as a gullible man.

As they continued riding, Vivid refused to
speak unless he spoke first, but after a while she couldn't keep silent
because, frankly, Vivid enjoyed conversing. She also reasoned that if they
talked, maybe they could learn a bit more about each other, and he might come to
see that she was indeed suited to be the doctor here. “Is the weather always
this warm in May?"

"Sometimes."

He said nothing more.

Vivid tried another topic. “How long
before we reach our destination?''

"Two hours."

Two hours!
She wondered how on earth she'd pass the
time if he refused to answer with more than two words. But even though she had
to travel with a man who thought her unqualified simply because she wore
skirts, she was determined to be pleasant. She'd always had an open, outgoing
personality, and very few people remained distant in her presence. However,
Nate Grayson seemed to be one of those immune to her natural charm. In the end
she gave up trying to be polite.

Nate decided to avoid conversation because
he needed to think. He admitted to himself that he was impressed by the lady
doctor despite his opinions. That she'd made the cross-country journey
unaccompanied spoke of her fearlessness. In the face of the rampant progression
of Jim Crow and the frightening newspaper reports of the increasing violence
perpetrated against members of the race by White Leaguers, Kluxers, and the
like, she'd been undeterred. Furthermore, to be a doctor in this day and age,
she needed to be a woman of strength. He looked up from the road to where she
sat next to him watching the trees and scenery roll by in pace with the wagon.
He saw her soft smile as her eyes followed a brown hawk soaring languidly
above. She seemed to take pleasure in the surroundings, which he found
surprising. Yet she still looked as if she'd spend more time shopping than
doctoring. And the Grove desperately needed a doctor. When Doc Miner died last
year, Nate had to ask Wadsworth Hayes, a traveling doctor, to add the Grove to
his circuit. Hayes was an ancient man, nearly blind, yet he was the only
physician available to treat the Grove's Black population. Nate and his Aunt
Abigail harbored concerns over the man's methods of bleeding his patients to
restore health and questioned some of his other remedies, too. But they had no
other medical expertise to call upon. If Grayson Grove were not such a small
and isolated community, they would not have such a frustrating time finding a
physician. But the Black men graduating from medical schools like Howard and
the closer University of Michigan in Ann Arbor were seeking to establish
practices in larger cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, and Richmond. Nate had
written many letters, but it seemed no one wanted to practice in a place like
the Grove where payment for services was more likely to be rendered in chickens
and vegetables than in coin. There were also no big city amusements available
unless one counted the gambling and whores at Maddie's Liberty Emporium outside
town. There were no theaters, no tea houses. Only occasionally was the Grove
treated to a traveling troupe of Black actors or singers. The lack of cultural
offerings had been one of his ex-wife Cecile's main complaints. Dr. Lancaster
reminded him of Cecile in some ways. Both women were fashionable, intelligent,
and dark-hued. He supposed the memories of his traitorous ex-wife played some
role in his thinking. Cecile's departure had left him with a bitter taste for
city women, and decidedly wary of the doctor's commitment to stay in a place
such as the Grove.

While Nate concentrated on the dilemma the
doctor presented, Vivid concentrated on the countryside. Everywhere she looked
she saw green. California was green, too, but not like this. Here in Michigan
the variety of shades was dazzling to behold. Even under the cloudy sky of the
humid day the majesty of nature could not be denied. Along the sides of the
packed-earth road were large hardy trees whose full leafy tops kissed the sky.
The foliage beneath the trees was thick with ferns and tall grasses. She
spotted wildflowers of many hues and heard the calls of birds and the low hum
of insects against the wild silence.

"This is beautiful country," she
remarked before she remembered she wasn't speaking to him. And for the first
time since they'd left the depot he looked at her, really looked at her. Vivid
felt a strange sensation course through her under his silent scrutiny. As he
turned back to the road, she let out a breath she didn't realize she was
holding.

A large patch of black-eyed susans caught
her eye. She wanted to ask him to stop because the flowers were one of her
favorites, but she didn't want him to think her just another frivolous female.
So she fought to keep the longing from her face as the wagon passed them by.

He surprised her by saying, "That's a
beautiful stand of susans back there."

"Yes," Vivid answered.
"Quite beautiful."

Their eyes held a moment, then his went
back to the road. "Where did you get your training?" he asked.

"In Philadelphia at the Woman's
Medical College."

"They teach only women there?"

"Yes, since 1850."

Vivid felt it time to let this man know
where she stood. "Mr. Grayson, do you really believe only men can be
physicians?"

"Until I'm convinced otherwise,
yes."

"But you've admitted you've never
seen a female doctor."

"Nope, I haven't, and neither has
anyone else around here."