Lizabeth's Story (9 page)

I
t was the middle of June and the roses were in full bloom now, all over town. The cream and pink flowers were especially lush on the trellis in front of Lizabeth's house. There were no blooms on the side trellis. Lizabeth must have knocked off the buds when she climbed up on those terrible nights.

Kat, Rose, and Amanda invented things to do to lure Lizabeth out of her room.

“Come on, Lizabeth, let's go to the lighthouse,” Kat said.

“We can have a picnic on the rocks,” Rose said.

Amanda took her hand. “It's good for you to get out and be with your friends.”

Lizabeth walked down Lighthouse Lane with them. Orange daylilies grew wild along the sides of the road. Pansies, phlox, and delphiniums brightened cottage gardens. Lizabeth averted her eyes from the glorious,
hateful colors. Everything beautiful, everything growing in its own season. Except for Tracy. Lizabeth was ashamed of her urge to pull the flowers up by their roots. She understood why Mary Dellrow did that.

As if the thought of Mary had made her appear, there she was. She was walking in the opposite direction on Lighthouse Lane, toward them. Kat, Rose, and Amanda edged to the far side of the road, partway into the underbrush to get out of her path.

Rose tugged at Lizabeth. “Come on, hurry out of her way!”

Lizabeth stood still and stared. There was something way off about Mary today, even more than usual. She wore a bedraggled feathered hat that must have been discarded somewhere. Strands of her long gray hair were tied with multicolored ribbons. A wilted daisy was pinned to the lapel of her red satin jacket. The shiny fabric was badly ripped along the side. One sleeve was missing and the other hung by a thread. She walked along jauntily in spite of her oversized shoes. She was the picture of festivity gone bizarre.

Lizabeth started toward her.

“Lizabeth, that's
Crazy Mary
!” Amanda exclaimed.

“Her name is Mary Dellrow. Mrs. Dellrow.” Lizabeth
shook off Kat's restraining hand.

“Lizabeth, what are you
doing
?” Rose asked.

“I know her.” Lizabeth said, and took another step forward. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her friends' shocked faces.

As she approached Mary, the woman's eyes widened and she quickly backed away. She's
afraid
, Lizabeth thought.

“Let me be,” the woman quavered. “Leave me alone.”

“It's me. Lizabeth.”

Mary peered at her suspiciously and finally there was the spark of recognition. “Well, aren't
you
fancy today! Where'd you find those? Didn't know you in your fancy getup!” Feathers drooped over her forehead. “So you're going, too, eh? All spiffy and fine.”

“Going where?” Lizabeth asked.

“To the
graduation
. Where do you think? Graduation day in Cranberry! My Kevin, first one in the family to finish the high school.” Her chin lifted with pride. “I told you he was the smart one, didn't I?”

Lizabeth's heart sank. “Mary, don't go to Cranberry.” The high school graduation
was
scheduled for today. She must have heard….

“Wild horses can't keep me away! Get a move on, we can't be late.” She chuckled. “Good thing you're not a drowned rat today.”

“Kevin isn't graduating today,” Lizabeth said gently. She didn't know what to do, but she
couldn't
let Mary go all the way to Cranberry and burst into the ceremony. It would be so much worse for her.

“What are you saying, girl? Speak up!”

“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Kevin isn't…Mary, your Kevin is gone.”

“My Kevin? Gone? Gone where?” Four heartbeats went by and then Mary's face crumpled with realization. It was painful for Lizabeth to watch.

“Gone to the bottom of the sea,” Mary moaned.

“I'm sorry,” Lizabeth said. “I know how it is.”

Mary tore off the daisy and threw it furiously on the road. Her entire body slumped as she slowly turned back toward Wharf Way.

“Mary, wait! What happened to your arm?” The sleeveless arm was swollen and angry red from her wrist almost to her elbow.

“Nothing happened,” Mary muttered. “A nail in the bin hooked me.”

“You've got to do something. It looks bad!”

“It don't hurt that much,” Mary said. “Not that much.”

“You should see a doctor.”

“No! No doctors! I don't see 'em and they don't see me.”

Amanda and Rose, with Kat in the lead, had stepped closer. They formed a loose semicircle around Lizabeth and looked on, surprised and curious. They raised questioning eyebrows.

“I'll tell you about it sometime,” Lizabeth promised.

She wasn't ready to talk about that night yet. “First, someone needs to take care of that arm.”

“That old sawbones in Cranberry ain't touching me. He'll whack it off!” Mary began to shuffle away.

“We have a new doctor, right here in Cape Light,” Lizabeth followed her footsteps. “Dr. Forbes. All the way from New York City! I'll take you….”

“No! Stop bothering me.”

Lizabeth mouthed a silent “help me” to her friends.

Mary looked at the other girls in alarm as they came close. “Leave me alone, you!” She shrank back. “Go away.”

“It's all right,” Lizabeth said. “This is Kat Williams from the lighthouse. You know her, don't you? Tom Williams's daughter?”

Mary squinted. “The Williams girl?”

“And the
minister's
daughter, Amanda.” That had to make Mary feel safer. “And Dr. Forbes is Rose's father.”

Rose stepped up. “My father will know how to help you. He's very good, honestly.” And then to Lizabeth, “He should be in the office now, just finishing office hours.”

“Come, Mary, before he leaves. We'll all go with you,” Lizabeth said. “He's right on Lighthouse Lane.”

It took all four together, with Kat's best powers of persuasion and Amanda's soft, soothing tone, to keep Mary moving toward the Forbes house. Rose walked just behind them, which stopped the skittish woman from turning back. It was about as easy, Lizabeth thought, as herding cats.

They finally reached Rose's house and found Dr. Forbes in the waiting room. Lizabeth had to give him credit. He quickly covered his astonishment at Mary's grotesque finery and immediately focused on her arm.

“It's badly infected. It's a good thing you came in.”

Mary grunted.

“Here's what we'll do.” He spoke directly to Mary as though she was a normal patient. “I have to lance it and I'm sorry, it
will
hurt. But then, I promise you, you'll feel
much better. It's throbbing now, isn't it?”

Mary nodded.

“When the infection is cleaned out, I'll bandage the wound and it'll have a chance to heal. Is that all right with you?”

Mary looked longingly back at the door. Lizabeth touched her shoulder.

“You'll have trouble if you neglect it,” Dr. Forbes said. “Please, come into the office.”

“I can't pay you money,” Mary told him. She gave him a shrewd squint. “I can give you a lobster cage, hardly used.”

Dr. Forbes covered the beginning of a smile with a serious expression and said, “Very well, Mrs. Dellrow. That will do nicely.” He turned to the girls. “One of you has to hold her arm for me.”

“I will,” Lizabeth volunteered. Mary trusted her the most.

“Lizabeth, are you sure you can?” Kat asked. Of course, her cousin must be thinking of how squeamish she had always been.

Lizabeth nodded. She left her friends in the waiting room and guided the hesitant woman into Dr. Forbes's office.

“Hold her arm steady for me, at the wrist and at the elbow,” Dr. Forbes directed. He took a shining knifelike instrument from his cabinet. “Take a deep breath,” he told Mary just before he made the cut. Lizabeth took a deep breath, too.

The blade cut into the bulging, swollen flesh. In spite of herself, Lizabeth was fascinated by the calm competence and precision of his actions. Then he pressed two spots on Mary's arm and pus came rushing out. Streams of yellow pus mixed with streaks of blood! Lizabeth should have been disgusted but instead she was amazed at how he knew exactly where to press. She was full of admiration.

“Are you all right, Mrs. Dellrow?” Dr. Forbes asked.

Mary nodded.

“How about you, Lizabeth?”

“Yes.” I'll never pretend to be a delicate swooning flower again, she thought. What in the world had I been thinking?

He patted the wound with alcohol and quickly wrapped a gauze bandage around it. Again, Lizabeth was impressed by his skill.

“Not too bad, Mrs. Dellrow. Keep it clean and let me see it in three days.”

They watched Mary scurry out the door.

“It looks all right. A little longer and gangrene might have set in,” Dr. Forbes said. “Do you think she'll come back?”

“I'll find some way to bring her.” Lizabeth smiled. “Well, with a lot of help from my friends.”

“You did beautifully, Lizabeth.” He smiled. “As well as any medical technician.”

His praise warmed Lizabeth. And suddenly a memory came rushing back. Poor Belinda, her favorite porcelain doll! She was forever breaking Belinda's arms and legs and setting them with splints of twigs and bandages. Mother would get upset at how destructive Lizabeth was. She didn't understand that Lizabeth was being a doctor. Poor forgotten Belinda was probably still wrapped in bandages somewhere in the attic. She'd had a head wound, too.

“I have another call to make,” Dr. Forbes said. “The little Morrison boy with the croup, just a few doors from you. If you like, I'll give you a ride home.”

“Thank you.”

Lizabeth watched Dr. Forbes pack his black bag. What wouldn't she have given for a doctor's bag like that when she was seven! It was the last thing on earth her parents would have picked for a gift.

Rose, Amanda, and Kat were waiting in the outer room. They looked worried.

“Was it horrible?” Amanda asked.

“Do you feel all right?” Rose asked.

Lizabeth smiled. “In a way, it was…interesting.”

“Lizabeth was a champ,” Dr. Forbes said.

The other girls scattered and Lizabeth followed Dr. Forbes into his carriage. With a flick of the reins, the horse trotted along Lighthouse Lane.

“How is your family doing?” Dr. Forbes asked.

Lizabeth shrugged. She couldn't describe how lost they all were.

“Time heals,” Dr. Forbes said. “People tell you that when they look for something to say, and maybe you can't believe it now but there's truth in it. Prayer helps, too.”

Lizabeth nodded. Time and prayer, she thought, and doing something worthwhile.

“We've had no new cases this week,” Dr. Forbes said. “Cape Light seems to be over the worst of it.”

“Was it an epidemic, Dr. Forbes?”

“Bad as it was, I think we avoided a true epidemic. Cape Light folks were sensible and cooperative.” He glanced sideways at Lizabeth. “Except for you—you took a big risk.”

“I know,” Lizabeth said, “but I'm not sorry.”

The horse's hooves clopped on the pavement. They rode along in comfortable silence.

“It's a beautiful town,” Dr. Forbes said. “I'm glad we came here.”

“I'm glad you did, too,” Lizabeth said. “I can't imagine Cape Light without Rose! And Dr. Forbes, Cape Light
needs
you.”

“I'll try to live up to that,” he said.

Dr. Forbes is easy to talk to, Lizabeth thought. So many grown-ups act stiff and distant with anyone young.

They were almost at the Merchant house when Lizabeth gathered her courage and asked, “Dr. Forbes, do you think I could be a doctor? Well, no, that's silly, isn't it? Women aren't doctors!”

“Did you ever hear of Elizabeth Blackwell?”

“No.”

“She was the first woman to receive a medical degree. She graduated from Geneva College in 1849. Of course, that was after twenty-nine other medical schools rejected her.”

“Then it's almost impossible.”

“Not impossible. It's 1906 now, after all.”

“What happened to her? Did she become a doctor?”

“Oh yes. Her younger sister Emily became a surgeon and they opened their own hospital in New York City. New York Infirmary for Women and Children, staffed entirely by women and serving the poor.”

“What a wonderful thing to do!” Lizabeth said.

“You know, for a while I hoped Rose would follow in my footsteps.” Dr. Forbes smiled. “But I think we've lost her to the horses.”

“Do you honestly think I could?” Lizabeth asked. “I mean, a girl like me?”

“Perhaps not a
girl
but certainly a young
woman
like you. You'd have to have better grades than all the men. I know that's not fair, but maybe that will change by the time you apply, Lizabeth. Certainly if my wife has anything to say about it!”

So that's what being a suffragette was all about! “Then…then you don't think I should just forget about it?”

“Certainly not. Lizabeth, I'll encourage you any way I can.”

“Could I—could I work for you, Dr. Forbes? I mean, as your assistant? Hold down arms and watch you?”

“No, I'm sorry.” He had kind eyes. “You are a little young and not quite licensed yet.”

“Oh. Of course. That was a dumb question.”

“Not dumb,” Dr. Forbes said. “Eager. If you're anxious to get started—my medical texts are too complex, but you could ask the Pelican Book Shop to get you a basic book on anatomy. You could see if you're really interested.”

“I'll do that, Dr. Forbes!” If I do my best, I can get the grades, Lizabeth thought. Next term, I'll give
long
reports and win the spelling bee! My goodness, where was I all this time?