Whispers in the Wind (13 page)

“You sure are. In late 1790, a group of physicians in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, took it on themselves to train men as pharmacists so the task of preparing and dispensing of medication could be done by someone else. This would give the doctors more time to devote to their practices.”

“That makes sense.”

“Yes. This meant that physicians would have to authorize the dispensing of medication to their patients by giving them written authority. Thus was born the prescription, which the patient
would carry to the pharmacist.”

Dane nodded. “Okay. I recall reading about this in that same medical book.”

“Well,” proceeded Clarkson, “this procedure worked so well that the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science was founded in 1821. The concept spread over the eastern half of the country, and soon there were other such colleges being established—some on their own—and others being incorporated into established universities; especially those that already had medical colleges.

“Physicians everywhere in the eastern half of the country started writing prescriptions for their patients to carry to pharmacies in their cities and towns. All five New York City boroughs had plenty of pharmacies by 1835.”

“How about out West? When did the prescription idea take hold out there?”

“Well, as early as 1852, a pharmacy was opened up in San Francisco. One was established in Portland, Oregon, in 1860, and one was established in Seattle, Washington, in 1868.”

“That’s interesting, Mr. Clarkson. My medical book didn’t give this much detail. Thank you for the information. I’m glad to have learned about it.”

Bryce Clarkson’s attention was drawn to the front window, where he saw a woman and a girl standing near the door, waiting. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was five minutes until nine o’clock. “Tell you what, Dane, I’m going to open a few minutes early for Mrs. Myers and her daughter, who are waiting at the door. Mr. and Mrs. Myers are good customers.”

“Gotta take care of those good customers, Mr. Clarkson.”

“That’s for sure,” Clarkson said over his shoulder as he headed for the door.

D
ane Weston stepped around in front of the counter and watched as his boss opened the door. “Good morning, ladies! As of this moment, we are officially open. Please come in.”

As mother and daughter moved inside, they looked at Dane and smiled.

He smiled back, thinking how strongly the girl resembled her mother. She had long auburn hair and sky blue eyes. He estimated that she would be a couple of years younger than himself.

This was confirmed immediately as Bryce Clarkson looked at her and said jokingly, “I haven’t seen you since the day before your birthday in March, Tharyn. How does it feel to be an old lady of thirteen?”

Tharyn giggled. “It feels real good, Mr. Clarkson.”

Mrs. Meyers said, “I appreciate your opening a few minutes early for us, Bryce.”

“No problem. As I told my new hired man, Mr. and Mrs. Myers are good customers, and I didn’t want to keep mother and daughter waiting.”

Mrs. Meyers smiled and looked at Dane again. “New hired man, you say. What happened to Leon?”

“He moved to Brooklyn on very short notice. Come, I’ll introduce you.”

As the pharmacist and the two ladies moved toward him, Dane’s gaze went to the girl, and she warmed him with another smile.

“Ladies,” said Clarkson, “I want you to meet Dane Weston. Dane, this is Erline Myers and her daughter Tharyn.”

Erline offered her hand first, and as Dane grasped it, he said, “I’m happy to meet you, ma’am.”

“Same here,” said Erline.

Tharyn then offered her hand.

“And I’m happy to meet you, Tharyn. That’s a very pretty name. I’ve never heard it before. Do you mind if I ask how it is spelled?”

Thinking how handsome he was, the girl batted her eyelids. “Of course not. It’s T-H-A-R-Y-N.”

Dane grinned. “Oh. It’s even spelled pretty.”

Tharyn giggled. “You are so kind, Dane.”

Erline set her gaze on the boy. “I don’t recall ever seeing you around here, Dane. Do you live in the neighborhood?”

Before Dane could answer, Clarkson said, “I need to explain that Dane is an orphan. His parents and little sister and brother were murdered recently by a street gang.”

Both females were stunned at Clarkson’s information. While Tharyn’s hand went to her mouth and her eyes widened, Erline looked at Dane with sympathy. “Oh my. I’m so sorry, Dane.”

“Me too.” Tharyn brushed her hair from her cheek. “Are you living with relatives now?”

Dane shook his head. “No. I don’t have any relatives. We used to live in the two hundred block on Thirty-third Street in a tenement. The landlord let me live there a few extra days, but I had to go then because he needed to rent out the flat to someone else.”

Erline’s brow furrowed. She handed two prescriptions to Bryce Clarkson, then set her soft eyes on Dane. “And where do you live, now?”

Dane licked his lips. “I—I live among the thousands of other orphans on the streets.”

“Near here?”

“Not too far, ma’am. My street home is in an alley with nine other orphans in the twelve hundred block on Broadway. They took me in and offered me a cardboard box for a bed like they sleep in.”

“Cardboard box?” gasped Tharyn. “You sleep in an alley in a cardboard box?”

“Better than some of the street urchins have, Tharyn. Lots of them sleep in filthy trash bins or on doorsteps of commercial buildings. At least the cardboard boxes are clean and they protect you from the wind better than a doorstep.”

Erline’s heart went out to the boy. She was fully aware of children who lived that way on the streets. Often when seeing the street waifs, she had wished there was something she could do for them, but there was nothing she could do. Her mind went to the twelve hundred block on Broadway. “Which side of Broadway is your alley, Dane?”

“On the east side, ma’am.”

“Then you’re in the alley behind Powell’s Grocery. Goldstein’s Taylor Shop is in that block on the east side, too.”

Dane nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Mr. Powell is very kind to us. He always makes sure we have plenty of water.”

“That’s nice of him.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Tharyn said, “Isn’t the Bluebird Café in that block, too?”

“Sure is. Sometimes when we have money, we buy food from them. And sometimes they even give us food they have left over after a day’s business.”

Erline’s face pinched. “Sometimes, Dane? You mean sometimes you and the others in your colony don’t have money to buy food? You beg on the streets, don’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am, but there are days when no one gives us any money.”

“You said sometimes the people at the café give you leftover food. What happens when you don’t have money to buy food, and they don’t have any food left over to give you?”

Dane swallowed hard. “Well, Mrs. Myers, when that happens we pick up food that has been thrown into the café’s garbage cans. You know, food that people don’t finish on their plates.”

Tharyn’s stomach lurched. She put a hand over it. “Oh, you poor boy. You have to eat garbage and sleep in a cardboard box! That’s awful!”

Bryce Clarkson looked at the prescriptions Erline had handed him. “Erline, I can fill your prescription, but I’m out of the medicine for Ron’s prescription. My supplier is due this morning, though. I’m sure I can have Ron’s medicine ready by eleven o’clock.”

“That’s fine, Bryce. I’ll send Tharyn and a neighbor girl to pick it up just before noon. The family is going to Grand Central Station to meet Ron’s sister, who is coming from Boston to spend a few days with us. We should be back by eleven forty-five. I’ll go ahead and pay you for both prescriptions, then Tharyn won’t have to carry any money.”

Clarkson nodded. “That’ll be fine.”

Dane turned to his boss. “Mr. Clarkson?”

“Yes?”

“If it’s all right with you, sir, I will deliver the medicine to the Myerses’ home and save Tharyn from having to come and pick it up.

“Sure, Dane,” said Clarkson. “You can do that.”

“Thank you, Dane,” Tharyn said warmly.

Erline nodded. “Yes, Dane. Thank you.”

“My pleasure, ma’am.”

Clarkson turned and took the medicine for Erline’s prescription
from a shelf, and as he turned back to the counter to prepare it, he said, “Dane is only fifteen years old, but he already has set a goal for himself, and that is to become a physician and surgeon.”

“Oh, Dane,” said Tharyn, “that’s wonderful! You’re going to be a doctor!”

“I sure am,” he said in a determined voice. “I’ve had that goal since I was very young.”

A faint look of skepticism filled Erline’s eyes for a brief moment, but when she saw the look of sheer tenacity in Dane’s eyes and recognized the resolution in his voice, she said, “That’s very commendable, Dane.”

Dane had seen the skeptical look in Erline’s eyes. He ran his gaze first to Tharyn, then to her mother. “I know you may be wondering how I will ever be able to get my medical education, but believe me … somehow I will.”

Tharyn fixed her eyes on the good-looking boy.
If anyone can do it, Dane, I believe you can
. At that instant, he became her hero. “I know you will, Dane. I just know it.”

A smile spread from ear to ear. “Thank you, Tharyn.”

“Don’t ever lose sight of your goal,” said Erline.

“I won’t, ma’am.”

Erline paid the pharmacist for both prescriptions, and as he handed her the medicine for her prescription, she thanked him, then turned to her daughter. “Come, Tharyn. We must hurry.”

As mother and daughter headed for the door, Erline glanced back. “We’ll look forward to seeing you at the apartment about noon, Dane.”

Dane smiled and nodded.

Tharyn waved. “See you then.”

An elderly couple were just coming in. The silver-haired man held the door open for Erline and Tharyn. They thanked him and moved on down the street. As they hurried toward home, Tharyn talked about what a nice boy Dane was and how proud she was
that in spite of being a street orphan, he had set such a marvelous goal for himself.

Erline agreed. “I have to admire him for the way he is going on in spite of the loss of his family. You know it had to have been a horrible blow to have both parents and both his sister and brother taken from him at the same time. And if it had been some kind of accident that took them, it would have been easier on him than to have them murdered. Bless his heart. It had to have been devastating.”

The tenement where Ron and Erline Myers and their daughter lived was less than three blocks from the pharmacy, down a side street in the residential section.

As Erline and Tharyn moved into their block, they noticed two construction workers who were adding a balcony across the front of a tenement four buildings down. All of the tenements in their block had five floors. The balcony being added to this building was on the fifth floor, and they had been told that when the project was done on that particular building, each floor would have a balcony.

A team of horses was hitched to a wagon that was loaded with building materials, which was parked directly in front of the building.

The two construction workers were carrying materials toward a scaffold at the front of the tenement, which at the moment was resting on the ground.

Erline said, “Honey, wouldn’t it be nice to have balconies on our tenement, especially since we live on the fifth floor?”

“It sure would, Mommy. Be a nice place to go out and sit on summer evenings and enjoy the cool air.” At that instant, Tharyn pointed at the hired buggy that was parked in front of their tenement with her father and the driver standing beside it. “Look! The buggy’s here already.”

“Sure enough,” said Erline, picking up pace. “We’d better shake a leg.”

Keeping up with her mother, Tharyn noticed her father look
their way and waved. “Hi, Daddy!”

Ron Myers smiled and waved in return.

As they drew up, Erline said, “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t realize we were late. We got to talking to Bryce and the new teenage boy he just hired to take Leon’s place, and the time got away from us.”

Ron smiled. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I wasn’t aware that Leon wasn’t with him anymore.”

“I wasn’t either. He said Leon quit suddenly and moved to Brooklyn.”

“So what’s the new boy’s name?”

“Dane Weston. He’s fifteen years old.”

“He’s a real nice boy, Daddy,” said Tharyn. “You’ll like him.”

Ron nodded and noted the paper bag in his wife’s hand. “I’ll run the prescriptions up to the apartment, then we need to head for Grand Central. You know Althea Corbin. She’s the ultrapunctual type, and she’ll expect us to be there when she gets off the train.”

Erline smiled. “Well, your sister may be the ultrapunctual type, but I doubt she would be upset at us if we were a few minutes late.”

Ron shrugged. “Maybe not, but let’s not find out.”

Erline handed him the paper bag. “There’s only one medicine bottle in here. Bryce was out of the medicine for your prescription, but he’s going to send Dane Weston over here with it about noon.”

“Fine,” said Ron. “I’ll help you into the buggy, then I’ll run your medicine up to the apartment.”

“I’ll help the ladies in, Mr. Myers,” said the driver. “You go ahead.”

Ron nodded and hurried toward the apartment building.

Moments later, Ron returned and climbed into the buggy next to Tharyn, who was now positioned between her parents on the seat.

The driver put the horse to a trot, and as the buggy pulled
away from the curb, Ron turned to his wife and daughter. “I guess you noticed that the tenement down the street is getting the balcony on its fifth floor first.”

“Uh-huh,” said Erline. “I figured they’d put the balcony on the second floor first, then work their way up.”

Ron shook his head. “It’s much easier to start at the top and work down. The other balconies would be in the way if they did that.”

“Oh. Of course. I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Well, building construction isn’t something women think about.”

Tharyn giggled. “Daddy, there are plenty of things we women think about and know about that men don’t.”