by Al Lacy
All three were wiping tears. Dane thanked the doctor for answering his questions and for leading him to the Lord. “You and Mrs. Harris have been so good to me. I can see that the Lord brought you into my life.”
Maude dabbed at her eyes with a napkin. “Dane, the Lord brought you into our lives too and made you very special to us. Lee and I talked about it late last night. We both wish we could just take you into our home and be your foster parents, but the way things are, it just is not possible. We have only one bedroom. It’s our bed that Lawanda takes her naps on while you’re here. At night, she sleeps here on the sofa. We would have nowhere for you to sleep.”
“And even if you would agree to sleep on the floor,” said the doctor, “there is still the problem with Lawanda being afraid of other people. The only other people she isn’t afraid of are her brother and his family. So there isn’t any way we can take you into our home.”
Dane smiled thinly. “Dr. and Mrs. Harris, you don’t know what it means to me that you would even want to be my foster parents. I understand your situation completely. But anyhow, thank you for wanting me.”
“And thank you for understanding, son,” said Harris. “There’s one other thing I need to show you in the Bible, now that you’re saved.”
Opening his Bible again, Dr. Harris showed Dane that his next step of obedience to the Lord was to be baptized. Dane understood it immediately and said he wanted to be baptized as soon as possible.
The next morning in the invitation at the close of the sermon, Dane walked the aisle, gave his testimony of salvation, and told the pastor he wanted to be baptized. The whole congregation rejoiced to see him go into the baptismal waters. Dr. Harris was wishing that Maude could be there to see it.
When Lawanda had been fed and was lying down on her parents’ bed, the Harrises and Dane sat down at the kitchen table for Sunday dinner. When the doctor said his amen at the close of his prayer over the food, Dane added his own amen.
This time, with his sins forgiven and washed away in Jesus’ blood, Dane found himself ravenous. He ate everything on his plate and reached for seconds.
With a twinkle in his kindly eyes, Dr. Harris smiled “My, honey, doesn’t it make a difference in one’s appetite when you’re a new creature in Christ Jesus and know you’re going to heaven?”
Maude nodded, her own eyes shining. “It sure does, dear. He’s not just picking at his food now.”
Dane swallowed a mouthful of cornbread. He grinned. “It sure does make a difference, Dr. Harris. It sure does!”
The Harrises laughed, and Dane quickly returned to eating again.
When the meal was over, Dr. Harris left the room for a moment, and when he returned, he had a Bible in his hand. Dane could tell it was not the same Bible that the doctor had used to lead him to the Lord. It was a bit smaller.
Harris laid the Bible in front of Dane. “This is a spare Bible we’ve had around the apartment for a while. We want you to have it.”
Dane’s eyes brightened as he picked up the Bible and looked at it. “Oh, boy! A Bible all my own! I’ll read it every day! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
On Saturday morning May 6, Dane arrived at the Clarkson Pharmacy at five minutes before eight and began his work by mopping the floor. Bryce Clarkson was behind the counter filling prescriptions that his customers had brought in and left with him late in the afternoon the day before.
Soon Dane was behind the counter wiping dust off the shelves and the medicine bottles with a damp cloth.
Almost reverently, Dane picked up each bottle of medicine and carefully wiped away every speck of dust. While doing so, he read each label and tried to pronounce the name of the medication aloud.
Still filling prescriptions, Bryce heard his attempts to wrap his tongue around some of the words and chuckled.
Dane heard him and turned around with a perplexed look on his earnest face. “Mr. Clarkson, why do they use such big words that are so hard to pronounce?”
“Most of them come from the Latin, Dane. At first it seems like an impossible task to ever keep them straight and pronounce any of them correctly, but believe me, with a lot of practice it gets easier and simply becomes a part of your vocabulary.”
Dane was holding a bottle in his hand. He nodded. “Okay, sir. If you say so.” He looked at the label on the bottle in hand, studied it a moment, then shook his head. Wiping it clear of dust, he set it back on the shelf, picked up another one, glanced at the label trying to figure it out, and went on with his work.
When Dane had finished dusting the shelves and bottles, he turned to the pharmacist, who was just finishing his last prescription. “Mr. Clarkson, I hope you don’t mind me talking to you about medicine and all.”
“Of course not. Since you’re going to be a doctor, it will help you to understand all you can about medicine and pharmacies.”
“Pharmacies. That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Sure.”
“If memory serves me right, one of my medical books said that until late in the eighteenth century, medication was prepared and dispensed by the physicians themselves. In about 1790, the practice of pharmacy began to be separated from the practice of medicine. Am I remembering correctly?”
“You sure are. In late 1790, a group of physicians in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, took it on themselves to train men as pharmacists so the task of preparing and dispensing of medication could be done by someone else. This would give the doctors more time to devote to their practices.”
“That makes sense.”
“Yes. This meant that physicians would have to authorize the dispensing of medication to their patients by giving them written authority. Thus was born the prescription, which the patient would carry to the pharmacist.”
Dane nodded. “Okay. I recall reading about this in that same medical book.”
“Well,” proceeded Clarkson, “this procedure worked so well that the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science was founded in 1821. The concept spread over the eastern half of the country, and soon there were other such colleges being established—some on their own—and others being incorporated into established universities; especially those that already had medical colleges.
“Physicians everywhere in the eastern half of the country started writing prescriptions for their patients to carry to pharmacies in their cities and towns. All five New York City boroughs had plenty of pharmacies by 1835.”
“How about out West? When did the prescription idea take hold out there?”
“Well, as early as 1852, a pharmacy was opened up in San Francisco. One was established in Portland, Oregon, in 1860, and one was established in Seattle, Washington, in 1868.”
“That’s interesting, Mr. Clarkson. My medical book didn’t give this much detail. Thank you for the information. I’m glad to have learned about it.”
Bryce Clarkson’s attention was drawn to the front window, where he saw a woman and a girl standing near the door, waiting. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was five minutes until nine o’clock. “Tell you what, Dane, I’m going to open a few minutes early for Mrs. Myers and her daughter, who are waiting at the door. Mr. and Mrs. Myers are good customers.”
“Gotta take care of those good customers, Mr. Clarkson.”
“That’s for sure,” Clarkson said over his shoulder as he headed for the door.
Chapter Eight
Dane Weston stepped around in front of the counter and watched as his boss opened the door. “Good morning, ladies! As of this moment, we are officially open. Please come in.”
As mother and daughter moved inside, they looked at Dane and smiled.
He smiled back, thinking how strongly the girl resembled her mother. She had long auburn hair and sky blue eyes. He estimated that she would be a couple of years younger than himself.
This was confirmed immediately as Bryce Clarkson looked at her and said jokingly, “I haven’t seen you since the day before your birthday in March, Th
aryn. How does it feel to be an old lady of thirteen?”
Tharyn giggled. “It feels real good, Mr. Clarkson.”
Mrs. Meyers said, “I appreciate your opening a few minutes early for us, Bryce.”
“No problem. As I told my new hired man, Mr. and Mrs. Myers are good customers, and I didn’t want to keep mother and daughter waiting.”
Mrs. Meyers smiled and looked at Dane again. “New hired man, you say. What happened to Leon?”
“He moved to Brooklyn on very short notice. Come, I’ll introduce you.”
As the pharmacist and the two ladies moved toward him, Dane’s gaze went to the girl, and she warmed him with another smile.
“Ladies,” said Clarkson, “I want you to meet Dane Weston. Dane, this is Erline Myers and her daughter Tharyn.”
Erline offered her hand first, and as Dane grasped it, he said, “I’m happy to meet you, ma’am.”
“Same here,” said Erline.
Tharyn then offered her hand.
“And I’m happy to meet you, Tharyn. That’s a very pretty name. I’ve never heard it before. Do you mind if I ask how it is spelled?”
Thinking how handsome he was, the girl batted her eyelids. “Of course not. It’s T-H-A-R-Y-N.”
Dane grinned. “Oh. It’s even spelled pretty.”
Tharyn giggled. “You are so kind, Dane.”
Erline set her gaze on the boy. “I don’t recall ever seeing you around here, Dane. Do you live in the neighborhood?”
Before Dane could answer, Clarkson said, “I need to explain that Dane is an orphan. His parents and little sister and brother were murdered recently by a street gang.”
Both females were stunned at Clarkson’s information. While Tharyn’s hand went to her mouth and her eyes widened, Erline looked at Dane with sympathy. “Oh my. I’m so sorry, Dane.”
“Me too.” Tharyn brushed her hair from her cheek. “Are you living with relatives now?”
Dane shook his head. “No. I don’t have any relatives. We used to live in the two hundred block on Thirty-third Street in a tenement. The landlord let me live there a few extra days, but I had to go then because he needed to rent out the flat to someone else.”
Erline’s brow furrowed. She handed two prescriptions to Bryce Clarkson, then set her soft eyes on Dane. “And where do you live, now?”
Dane licked his lips. “I—I live among the thousands of other orphans on the streets.”
“Near here?”
“Not too far, ma’am. My street home is in an alley with nine other orphans in the twelve hundred block on Broadway. They took me in and offered me a cardboard box for a bed like they sleep in.”
“Cardboard box?” gasped Tharyn. “You sleep in an alley in a cardboard box?”
“Better than some of the street urchins have, Tharyn. Lots of them sleep in filthy trash bins or on doorsteps of commercial buildings. At least the cardboard boxes are clean and they protect you from the wind better than a doorstep.”
Erline’s heart went out to the boy. She was fully aware of children who lived that way on the streets. Often when seeing the street waifs, she had wished there was something she could do for them, but there was nothing she could do. Her mind went to the twelve hundred block on Broadway. “Which side of Broadway is your alley, Dane?”
“On the east side, ma’am.”
“Then you’re in the alley behind Powell’s Grocery. Goldstein’s Taylor Shop is in that block on the east side, too.”
Dane nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Mr. Powell is very kind to us. He always makes sure we have plenty of water.”
“That’s nice of him.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Tharyn said, “Isn’t the Bluebird Café in that block, too?”
“Sure is. Sometimes when we have money, we buy food from them. And sometimes they even give us food they have left over after a day’s business.”
Erline’s face pinched. “Sometimes, Dane? You mean sometimes you and the others in your colony don’t have money to buy food? You beg on the streets, don’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am, but there are days when no one gives us any money.”
“You said sometimes the people at the café give you leftover food. What happens when you don’t have money to buy food, and they don’t have any food left over to give you?”
Dane swallowed hard. “Well, Mrs. Myers, when that happens we pick up food that has been thrown into the café’s garbage cans. You know, food that people don’t finish on their plates.”
Tharyn’s stomach lurched. She put a hand over it. “Oh, you poor boy. You have to eat garbage and sleep in a cardboard box! That’s awful!”
Bryce Clarkson looked at the prescriptions Erline had handed him. “Erline, I can fill your prescription, but I’m out of the medicine for Ron’s prescription. My supplier is due this morning, though. I’m sure I can have Ron’s medicine ready by eleven o’clock.”
“That’s fine, Bryce. I’ll send Tharyn and a neighbor girl to pick it up just before noon. The family is going to Grand Central Station to meet Ron’s sister, who is coming from Boston to spend a few days with us. We should be back by eleven forty-five. I’ll go ahead and pay you for both prescriptions, then Tharyn won’t have to carry any money.”
Clarkson nodded. “That’ll be fine.”
Dane turned to his boss. “Mr. Clarkson?”
“Yes?”
“If it’s all right with you, sir, I will deliver the medicine to the Myerses’ home and save Tharyn from having to come and pick it up.
“Sure, Dane,” said Clarkson. “You can do that.”
“Thank you, Dane,” Tharyn said warmly.
Erline nodded. “Yes, Dane. Thank you.”
“My pleasure, ma’am.”
Clarkson turned and took the medicine for Erline’s prescription from a shelf, and as he turned back to the counter to prepare it, he said, “Dane is only fifteen years old, but he already has set a goal for himself, and that is to become a physician and surgeon.”
“Oh, Dane,” said Tharyn, “that’s wonderful! You’re going to be a doctor!”
“I sure am,” he said in a determined voice. “I’ve had that goal since I was very young.”
A faint look of skepticism filled Erline’s eyes for a brief moment, but when she saw the look of sheer tenacity in Dane’s eyes and recognized the resolution in his voice, she said, “That’s very commendable, Dane.”
Dane had seen the skeptical look in Erline’s eyes. He ran his gaze first to Tharyn, then to her mother. “I know you may be wondering how I will ever be able to get my medical education, but believe me … somehow I will.”
Tharyn fixed her eyes on the good-looking boy. If anyone can do it, Dane, I believe you can. At that instant, he became her hero. “I know you will, Dane. I just know it.”
A smile spread from ear to ear. “Thank you, Tharyn.”
“Don’t ever lose sight of your goal,” said Erline.
“I won’t, ma’am.”
Erline paid the pharmacist for both prescriptions, and as he handed her the medicine for her prescription, she thanked him, then turned to her daughter. “Come, Tharyn. We must hurry.”
As mother and daughter headed for the door, Erline glanced back. “We’ll look forward to seeing you at the apartment about noon, Dane.”
Dane smiled and nodded.
Tharyn waved. “See you then.”
An elderly couple were just coming in. The silver-haired man held the door open for Erline and Tharyn. They thanked him and moved on down the street. As they hurried toward home, Tharyn talked about what a nice boy Dane was and how proud she was that in spite of being a street orphan, he had set such a marvelous goal for himself.
Erline agreed. “I have to admire him for the way he is going on in spite of the loss of his family. You know it had to have been a horrible blow to have both parents and both his sister and brother taken from him at the same time. And if it had been some kind of accident that took them, it would have been
easier on him than to have them murdered. Bless his heart. It had to have been devastating.”
The tenement where Ron and Erline Myers and their daughter lived was less than three blocks from the pharmacy, down a side street in the residential section.
As Erline and Tharyn moved into their block, they noticed two construction workers who were adding a balcony across the front of a tenement four buildings down. All of the tenements in their block had five floors. The balcony being added to this building was on the fifth floor, and they had been told that when the project was done on that particular building, each floor would have a balcony.
A team of horses was hitched to a wagon that was loaded with building materials, which was parked directly in front of the building.
The two construction workers were carrying materials toward a scaffold at the front of the tenement, which at the moment was resting on the ground.
Erline said, “Honey, wouldn’t it be nice to have balconies on our tenement, especially since we live on the fifth floor?”
“It sure would, Mommy. Be a nice place to go out and sit on summer evenings and enjoy the cool air.” At that instant, Tharyn pointed at the hired buggy that was parked in front of their tenement with her father and the driver standing beside it. “Look! The buggy’s here already.”
“Sure enough,” said Erline, picking up pace. “We’d better shake a leg.”
Keeping up with her mother, Tharyn noticed her father look their way and waved. “Hi, Daddy!”
Ron Myers smiled and waved in return.
As they drew up, Erline said, “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t realize we were late. We got to talking to Bryce and the new teenage boy he just hired to take Leon’s place, and the time got away from us.”
Ron smiled. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I wasn’t aware that Leon wasn’t with him anymore.”
“I wasn’t either. He said Leon quit suddenly and moved to Brooklyn.”
“So what’s the new boy’s name?”
“Dane Weston. He’s fifteen years old.”