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She slowed her progress when it dawned on her that he might even ask her why she hadn’t given the sample to Kent, since Kent could look at the sample and determine what was in it and if it was a danger or not.
Now that she’d come all that way, she worried the work might be for naught. Dr. Spight had been busy for the past few weeks, and he could be just as busy now. Not to mention, she had no way to pay him for his time.
She tied her horse just outside the door and headed inside, then waited for Anne to notice her. Anne Oleson was married to Conrad Oleson’s brother and would be the perfect person to ask about the cattle sickness there. She’d forgotten about the nurse until she’d seen her.
“Anne! Good to see you.” She gave the curt nurse a little nod.
Anne’s clipped British English sounded abrupt but was anything but. “And to you. What’s brought you in today? Feeling poorly? So many are.” She scuttled Alice to a chair near a large desk where she took a seat and opened up a pad of paper. “Go ahead. What’s been ailing you?”
Alice took a deep breath. Anne wasn’t known for her pleasantries at work, but that’s exactly what she needed at the moment. “Anne, I’d heard there was some trouble with the Oleson cattle. Is that so?”
Anne set down her pencil and tilted her head to the side, her mouth tense. “Cattle trouble? I do believe there is something going on, but Dr. Spight has been too busy here in town with a pox outbreak to fuss with it. Dr. Douglas has been handling everything.”
Dr. Spight appeared at that moment from upstairs. “Miss Johlman, what brings you in today? Is your mother with you?” He glanced around the room and his brow furrowed at finding her alone.
“No, just me today.” She dug inside her satchel and drew the small bottle from inside. Thank God it hadn’t spilled all over with her run.
“What have you got there?” He came closer and took the vial from her hands. “Looks like water?” He tilted his head to look at her on the other side of the bottle.
“It is from the river in Johlman Valley. We’ve had a few sick sheep. One even died. Everyone else has their theories as to what’s happening, but I want to make sure there’s nothing in the water first.”
Both doctor and nurse nodded and glanced at one another. “A good and astute observation. Let me get my microscope ready. Can you wait here, please?” Dr. Spight got up and left them.
“Is that why you asked about the cattle? Do you think it’s the same thing?” Anne asked.
“I do. But I need to know that we’re not the only ones dealing with this. Has anyone else reported losing cattle, pigs, or sheep?” For once, she wished her father had continued pressing for a farmers’ association in the area. If they’d had such a thing, they could get together and discuss the issues.
“I can tell you that some type of sickness has struck the Oleson herd. Dr. Douglas has been out there at least once, but as far as I know, there has been no determination of what is causing it and it has gotten no better.”
“Where are you getting your water?” Would there be a way to contaminate multiple watering holes? Maybe water wasn’t the answer but asking questions would determine which were valid and which were invalid ones.
“For the last few years, there’s been a finger of the river that was never there before. It snaked through the valleys and through our pasture. That little river helped water the cattle, which was good because one of the first storms five years ago broke up our windmills.”
She frowned slightly. “It never dried up, so we counted it as a blessing. No one could afford the extra expense of replacing the windmill with the loss of the grain and the grazing land.”
Alice was well aware of the issue. Having water like that, fresh not stagnant, probably had seemed like a blessing. “And you didn’t see any sickness until this year?” It seemed odd that after so many years, mold would suddenly grow where it never had before.
“No, no issues outside the norm. Cattle have sickness, just like humans do.”
“The same as sheep. We had the usual illness and losses, but nothing like this.”
Dr. Spight returned, his brow furrowed. “You got a large enough sample that I was able to not only take a look at the organisms in the water, but also put a sample in a dish to see if anything grows.”
“And?” Anne crossed her arms, clearly just as interested in the results as Alice.
“Inconclusive. I saw nothing out of the ordinary right now. That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything there. I wasn’t able to find anything in this little sample. Rivers are large, with multiple layers of moving water.” He held up his arms flat, then raised one above the other to show the river like a cake.
“And if there was anything in the lower part of the water, where I didn’t gather my sample . . .” Alice bit her lip. “Would the dish grow anything from the lower layers, even if I didn’t get a sample from there?”
He shook his head. “You can’t create anything from nothing. What the culture will do is to make anything that was too small for me to see more apparent.”
She opened her mouth to ask how long that would take when the door swung open and Kent stepped inside.
How could the man get more handsome when she was angry with him? She hadn’t seen him in three days and his eyes found her before they locked onto Dr. Spight.
“Doctor,” he said, giving the man a deferential nod.
Alice took a step back. If the doctor felt like sharing anything with Kent—and why wouldn’t he—Kent would know she’d gone around him and talked to the doctor. Then again, why should she care? He could’ve come to her to make things right or to ask her to explain herself, and he hadn’t.
