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“Don’t worry about it.” Rogen turned to look at her. “This is not me telling you that things are fine with us. I don’t know that they ever will be. But you can stay here. Like I said, you can live in the camper or not. But I have enough money to buy you a nice house and furnish it for you so that you can live close by. Not next door or with us, but close enough that if we have children, you can get to know them. I’m sorry, but I have to go. I have to do some work for another hour or so, then I’m free for the rest of the evening. If you want to talk then, I can do that.”
“I…thank you.” Rogen nodded and moved toward the door. “What about your dad? I don’t even know…he’s gone, Rogen. I don’t know what to do now.”
“The arrangements can be made tomorrow for Dad’s funeral. No one is going to question anyone on why he died in the back of the camper. You will be fine.” Lisha thanked her again. “I have to go. Missy, the upstairs maid, will help you out here. And show you around. I don’t have a problem with you staying here for a while, but you can’t live here. I…I’m not ready for that.”
It was more than she deserved or had even hoped for. Getting up, she went to the bathroom and found a small basket of things like shampoo and other personal items. There were fluffy towels too. Taking a long shower sounded good, but she had nothing to wear. Coming out of the very lovely bathroom, a woman, Missy she thought, smiled at her.
“I have clothing for you, Mrs. Hall. Mrs
. Robinson sent someone out right away for you to have things to wear while you’re here. And there are a few things that you can use too, should you want.” Lisha thanked her. “If you need anything after your shower, you have only to pick up the phone there by the bed and push six. I will be in the kitchen and will come up to show you around.”
When she left her, Lisha looked at the clothing. She had expected it to be things like fancy dresses and high heels. But it was only sweaters and pants, comfy ones, and socks and under things. There were two black dresses in the closet that made Lisha remember that she’d have to bury her husband soon. Going to take a shower would wash away the tears. Lisha would make Jimmy proud of her, she thought.
~*~
Thatcher waited for the coroner to tell him the cause of death. He assisted as much as he could, but it was just as he’d been told by Jimmy. He’d died of complications of his body being riddled with cancer.
“I’d say that he’d been dead no more than a couple of hours when he was found. I’m sorry, Thatcher. I know he was your father-in-law. But I have to tell you, from the looks of things, I’m completely blown away that he lasted this long. The man was in bad shape.” Thatcher thanked him. “I can have the body ready for the funeral home in a few hours. I’m to understand that he wasn’t from here. Do you know where you’re going for the services?”
“My wife and mother-in-law are taking care of that tomorrow afternoon. She’s pretty beat up, as you can imagine.” Thatcher stood up and looked at the man he’d never met. “Billy, what would you do if this were your father-in-law? He wasn’t a good man, not to my wife and her brother. He was heartless and a bastard. Both he and his wife. And they drove all the way across the United States, practically, to tell them that they were terrible and were sorry. I don’t know how I feel, nor how I should feel about it.”
He and Billy Wind had been friends since Thatcher had started med school. In fact, Billy was the one that had told him to switch his major from English lit to medicine. He’d even told him that he should be a surgeon when he was working one of classes with him. Friends didn’t even cover what they’d become over the years.
“You say he came to make amends? Then I’d say that was a good thing in his corner. Sure, he died before he could. But I’m telling you right now, Thatcher, had my father done that, just made the trip? I’d be as happy as a clam with a fat pearl inside.” Thatcher asked if he’d been abusive physically. “No, not him. He sexually abused both me and my brother. I found a way out of it and a way to get over it. I help others. But my brother, Tommy, he wasn’t so lucky. Killed himself when he was only about ten. Poor kid. I never knew he was being done too. So twice a week, more if I can swing it, I go down to the shelter and talk to people. Mostly kids. And if I can’t get them out—well, they do get out. But I won’t go into that with you.”
Thatcher thought about it as the man finished up with Jimmy. “Billy, I’d like for you to see if they need a doctor down there. I don’t have a great deal of time at the moment, but I can move things around over the next few weeks and spend a day or two there too. If you think they’d need me. I don’t want to step on toes.”
“They’d surely love to have you there, Thatcher. There are a few of them little fellas that need more than someone to talk to. They need someone to look after some of the abuse too.” Thatcher said he’d set up a clinic there. “Good for you. I knew the first time you showed up at my class that you were going to be one of the good ones. Thanks, Thatcher. They’ll surely love that.”
Stopping by the emergency room to see his brother, he and Dawson decided that they’d have lunch today. It would be hospital food, but here it wasn’t so bad. Not as bad as some that Thatcher had eaten in. As they waited in line to get their food paid for, he told his brother what he was going to be doing.
“I’ve actually been thinking about that place.” He leaned in closely, talking just below a whisper. “I’ve had enough here, Thatcher. I swear to you, it gets harder and harder for me to come to work. So many children abused.”
“I know what you mean.” He did too. Thatcher couldn’t count on both hands how many children he’d put back together in recent months. They sat in a part of the cafeteria where they’d not be overheard. “What do you plan to do? Leave here and put out a shingle of your own?”
“No. I’ve been really thinking about this hard for the last couple of months. I think I’d like to go back to school and be on the other end of the tests. Be a teacher. I think I can do it, don’t you?” Thatcher said he’d told him to do that long ago. “Yes, well, I guess I had to figure it out on my own. This is a dead end. And so much is changing daily that it takes me almost my entire shift to get through the new policy changes in this place. I think that someone upstairs is just making some of this shit up as they go along. I got a memo yesterday that said that we had to wear our lab coats all the time, including our free time. Who the hell tells someone that? Don’t I give enough blood, sweat, and tears here?”
“Here’s a good one for you. I have a memo in my inbox that tells me that from now on I have to rinse out my gloves and try to reuse them. Or send them to another department to use. I’m keeping that one. I have a feeling that when it gets out, and it will, there will be hell to pay.” Dawson pulled out his phone and told him that he had six more emails right now. “Anything I need to know about?”
“Yes, I’d say so. You’re not going to like this one. Not one bit.” Dawson handed him his phone just as Morgan joined them with a bag of fast food. He was munching down on a sub as big as his leg as he talked around his full mouth.
“I found out something that I think you both need to know.” He looked around and Thatcher caught himself doing the same thing. When Morgan leaned in, he and Dawson did the same thing. “They’re closing down this hospital. One of my students, their mother is on the board. The place is losing money every day. And they’re sick of funding something this big that isn’t making them much in the way of returns. I thought that saving lives would be the big thing, but apparently being a college professor of finance doesn’t make me that smart.”
“That could be the cause of all the cutbacks that I’m seeing in my department. I’m short on nurses daily because of someone taking them off the schedule. And no overtime, not even for doctors. Like we’re supposed to just stop in the middle of stitching someone up and say, tough day for you. I’m off work.” Dawson tossed his fork down. “Damn it, this isn’t right. We need this place more than we need for them to make a huge profit.”
Thatcher thought of Rogen and her ability to dig deeply into things and find information that few would have. He wanted to talk to her face to face, but he knew that the sooner he told his family that it was being looked into, the sooner they’d feel better.
Are you busy, love? She said that her and her mother were shopping for dresses. You going to wear one?
I don’t know. Jamie told me that he’s not wearing a suit but a nice shirt and pants. He said that he didn’t know this man, didn’t like him when he did, and he won’t do it. I told him that was fine with me, so long as he behaved himself. You know what he did? He stuck his tongue out at me. I think that he’s spending much too much time with your brother Jonas. He’s a bad influence. But I love them both too much to complain. What did you need?
He told her what was going on with the hospital and that it might close up, and about the emails that he and Dawson had gotten. He asked her to hold on a moment. Dawson had something that he needed to read.
The email was addressed to everyone, and his name was in the subject line. When he read it the first time, Thatcher thought it was his brother playing a joke on him. After asking him about it and Dawson denying it, he told Rogen. She was fit to be tied, as he’d heard said by his mom.
So, you’re leaving for greener pastures, are you? Were you planning on taking me with you, or are you just going to continue on with a bachelor life? Rogen laughed and said to give her a couple of hours here, then she’d have m
ore information. My mom is crying again. Not that I blame her, she feels all alone right now. But I have a feeling that it’s more than that. I don’t know. Could be that I don’t want to think she’s that grief stricken. I’ll get back to you about the hospital thing later.
