1. Illness Strikes!
The small village of Elmhurst, Connecticut, was enjoying a balmy early spring. The March winds were soft breezes coaxing the New England earth to life again.
Night had settled after a long twilight, and gay sounds could be heard coming from the nurses’ quarters at the Gallup Memorial Clinic. The clinic, now almost two years old, was the pride of the community. Before it was built, Dr. Gallup, gentle, wise and able physician, had tended the sick, brought babies into the world and guarded the health of the community with constant vigilance.
Like the noble man he was, Dr. Gallup refused to retire from active practice until he had helped to provide for the future medical care of his beloved patients. And because the town loved and respected him, they backed him solidly. Together the people of Elmhurst created the Gallup Memorial Clinic. And now, the white clapboard house which had once belonged to a wealthy native was a small but efficient combination hospital and clinic for the community.
Dr. Edward Barsch, eminent surgeon, had come down from Boston to serve as head of the clinic. His staff was small but competent, and he had managed to open an accredited nursing course.
It wouldn’t be long before the first class of nurses would graduate. Standing high in the class, Jean Craig, one of the very first girls interested in the clinic, was looking eagerly toward the summer day when she would win her cap.
But tonight there was no thought of graduation. The nurses were planning a party. For there was a wedding in the offing, and the excited girls were wrapping presents and prettying themselves for Ethel Simpson’s wedding shower.
Ethel had come down from Boston with Dr. Barsch to act as supervisor of nurses. As is told in Jean Craig, Nurse, Jean and her classmates had been taught and guided by the lovely, competent girl through their year and a half of training. They had also laughed and cried with her during her courtship and subsequent engagement to Dr. Ted Loring, staff pediatrician. And now they were planning many gay and exciting parties to celebrate the coming wedding.
The party was to be held at the Craig farmhouse just outside of town. And while the girls were getting ready, Mrs. Craig was making a final inspection of her home. When she was satisfied with the preparations, she threw open the front door of the farmhouse and took a deep breath of the fresh spring air.
It would be a happy spring, Mrs. Craig thought. Each year that passed seemed to push the war and the hardships that followed farther back in the shadowy memories of the family. Here in this simple village they had found peace and happiness.
She smiled as she thought of her family. It was truly growing up. Jean, her oldest daughter, was an adult. In a few months she would be twenty-one. It was exciting to have an adult daughter, Mrs. Craig thought fondly. Jean would be old enough to vote. She would be a registered nurse, and lastly, but most important of all, she would soon be a bride herself.
Five years ago, when the Craig family had moved to Elmhurst to forget the misery of the war years, Jean had met Ralph MacRae, a handsome young Canadian boy from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Jean Craig Grows Up tells how Ralph sold his Elmhurst farm to the Craig family, and lost his heart to Jean in the bargain.
Next came Kit. Mrs. Craig smiled in spite of herself as she thought of her nineteen-year-old impetuous daughter. Kit was the family scholar. She had been sent to Hope College in Delphi, Wisconsin, by a crotchety old uncle, and she had endeared herself to the elderly scholar by turning into a scholar, herself. The tale of Kit’s entrance to Hope College is told in Jean Craig Finds Romance. Mrs. Craig chuckled as she remembered how Kit and Uncle Bart had stumbled upon a secret while they were examining an ancient Egyptian mummy case, and how the money awarded to Uncle Bart was now providing her daughter with the chance for her education. Although Kit was many miles away from her family, Mrs. Craig could almost feel the vitality of her daughter halfway across the continent.
Doris was the youngest daughter. Mrs. Craig thought of her sweet, pretty seventeen-year-old with tenderness. Doris was shy. In her demure way, she often made her mother think of girls of generations past. There was something almost old-fashioned about the feminine child. But Doris was also very talented. Right now, while Mrs. Craig waited for the guests to arrive, she could hear Doris softly playing a Debussy etude. The music blended with the soft evening air and made the atmosphere nearly perfect.
As Mrs. Craig thought of her son, Tommy, her mood changed. No one could think of fifteen-year-old Tommy without smiling in amusement. Tommy was all boy. His head was full of eager projects, and his legs were long and still awkward. But he was a businessman, too. His chickens had provided him with enough money for spending and for a good start on his future college education. During the years that Mr. Craig had been invalided after the war, Tommy had been the man of the family. But though he knew the value of a dollar and the rich returns for hard work, there was mischief and play in the boy. Baseball season was just around the corner, and this, to Tommy, was as important as the money he was putting away for the future.
Mrs. Craig frowned suddenly. She was thinking of Jack, the Craigs’ adopted son. Several years before, the homeless waif had found his way to the Craig’s home and into all their hearts, and he had never left. Jack was now thirteen. Two years ago, Mr. Craig had formally adopted the boy, and he was now as truly a member of the family as any of the other children. But Mrs. Craig was worried about him. Perhaps he was growing too fast. For the past month, Jack had been listless and pale. His appetite was poor ... a sure sign that something was wrong.
As she fretted about Jack, Jean came out on the porch and slipped her arm around her mother’s waist. She was wearing a simple, pale blue party dress which set off her sparkling eyes and curly brown hair.
“Everything’s ready,” she said. “Doris and Becky have organized the whole party. And whatever are you baking in the kitchen? I can hardly wait to find out!”
Mrs. Craig squeezed her daughter’s hand. “I wonder if we’ve ever tried to have any sort of party in this house without Becky’s help,” she mused.
Jean laughed. “Aunt Becky would be positively insulted if you didn’t ask for her help, and you know it,” she answered.
“Aunt Becky would be lost without the Craig family to look after, you mean,” Mrs. Craig laughed. “Ever since she urged us to come to Elmhurst in the first place, she’s been watching over us like a mother hen.”
Jean giggled. “I would give anything to be at the hospital now. Did I tell you that the doctors have taken over for the nurses tonight? So that the girls could all come to the shower. I can just see Dr. Daley and Dr. Jenkins running to answer patients’ calls.”
“It was lovely of them to volunteer,” Mrs. Craig said.
Jean nodded. “Oh, they’re all like that. I guess you have to cooperate if you have such a small hospital. Oh golly,” she sighed, “the wedding makes me want to cry.”
“I know how much you miss Ralph, dear,” Mrs. Craig answered. “Just a few more weeks and he’ll be back again.”
“He’s in Norway now. Did I tell you, Mother?” Jean asked.
Mrs. Craig laughed. “Yes, dear. You told me. In fact, you read me his last letter.”
Jean blushed. “That’s right. I guess I’ve told you a hundred times.”
Mrs. Craig smiled. “I think it’s wonderful that you want to talk about Ralph so much.”
Doris came out on the porch and breathed deeply of the fresh air. “What a night for a party!” she exclaimed. “It’s just about perfect!”
“Where’s Becky?” Mrs. Craig asked.
“Oh, she went upstairs to see Jack for a minute.”
Mrs. Craig sighed. “Has Jack gone to bed? So early?”
Jean turned around to face her mother. “I thought he and Tommy were going over to Billy Ellis’s for the night.”
Mrs. Craig shook her head. “Tommy went, but Jack said he didn’t feel well.”
Doris sat down on the porch swing. “Becky went up to give him a tonic. She said something about springtime and sulphur and molasses....”
“And sulphur and molasses never hurt anyone,” Aunt Becky said as she came out to join them. “I tell you, you have to get winter out of a growing boy’s bones. The way that youngster has been mizzering around lately just proves it. When he passed up the chance to spend the night with us, I knew something was wrong.”
“Is Jack in bed, Becky?” Mrs. Craig asked.
“Yes, he is. He’s just plumb tuckered out. No wonder. He didn’t eat enough supper to keep a bird alive.”
Mrs. Craig said, “I’ll go up to him in a few minutes. After the guests arrive.”
Just then a car turned into the Craig driveway. Doris stood up. “Here they come. Don’t forget, Mother, Becky. This is a surprise party.”
The car door opened and Hedda and Ingeborg hopped out. The student nurses ran up the steps while Ethel switched off the ignition and headlights and climbed out after them.
“Evening, Mrs. Craig, everyone,” the girls called as they came up to the porch.
“Good evening, girls,” Mrs. Craig replied, grasping their hands. “Ethel, dear, you look lovely this evening.”
Ethel slipped off her white wool jacket and displayed her silver-green party dress. She whirled around. “See the skirt,” she laughed. “Ted helped me pick this out.”
“He has lovely taste, then,” Mrs. Craig said.
“For a man,” Hedda added. “It’s simply gorgeous.”
Ethel smiled as she thought of her fiance. “You know, it’s wonderful,” she said softly. “I haven’t any father or mother to help me prepare for the wedding, so I have a fiance who can be so helpful and wonderful in these things!”
Mrs. Craig smiled fondly at the girl. “Well,” she said briskly, “let’s go inside.”
The girls drifted into the living room. Doris sat down at the piano and began to play a popular tune. They all grouped around her and began to sing as Mrs. Craig slipped out to the kitchen.
Jean heard sputtering and backfiring in the driveway. “Here come Helen and Eileen,” she cried.
In a few minutes, the two girls appeared in the doorway. “Old Bessy made it up your hill,” Eileen giggled. “There’s life in the old rattletrap yet.”
“How’re the doctors making out over at the clinic?” Ingeborg asked.
Helen chuckled. “Oh, just fine. Can you imagine Dr. Jenkins making formula for the babies? He certainly looked fussed and awkward.”
“Wait till Ted’s bachelor dinner,” Jean teased. “Then I suppose we’ll have to do all their work.”
“Dr. Barsch is at the desk,” Helen continued. “Any calls tonight are going to be answered by St. Peter himself,” she said irreverently.
Lucy Peckham and Sally Hancock came in the door just as Mrs. Craig brought in a large bushel basket decorated with white and gold paper. The basket was heaped with shower gifts for Ethel.
“Here you are, my dear,” Mrs. Craig said. “And you know we all wish you great happiness with every gift.”
Tears glistened in Ethel’s eyes as she looked at the basket.
“I sort of knew it would be a shower,” she admitted. “But I never had a basketful of presents before in my life. You just shouldn’t have done it!”
Doris started to play the Wedding March, and the girls clustered around Ethel as she slowly opened her presents. Mrs. Craig waited till the first gift was opened, and then she slipped out into the hall. As she started up the stairs, the door opened, and Mr. Craig and Ted Loring came in.
She turned around and came down to greet her husband and the young doctor. “Why, Ted,” she said fondly, “how nice to see you!” She smiled at her husband.
“Ted and I have some things to talk over, Marge,” Mr. Craig explained. “We thought tonight would be a fine time.”
“Then you didn’t come to join the party?”
Ted stared at her in mock horror. “Heaven forbid!” he exclaimed. He peeked through the entranceway into the living room. “They do look lovely, don’t they?”
Mr. Craig smiled at the sight of the radiant girls. “Yes, they do,” he agreed. “Now Marge, if you’ll excuse us, I’ll just take this young man into the study.”
“Oh, of course,” Mrs. Craig said. “I’m on my way upstairs. I’ll bring you some hot chocolate later, if you like.”
They both smiled and nodded as she went upstairs.
“Come in, Ted,” Mr. Craig said, opening the door to his study. They sat down in comfortable chairs and pulled out their pipes.
Mr. Craig smiled disarmingly at the boy. “You might call this a trial run for me, son,” he said.
“I don’t understand, sir,” Ted replied, lighting his pipe.
Mr. Craig leaned back and stared out of the window. “I guess you know that our daughter will be getting married pretty soon. When young MacRae comes back from Europe, probably. I guess he’ll want a few words with me beforehand. So I thought I’d ... well, I’d practice on you.”
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. Needless to say, Mother is thrilled.”
The older man nodded. “I’m glad to hear that. Now, Ted, I’m in no position to ask you impertinent questions about your bank account or your ideas about marriage or anything else. But I just want to give you a little advice. Advice which I think you can use. In some ways, you and I are very much alike. Before I went into the Army, I was pretty absorbed in my work. Perhaps I knew as much as the average husband and father about what was going on in my family. But it took a war and a serious illness to prove to me that no work in the world is one quarter as important as a man’s wife and children.
“I know what medicine means to you, Ted. I have some idea of the demands it makes on you. But never forget that you will have a wife who will stand beside you and will help you fight whatever battles come along. Just don’t forget to let her help you in the fight....”
Mrs. Craig knocked softly at the door.
“Come in, Marge,” Mr. Craig called. “We could use some hot chocolate.”
“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Craig said as she closed the door behind her. “I didn’t intend to break in on you quite so soon. But, dear, I’m worried. Jack is upstairs in bed. He isn’t feeling at all well.”
Mr. Craig tapped the heel of his pipe in his hand. “Something he ate for supper?”
Mrs. Craig shook her head. “No, it’s a cold, or, well, I don’t exactly know what. He has some fever.”
“How high a fever, Mrs. Craig?” Ted asked.
Mrs. Craig smiled almost apologetically. “Hardly any at all. His temperature registers just over ninety-nine. But he feels so bad. He says he aches all over.”
Ted started for the door. “If you don’t mind, Mrs. Craig, I’m going to take a look at him,” he said.