Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1942-06-19
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The table was wheeled in. the
anesthetiSt bending over it as ii came.
To the odors Of steam and fresh linen
was now added that of ether The
action on the stage accelerated, the
characters moved swiftly for mo-
ment. Then, as suddenly as it began,
it ended. The movement froze about
Chris, about the table, and about his
first operation case as a member of
the staff. He lifted his heavy head
and looked about him. Everything
was there. Everybody was ready. He
reached out his hand in its rubber
glove, and Williams handed him a
scalpel.
On March night toward the end
of his first term of service at the hos
pital Chris sat at the desk in his back
office and over a pipe reviewed his
situation.
Around him the house was quiet.
1t eXuded the odor of the Walterses'
old dusty carpets and faint musty
smell of mold from the uncemented
cellar below. The problem of the
Walters family had not changed. It
was what it had been, unsatisfactory
and expensive. Katie had discovered
the telephone as a means of COM
munication and now spent long periods
on it. He would call up his office to
find the line busy, bang up the re-
ceiver, wait and call again
Once she was talking to a boy, and
he was cut in on the line. Here was
new Katie, coquettish and slightly
affected, and he listened to her grim
ly.
81 don't see how you can say that.
l thought I looked terrible. Say, lis
ten, jim. He's out tonight at meet
ing. You can come around if you
like. I'll have the front office"
He read the riot act to her when
he got home that day, but in the end
he compromised. She could use the
waiting room after office hours in the
evening, but it was to be tidy and
aired before he came in. In her way
she was living up to the agreement,
but the room had about it now a con-
sistent aroma of cheap perfume and
cheaper cigarettes. Nevertheless he
was relieved. Better for her to see
boys of her own age than to cherish
any silly romantic dream about HIM
self. Well, that was over, thank
God.
He would have been shocked had
any one told him that night that it
was far from over, so far as Katie
was concerned. She was growing up.
Even he could see that. And she was
always somewhere underfoot.
But she amused him at times. He
treated her as he would treat child,
usually with the facetious cheerful
ness she loathed
Still pouting, Katie. You'll spoil
your mouth, you know"
cts my mouth, isn't it?"
"Other people have to look at it."
1t was like a battle between them,
lighthearted on his part, but a thing
of deadly seriousness to her. Alter
nately she hated and adored him.
But at the first opportunity she
would be back in the empty office
again, touching his old pipe, his of
flee coat, his pen. She would follow
this oy reading his case records in
their filing box, and glance through
his books for pictures; for she was
and insatiably curious.
Chris, coming in, would find things
out of place and surmise what had
happened, but he felt helpless; and
that night, sitting there alone, he dis
missed the whole Walters family with
a gesture Good or bad, ne had them
to feed and shelter and even to clothe.
He had them. They could not have
him.
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